arXiv subjects

Chi-Zhuo Wang

Publications and source records attributed to Chi-Zhuo Wang.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Empirical Near-Infrared Spectral Templates from SPHEREx: Disentangling AGN and Host-Galaxy Emission

SPHEREx conducts the first all-sky near-infrared spectral survey over 0.75-5.0 $μ$m, spanning the transition from host-galaxy starlight to AGN-heated torus emission and enabling spectroscopic identification of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We develop a data-driven framework combining weighted non-negative matrix factorization with forward modeling to learn empirical rest-frame templates from 2,777 normal galaxies and 1,064 AGNs in the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) field. The resulting 14-component dictionary contains seven galaxy templates spanning stellar-population continua and nebular emission and seven AGN templates capturing emission lines and warm and hot torus continua, providing an additive, operational decomposition. Inferred near-infrared host fractions correlate with independent SDSS spectral and HSC imaging decompositions (at Pearson $r=0.68$ and $r=0.59$), comparable to the SDSS-HSC correlation ($r=0.66$) and supporting the reliability of the AGN-host separation. In the NEP deep field, the same templates recover redshifts with $|z_{\rm fit}-z_{\rm spec}| < 0.01$ for 93.0% of galaxies and 93.5% of AGNs and distinguish galaxies, narrow-line AGNs, and broad-line AGNs with 81.3% accuracy. At all-sky depth, classification retains 72.9% accuracy. The near-infrared coefficients also flag questionable DESI spectral classifications and redshifts, showing how SPHEREx complements optical spectroscopy. Learned directly from survey spectrophotometry and extending beyond the $K$ band, this empirical dictionary fills a long-standing gap in near-to-mid-infrared templates and provides a data-driven foundation for population-scale studies of AGN activity and its connection to host galaxies across the SPHEREx all-sky survey.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Validating the ICCF-Cut Method with Simultaneous Photometric and Spectroscopic H$α$ Reverberation Mapping of NGC 4151 and UGC 3374

Photometric reverberation mapping (RM) provides an efficient alternative to spectroscopic RM for probing the broad-line region (BLR) sizes in AGNs. In our previous work, we proposed the ICCF-Cut method, which extracts H$α$ emission-line variability from broadband photometric light curves and measures the lags to estimate the BLR sizes. To further assess the reliability of this method, we conduct simultaneous photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of two nearby Seyfert galaxies, NGC 4151 and UGC 3374, over multiple observing seasons using the Lijiang 2.4 m telescope. By directly comparing the photometric and spectroscopic RM results in each season, we find that the extracted H$α$ light curves using the ICCF-Cut method closely resemble those derived from spectroscopy. The photometric H$α$ lags are also generally consistent with the spectroscopic H$α$ lags within the uncertainties. For several seasons where the photometric H$α$ lags are slightly underestimated, we find that the discrepancy may be caused by residual He\,\textsc{i} contamination in the extracted H$α$ light curves. After correcting for this contamination, the photometric lag measurements become more consistent with the spectroscopic results. We further explore the performance of the ICCF-Cut method using the simulated light curves with different filter bandwidths. For our observational and simulated cases, the method can successfully recover the emission-line variability and lag measurements broadly consistent with the spectroscopic results. This provides further support for the applicability of the ICCF-Cut method in photometric RM.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Unraveling the mysteries of Jets in peculiar NLSy1 galaxies through multi-wavelength variability

