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V. D. Phillips, A. Sadun, M. Kelly, P. Baca, J. Holt, A. Galadari (U. Colorado at Denver), P. Nied (Metro. St. Col. of Denver), E. Howard (Florida International U.), K. Ghosh (Marshall Space Flight Center)
We present the results of microvariability studies of X-ray loud/radio quiet AGN in optical wavelengths (R band). The optical data were taken over approximately eight months at the Sommers-Bausch Observatory (U. Colorado-Boulder), and at the SARA Observatory.
In addition to engaging in routine optical analysis, we investigated the extent to which these objects exhibited intra-night variability. The presence of microvariability would indicate that in addition to an accretion disk, there would also be present relativistic components such as parsec-scale jets; quiescence would indicate that long-term variability in these objects is perhaps due to accretion disk instabilities alone. The preliminary indication from our data is that there is indeed evidence of relativistic jets in this class of objects.