RECENT SWIFT MONITORING OF NGC 5548 AND NGC 4151 OBTAINED THE DENSEST X-RAY/UV/OPTICAL SAMPLING EVER FOR AGN IN BOTH TIME AND WAVELENGTH. THIS GROUND-BREAKING APPROACH FINALLY MAKES FULL USE OF SWIFT'S UNIQUE CAPABILITIES ALLOWING THE FIRST CLEARLY SUCCESSFUL REVERBERATION MAPPING (RM) OF AN AGN ACCRETION DISK. THESE DATA YIELD STRONG EVIDENCE THAT THE DISK IS MUCH LARGER THAN PREDICTED AND THAT THE X-RAYS UNDERGO ADDITIONAL REPROCESSING BEFORE HEATING THE DISK. THIS IS THE MOST SEVERE TEST THAT THE STANDARD REPROCESSING/THIN DISK PARADIGM HAS FACED IN DECADES. IN THE COURSE OF OUR DATA REDUCTION WE ALSO UNCOVERED A SERIOUS PROBLEM THAT THREATENS ALL UVOT MONITORING. WE REQUEST ADAP FUNDING TO (1) REDUCE AND ANALYZE THE NEW NGC 4151 DATA AND CRITICALLY TEST THE STANDARD DISK/REPROCESSING PARADIGM (2) CREATE SOFTWARE THAT WILL IDENTIFY FLAG AND POSSIBLY CORRECT DATA AFFECTED BY THIS UVOT PROBLEM AND (3) RE-ANALYZE ARCHIVAL SWIFT DATA ON WELL-OBSERVED AGN IN ORDER TO FURTHER TEST THE MODEL AND ALSO INFORM THE DESIGN OF FUTURE SWIFT AGN RM CAMPAIGNS.
$368,679FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Spectral Sciences, Inc