Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2010
I discuss some of the predictions of the Starburst model for AGNs, in particular the relation between observational parameters like the average blue luminosity, the amplitude of variability, the frequency of slow peaks in the light curve, and the time-averaged equivalent width of Hβ.
The number of slow peaks or SN events in the light curve of low-luminosity AGNs is uniquely related to the nuclear luminosity. An AGN with MB(min) ∼ −21.5 produces 1 slow peak (or SN) per year. This result is independent of the initial mass function, age and/or total mass of the cluster.
The time-averaged equivalent width of Hβ is related to the total energy of the SN, almost independently of the initial mass function, age and/or total mass of the cluster and of the assumed cosmology; the observed constancy of the value of the equivalent width of Hβ in AGNs is a direct consequence of the universal value of the energy released in a SN explosion.
The long term variability of AGNs as a function of their luminosity has a peak at a luminosity similar to the maximum luminosity of cSNR (i.e. MB ∼ −20). AGNs with both larger and smaller luminosity than MB ∼ −20 should be less variable than those with MB ∼ −20.
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