Radio-quiet narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (RQ-NLSy1s) are generally considered to be dominated by thermal emission from the accretion disk. However, recurring 37 GHz radio flares detected from seven RQ-NLSy1s by the Metsahovi Radio Observatory suggest that non-thermal processes may also contribute to their emission. We present a systematic optical and mid-infrared (MIR) variability study combined with broadband SED modeling to investigate the origin of their flux variations and assess the relative contributions of accretion disk and possible jet-related components. High-cadence optical light curves in the g, r, and i bands were obtained from ZTF, while long-term MIR light curves in the W1 and W2 bands were taken from WISE. Optical variability was quantified using the FAGN-test, peak-to-peak variability amplitude, and fractional variability, while MIR variability was characterized using redshift-corrected intrinsic variability amplitudes. Optical variability was examined from intra-night to long-term timescales, and MIR variability on long-term timescales. All RQ-NLSy1s show statistically significant long-term optical variability, with amplitudes increasing toward shorter wavelengths. Three sources exhibit bluer-when-brighter trends and increasing variability amplitudes across the optical bands, indicating a non-thermal contribution. Intrinsic MIR variability is detected in three of the four sources. Significant optical-MIR and MIR intra-band lags are observed, while optical intra-band lags are insignificant. Optical variability amplitudes are anti-correlated with the Eddington ratio and positively correlated with black hole mass. These results suggest that a subset of RQ-NLSy1s hosts weak or intermittent jets contributing to their optical and MIR emission, supported by SED modeling. Coordinated multi-wavelength monitoring is required to better constrain the origin of these variations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

The UV/optical Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Eight Active Galactic Nuclei with Swift: Further Evidence for the Outer Component

In our previous work, we applied the ICCF-Cut method to the continuum reverberation mapping (CRM) of six active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on the published Swift data. Extending this work, we perform a systematic AGN CRM study utilizing the Swift archive. We enlarge our sample with eight additional AGNs at $z<0.05$ with high-cadence ($<3$ days) and multiband photometric observations. Time series analysis of these light curves shows two main results: (1) The interband lags are broadly consistent with $τ\propto λ^{4/3}$, while the average interband lags are larger than those predicted by the standard thin accretion disk model. (2) For most targets, there exists a $U$ band lag excess, which is probably due to the diffuse continuum emission from the broad-line region (BLR). We employ the ICCF-Cut method to extract the possible diffuse continuum component from the $U$ band light curves and calculate the diffuse continuum lags ($τ_{\rm cut}$), which are generally consistent with the lags ($τ_{\rm jav}$) derived by the JAVELIN Photometric Reverberation Mapping Model. Further analysis with our sample indicates a positive correlation between the diffuse continuum region size and the BLR size ($R_{\rm DCR}-R_{\rm BLR}$ relation), as well as another correlation with the luminosity ($R_{\rm DCR}-L$ relation). These findings provide further evidence for a significant contribution of diffuse continuum emission from the BLR to the AGN continuum lags.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Revealing the variation mechanism of ON 231 via the two-components shock-in-jet model

The variation mechanism of blazars is a long-standing unresolved problem. In this work, we present a scenario to explain diverse variation phenomena for ON 231, where the jet emissions are composed of the flaring and the less variable components (most probably from the post-flaring blobs), and the variation is dominated by shock-in-jet instead of the Doppler effect. We perform correlation analysis for the multiwavelength light curves and find no significant correlations. For optical band, ON 231 exhibits a harder when brighter (HWB) trend, and the trend seems to shift at different periods. Correspondingly, the correlation between polarization degree and flux exhibits a V-shaped behavior, and a similar translation relation during different periods is also found. These phenomena could be understood via the superposition of the flaring component and slowly varying background component. We also find that the slopes of HWB trend become smaller at higher flux levels, which indicates the energy-dependent acceleration processes of the radiative particles. For X-ray, we discover a trend transition from HWB to softer when brighter (SWB) to HWB. We consider that the X-ray emission is composed of both the synchrotron tail and the Synchrotron Self-Compton components, which could be described by two log-parabolic functions. By varying the peak frequency, we reproduce the observed trend transition in a quantitative manner. For $γ$-ray, we find the SWB trend, which could be explained naturally if a very-high-energy $γ$-ray background component exists. Our study elucidates the variation mechanism of intermediate synchrotron-peaked BL Lac objects.

astro-ph.HE↗