On time dilation in quasar light curves

In this paper we set out to measure time dilation in quasar light curves. In order to detect the effects of time dilation, sets of light curves from two monitoring programmes are used to construct Fourier power spectra covering time-scales from 50 d to 28 yr. Data from high- and low-redshift samples...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMonthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 405; no. 3; pp. 1940 - 1946
Main Author Hawkins, M. R. S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2010
Wiley-Blackwell
Oxford University Press
Subjects
Astronomy
cosmology: observations
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Measurement techniques
Quasars
quasars: general
quasars: general
cosmology: observations
Quasars
Red shift
Power spectra
Black holes
Light curves
Microlenses
Cosmology
Time variation
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Summary:In this paper we set out to measure time dilation in quasar light curves. In order to detect the effects of time dilation, sets of light curves from two monitoring programmes are used to construct Fourier power spectra covering time-scales from 50 d to 28 yr. Data from high- and low-redshift samples are compared to look for the changes expected from time dilation. The main result of the paper is that quasar light curves do not show the effects of time dilation. Several explanations are discussed, including the possibility that time dilation effects are exactly offset by an increase in time-scale of variation associated with black hole growth, or that the variations are caused by microlensing in which case time dilation would not be expected.
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ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16581.x