The MEXSAS2 Sample and the Ensemble X-ray Variability of Quasars

We present the second Multi-Epoch X-ray Serendipitous AGN Sample (MEXSAS2), extracted from the 6th release of the XMM Serendipitous Source Catalog (XMMSSC-DR6), cross-matched with Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar Catalogs DR7Q and DR12Q. Our sample also includes the available measurements for masses,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in astronomy and space sciences Vol. 4
Main Authors Serafinelli, Roberto, Vagnetti, Fausto, Chiaraluce, Elia, Middei, Riccardo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Frontiers Media S.A 11.10.2017
Subjects
quasars
spectral variability
structure function
X-rays
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Summary:We present the second Multi-Epoch X-ray Serendipitous AGN Sample (MEXSAS2), extracted from the 6th release of the XMM Serendipitous Source Catalog (XMMSSC-DR6), cross-matched with Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar Catalogs DR7Q and DR12Q. Our sample also includes the available measurements for masses, bolometric luminosities, and Eddington ratios. Analyses of the ensemble structure function and spectral variability are presented, together with their dependences on such parameters. We confirm a decrease of the structure function with the X-ray luminosity, and find a weak dependence on the black hole mass. We introduce a new spectral variability estimator, taking errors on both fluxes and spectral indices into account. We confirm an ensemble softer when brighter trend, with no dependence of such estimator on black hole mass, Eddington ratio, redshift, X-ray and bolometric luminosity.
ISSN:2296-987X
2296-987X
DOI:10.3389/fspas.2017.00021