# TESS Program G04135

Title: Quavar: A Pipeline And Legacy Sample For AGN Variability And Accretion Disk Physics

PI: Smith, Krista - Southern Methodist University

Type: LARGE

Summary: Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are the among the most extreme objects in the universe: galaxies with a central supermassive black hole feeding on gas from an accretion disk. Because accretion disks are challenging to image, variability is among the only direct probes of this physics. Our program will produce consistently-treated, transparently-reduced optical light curves of a large sample of X-ray selected AGN to explore whether AGN exhibit distinct disk geometries during radio-loud and radio-quiet phases, search for QPOs, develop clean proxies of black hole mass, and study the variability of complex AGN sub-types. We will also produce a public pipeline, quaver, especially developed for AGN, as well as our reduced light curves as a public legacy sample.