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We perform non-hydrodynamical 2.5D simulations to study the dynamics of material above accretion disk based on the disk radiation pressure acting on dust. We assume a super-accreting underlying disk with the accretion rate of 10 times the Eddington rate with central black hole mass ranging from $10^7$ up to $10^9 M_{\odot}$. Such high accretion rates are characteristic for extreme sources. We show that for high accretors radiatively dust-driving mechanism based on FRADO model always leads to a massive outflow from the disk surface, and the failed wind develops only at larger radii. The outflow rate strongly depends on the black hole mass, and in optically-thick energy-driven solution can exceed the accretion rate for masses larger than $10^ 8 M_{\odot}$ but momentum-driven outflow does not exceed the accretion rate even for super-Eddington accretion, therefore not violating the adopted stationarity of the disk. However, even in this case the outflow from the disk implies a strong mechanical feedback., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in the journal of Dynamics (MDPI)

Gravitational microlensing is a powerful tool for probing the inner structure of strongly lensed quasars and for constraining parameters of the stellar mass function of lens galaxies. This is achieved by analysing microlensing light curves between the multiple images of strongly lensed quasars and accounting for the effects of three main variable components: (1) the continuum flux of the source, (2) microlensing by stars in the lens galaxy, and (3) reverberation of the continuum by the broad line region (BLR). The latter, ignored by state-of-the-art microlensing techniques, can introduce high-frequency variations which we show carry information on the BLR size. We present a new method that includes all these components simultaneously and fits the power spectrum of the data in the Fourier space rather than the observed light curve itself. In this new framework, we analyse COSMOGRAIL light curves of the two-image system QJ 0158-4325 known to display high-frequency variations. Using exclusively the low-frequency part of the power spectrum, our constraint on the accretion disk radius agrees with the thin-disk model estimate and the results of previous work where the microlensing light curves were fit in real space. However, if we also take into account the high-frequency variations, the data favour significantly smaller disk sizes than previous microlensing measurements. In this case, our results are only in agreement with the thin-disk model prediction only if we assume very low mean masses for the microlens population, i.e. ⟨M⟩ = 0.01 M⊙. At the same time, including the differentially microlensed continuum reverberation by the BLR successfully explains the high frequencies without requiring such low-mass microlenses. This allows us to measure, for the first time, the size of the BLR using single-band photometric monitoring; we obtain RBLR = 1.6−0.8+1.5 × 1017 cm, in good agreement with estimates using the BLR size–luminosity relation.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping (SDSS-RM) program monitors 849 active galactic nuclei (AGN) both spectroscopically and photometrically. The photometric observations used in this work span over four years and provide an excellent baseline for variability studies of these objects. We present the photometric light curves from 2014 to 2017 obtained by the Steward Observatory's Bok telescope and the CFHT telescope with MegaCam. We provide details on the data acquisition and processing of the data from each telescope, the difference imaging photometry used to produce the light curves, and the calculation of a variability index to quantify each AGN's variability. We find that the Welch-Stetson J-index provides a useful characterization of AGN variability and can be used to select AGNs for further study., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJS, 28 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables

3C 82 at a redshift of 2.87 is the most distant 3C (Third Cambridge Catalogue) quasar. Thus, it is a strong candidate to have the most luminous radio lobes in the Universe. 3C 82 belongs to the class of compact steep spectrum radio sources. We use single dish and interferometric radio observations in order to model the plasma state of these powerful radio lobes. It is estimated that the long-term time-averaged jet power required to fill these lobes with leptonic plasma is $\overline{Q} \approx 2.66 \pm 1.33 \times 10^{47} \rm{ergs/sec}$, among the largest time averaged jet powers from a quasar. Positing protonic lobes is not tenable since they would require two orders of magnitude more mass transport to the lobes than was accreted to the central black hole during their formation. The first high signal to noise optical spectroscopic observation obtained of this object indicates that there is a powerful high ionization broad line wind with a kinetic power $\sim 10^{45} \rm{ergs/sec}$ and a velocity $\sim 0.01$c. We also estimate from the broad lines in 2018 and the UV continuum in three epochs spread out over three decades that the accretion flow bolometric luminosity is $L_{\rm{bol}} \approx 3.2-5.8 \times 10^{46} \rm{ergs/sec}$. The ratio of $\overline{Q}/L_{\rm{bol}}\approx 6.91 \pm 3.41$, is perhaps the largest of any known quasar. Extremely powerful jets tend to strongly suppress powerful winds of ionized baryonic matter. Consequently, 3C 82 provides a unique laboratory for studying the dynamical limits of the central engine of outflow initiation in quasars., Comment: To appear in ApJ

To understand the nature of transient obscuring outflows in active galactic nuclei, we observed the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3783 on two occasions in December 2016 triggered by Swift monitoring indicating strong soft X-ray absorption in November. We obtained ultraviolet spectra using COS on HST and optical spectra using FEROS on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope that were simultaneous with X-ray spectra from XMM-Newton and NuSTAR. We find new components of broad, blue-shifted absorption associated with Ly$\alpha$, \ion{N}{v}, \ion{Si}{iv}, and \ion{C}{iv} in our COS spectra. The absorption extends from velocities near zero in the rest-frame of the host galaxy to $-6200$ $\rm km~s^{-1}$. These features appear for the first time in NGC 3783 at the same time as the heavy soft X-ray absorption seen in the XMM-Newton X-ray spectra. The X-ray absorption has a column density of $\sim 10^{23}~\rm cm^{-2}$, and it partially covers the X-ray continuum source. The X-ray absorption becomes more transparent in the second observation, as does the UV absorption. Combining the X-ray column densities with the UV spectral observations yields an ionization parameter for the obscuring gas of log $\xi =1.84^{+0.4}_{-0.2}$ $\rm erg~cm~s^{-1}$. Despite the high intensity of the UV continuum in NGC 3783, F(1470 \AA)=$8 \times 10^{-14}~\rm erg~cm^{-2}~s^{-1}~\AA^{-1}$, the well known narrow UV absorption lines are deeper than in earlier observations in unobscured states, and low ionization species such as \ion{C}{iii} appear, indicating that the narrow-line gas is more distant from the nucleus and is being shadowed by the gas producing the obscuration. Despite the high continuum flux levels in our observations of NGC 3783, moderate velocities in the UV broad line profiles have substantially diminished. We suggest that a collapse of the broad line region has led to the outburst and triggered the obscuring event., Comment: 24 pages, 29 figures, uses aa.cls. Accepted for publication in A&A, 10/29/2018