{
  "id": "1608.06869",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2016-08-24T15:44:42.000Z",
  "updated": "2016-08-24T15:44:42.000Z",
  "title": "Improving the Flux Calibration in Reverberation Mapping by Spectral Fitting: Application to the Seyfert Galaxy MCG--6-30-15",
  "authors": [
    "Chen Hu",
    "Jian-Min Wang",
    "Luis C. Ho",
    "Jin-Ming Bai",
    "Yan-Rong Li",
    "Pu Du",
    "Kai-Xing Lu"
  ],
  "comment": "8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.GA"
  ],
  "abstract": "We propose a method for the flux calibration of reverberation mapping spectra based on accurate measurement of [O III] $\\lambda 5007$ emission by spectral fitting. The method can achieve better accuracy than the traditional method of van Groningen & Wanders (1992), allowing reverberation mapping measurements for object with variability amplitudes as low as $\\sim$ 5%. As a demonstration, we reanalyze the data of the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG--6-30-15 taken from the 2008 campaign of the Lick AGN Monitoring Project, which previously failed to obtain a time lag for this weakly variable object owing to a relatively large flux calibration uncertainty. We detect a statistically significant rest-frame time lag of $6.38_{-2.69}^{+3.07}$ days between the H$\\beta$ and $V$-band light curves. Combining this lag with FWHM(H$\\beta$) = $1933\\pm81$ $\\rm km~s^{-1}$ and a virial coefficient of $f$ = 0.7, we derive a virial black hole mass of $3.26_{-1.40}^{+1.59}\\times10^6$ $M_{\\odot}$, which agrees well with previous estimates by other methods.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2016-08-24T15:44:42.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "reverberation mapping",
      "spectral fitting",
      "seyfert galaxy",
      "relatively large flux calibration uncertainty",
      "application"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 8,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}