The power density spectrum of NGC 5548 and the nature of its variability

Abstract

We derive power density spectra in the optical and X-ray bands in the time-scale range from several yr down to ∼1 d. We suggest that the optical power density spectrum consists of two separate components: long time-scale variations and short time-scale variations, with the dividing time-scale around 100 d. The shape of the short time-scale component is similar to the X-ray power density spectrum, which is consistent with the interpretation of short time-scale optical variations being caused by X-ray reprocessing. We show that the observed optical long time-scale variability is consistent with thermal pulsations of the accretion disc.