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MULTIWAVELENGTH VARIABILITY OF THE BROAD LINE RADIO GALAXY 3C 120

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Kevin Marshall1,2, Wesley T. Ryle2, H. Richard Miller2, Alan P. Marscher3, Svetlana G. Jorstad3, Benjamin Chicka4 and Ian M. McHardy5

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We present results from a multiyear monitoring campaign of the broad-line radio galaxy 3C 120, using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer for nearly five years of observations. Additionally, we present coincident optical monitoring using data from several ground-based observatories. Both the X-ray and optical emission are highly variable and appear to be strongly correlated, with the X-ray emission leading the optical by 28 days. The X-ray power density spectrum is best fit by a broken power law, with a low-frequency slope of –1.2, breaking to a high-frequency slope of –2.1, and a break frequency of log νb = –5.75 Hz, or 6.5 days. This value agrees well with the value expected based on 3C 120's mass and accretion rate. We find no evidence for a second break in the power spectrum. Combined with a moderately soft X-ray spectrum (Γ = 1.8) and a moderately high accretion rate ($\dot{m}/\dot{m}_{\rm Edd} \sim 0.3$), this indicates that 3C 120 fits in well with the high/soft variability state found in most other active galactic nuclei. Previous studies have shown that the spectrum has a strong Fe Kα line, which may be relativistically broadened. The presence of this line, combined with a power spectrum similar to that seen in Seyfert galaxies, suggests that the majority of the X-ray emission in this object arises in or near the disk, and not in the jet.


Keywords

galaxies: active; galaxies: individual (3C 120); galaxies: Seyfert


Dates

Issue 1 (2009 May 1)

Received 2008 September 22, accepted for publication 2009 February 10

Published 2009 April 16



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