Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project.I. Ultraviolet Observations of the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 5548 with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on Hubble Space Telescope
Brandt, W. N.; Kriss, G. A.; Ely, J.; Kochanek, C. S.; Treu, T.; Crenshaw, D. M.; Gehrels, N.; Vaughan, S.; Vestergaard, M.; Netzer, H.; Papadakis, I.; Horne, Keith; Peterson, B. M.; Dietrich, M.; Korista, K. T.; Pogge, R. W.; Uttley, P.; Kennea, J. A.; Arévalo, P.; Grupe, D.; Mathur, S.; Lira, P.; Young, S.; Goad, M. R.; Evans, P. A.; Fausnaugh, M. M.; Kaastra, J.; Pancoast, A.; Brewer, B. J.; Barth, A. J.; De Rosa, G.; Bentz, M. C.; Dalla Bontà, E.; Grier, C. J.; Breeveld, A. A.; De Lorenzo-Cáceres, A.; Denney, K. D.; Edelson, R.; Gelbord, J. M.; Hall, P. B.; McHardy, I. M.; Nousek, J. A.; Pei, L.; Schimoia, J. S.; Siegel, M.; Starkey, D.; Villforth, C.; Yan, H.; Zu, Y.; Kelly, B. C.
United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Chile, New Zealand, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, Greece, Brazil, Denmark
Abstract
We describe the first results from a six-month long reverberation-mapping experiment in the ultraviolet based on 171 observations of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. Significant correlated variability is found in the continuum and broad emission lines, with amplitudes ranging from ∼30% to a factor of two in the emission lines and a factor of three in the continuum. The variations of all the strong emission lines lag behind those of the continuum, with He ii λ 1640 lagging behind the continuum by ∼2.5 days and Lyα λ 1215, C iv λ 1550, and Si iv λ 1400 lagging by ∼5-6 days. The relationship between the continuum and emission lines is complex. In particular, during the second half of the campaign, all emission-line lags increased by a factor of 1.3-2 and differences appear in the detailed structure of the continuum and emission-line light curves. Velocity-resolved cross-correlation analysis shows coherent structure in lag versus line of sight velocity for the emission lines; the high-velocity wings of C iv respond to continuum variations more rapidly than the line core, probably indicating higher velocity broad-line region clouds at smaller distances from the central engine. The velocity-dependent response of Lyα, however, is more complex and will require further analysis.