OIRMA: Optical Infrared Reverberation Mapping of AGN

Continuum reverberation mapping (CRM) can be used to measure physical distances in AGN accretion disks. CRM uses changes in short wavelength flux traveling away from the central region of an AGN's accretion disk. Time delays, proportional to the physical distance, occur when the flux from the central region is absorbed and re-emitted by the outer regions. Limited number of studies have been conducted to measure the continuum reverberation of Type 1 Seyfert galaxies due to a finite number of continuous observations in both the optical and infrared (IR). The goal of this project is to mine data from the Near Earth Objects Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) which have spatial and temporal overlap. Once the areas with high temporal coverage are identified, we will use the CATWISE Catalog to identify potential AGN by infrared color selection and analyze their light curves at multiple wavelengths. The light curves will then be utilized to find the time delay between the reprocessed emission in the optical and in the infrared. The end goal is determining the distance between the optical emitting region and the infrared emitting region.