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In our previous work on broadband photometric reverberation mapping (PRM), we proposed the interpolated cross-correlation function (ICCF)-Cut process to obtain the time lags of the H α emission line from two broadband lightcurves via subtracting the continuum emission from the line band. Extending the work, we enlarge our sample to the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) database. We adopt two criteria to select 123 type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with sufficient variability and smooth light curves from 3537 AGNs at z < 0.09 with more than 100 epoch observations in the g and r bands from the ZTF database. We calculate the H α time lags for 23 of them that have previous spectroscopic reverberation mapping (SRM) results using the ICCF-Cut, Just Another Vehicle for Estimating Lags In Nuclei (JAVELIN), and χ 2 methods. Our obtained H α time lags are slightly larger than the H β time lags, which is consistent with the previous SRM results and the theoretical model of the AGN broad-line region. The comparisons between the SRM and PRM lag distributions and between the subtracted emission line light curves indicate that after selecting AGNs with the two criteria, combining the ICCF-Cut, JAVELIN, and χ 2 methods provides an efficient way to get the reliable H α lags from the broadband PRM. Such techniques can be used to estimate the black hole masses of a large sample of AGNs in large multiepoch photometric sky surveys such as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time and the survey from the Wide Field Survey Telescope in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuum reverberation mapping is widely used in studying the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Some indirect evidence and simulations have indicated that the diffuse continuum, especially the strong Balmer continuum from the broad-line region, may contribute to the continuum in the u / U band. Here, we present direct evidence for this contribution. In this work, we apply the ICCF-Cut method to continuum reverberation mapping to extract the possible diffuse continuum light curves of six AGNs, using high-cadence, high-quality, and multiband observations. We find the existence of an outer component out of the accretion disk for each of the six AGNs in the Swift U band. Meanwhile, similar results can be derived with the JAVELIN Photometric Reverberation Mapping Model for four of them. The lags of the outer components are consistent with the predicted Balmer continuum lags, which are about half of the H β lag values. Our result directly reinforces the understanding that an outer component, especially the Balmer continuum in the rest-frame u / U band, can contribute significantly to the continuum reverberation lags of AGNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the accretion disc-size estimates for a sample of 19 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) using the optical g -, r -, and i -band light curves obtained from the Zwicky Transient Facility survey. All the AGNs have reliable supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass estimates based on previous reverberation mapping measurements. The multiband light curves are cross-correlated, and the reverberation lag is estimated using the Interpolated Cross-Correlation Function method and the Bayesian method using the javelin code. As expected from the disc-reprocessing arguments, the g − r band lags are shorter than the g − i band lags for this sample. The interband lags for all, but five sources, are larger than the sizes predicted from the standard Shakura Sunyaev (SS) analytical model. We fit the light curves directly using a thin disc model implemented through the javelin code to get the accretion disc sizes. The disc sizes obtained using this model are on an average 3.9 times larger than the prediction based on the SS disc model. We find a weak correlation between the disc sizes and the known physical parameters, namely the luminosity and the SMBH mass. In the near future, a large sample of AGNs covering broader ranges of luminosity and SMBH mass from large photometric surveys would be helpful in a better understanding of the structure and physics of the accretion disc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]