Wavelet Analysis of AGN X‐Ray Time Series: A QPO in 3C 273?

Quasi-periodic signals have yielded important constraints on the masses of black holes in galactic X-ray binaries, and here we extend this to active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We employ a wavelet technique to analyze 19 observations of 10 AGNs obtained with the XMM-Newton EPIC pn camera. We report the detection of a candidate 3.3 ks quasi period in 3C 273. If this period represents an orbital timescale originating near a last stable orbit of 3 R s , it implies a central black hole mass of 7.3 × 10 6 M ☉ . For a maximally rotating black hole with a last stable orbit of 0.6 R s , a central black hole mass of 8.1 × 10 7 M ☉ is implied. Both of these estimates are substantially lower than previous reverberation-mapping results, which place the central black hole mass of 3C 273 at about 2.35 × 10 8 M ☉ . Assuming that this reverberation mass is correct, the X-ray quasi period would be caused by a higher order oscillatory mode of the accretion disk.