TESS light curve of AGN NGC 4395

Significant variability is detected on timescales from weeks to hours before reaching the background noise level. The ~month-long, 30 minute-cadence, high-precision TESS light curve can be well fit by a simple damped random walk (DRW) model, with the damping timescale {tau}DRW constrained to be 2.3_-0.7_^+1.8^days (1{sigma}).

NGC 4395 lies almost exactly on the extrapolation of the {tau }_DRW_-M_BH_ relation measured for AGNs with BH masses that are more than three orders of magnitude larger. The optical variability periodogram can be well fit by a broken power law with the high-frequency slope (-1.88{+/-}0.15) and the characteristic timescale ({tau}_br_=1/(2{pi}f_br_)=1.4_-0.5_^+1.9^days) consistent with the DRW model within 1{sigma}. This work demonstrates the power of TESS light curves in identifying low-mass accreting SMBHs with optical variability, and a potential global {tau}_DRW}_-M_BH_ relation that can be used to estimate SMBH masses with optical variability measurements.