Continuum Reverberation in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks Only with Sufficient X-Ray Luminosity and Low Albedo

Abstract Disk continuum reverberation mapping is one of the primary ways we learn about active galactic nuclei (AGN) accretion disks. Reverberation mapping assumes that time-varying X-rays incident on the accretion disk drive variability in UV–optical light curves emitted by AGN disks and uses lags between X-ray and UV–optical variability on the light-crossing timescale to measure the radial temperature profile and extent of AGN disks. However, recent reverberation mapping campaigns have revealed oddities in some sources, such as weakly correlated X-ray and UV light curves, longer than anticipated lags, and evidence of intrinsic variability from disk fluctuations. To understand how X-ray reverberation works with realistic accretion disk structures, we perform 3D multifrequency radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of X-ray reprocessing by the UV-emitting region of an AGN disk using sophisticated opacity models that include line opacities for both the X-ray and UV radiation. We find there are two important factors that determine whether X-ray irradiation and UV emission will be well-correlated: the ratio of X-ray to UV luminosity and significant absorption. When these factors are met, the reprocessing of X-rays into UV is nearly instantaneous, as is often assumed, although linear reprocessing models are insufficient to fully capture X-ray reprocessing in our simulations. Nevertheless, we can still easily recover mock lags in our light curves using software that assumes linear reprocessing. Finally, the X-rays in our simulation heat the disk, increasing temperatures by a factor of 2–5 in the optically thin region, which could help explain the discrepancy between measured and anticipated lags.