In this paper we review the basic Poissonian formulation of quasar variability, using it as a mathematical tool to extract relevant parameters such as the energy, rate and lifetimes of the flares through the analysis of observed light curves. It is shown that in this very general framework the well established anti-correlation between variability amplitude and wavelength can only be understood as an effect of an underlying spectral component which remains stable on long time-scales, and is redder than the variable component. The formalism is applied to the B and R light curves of 42 PG quasars collected by the Wise Observatory group. Variability indices for these data are obtained with a Structure Function analysis. The mean number of living flares is constrained to be in the range between 5 and 100, while their rates are found to be of order 1--100 per yr. Monochromatic optical flare energies of 10^{46-48} erg/A and life-times of 0.5 to 3 yr are derived. Lower limits of typically 25% are established for the contribution of a non-variable component in the R band. The substantial diversity in these properties among quasars invalidates simple versions of the Poissonian model in which flare energies, lifetimes and the background contribution are treated as universal invariants. The good correlation between the EW(H_beta) and the long term variability amplitude is interpreted in a scenario where only the variable component participates in the ionization of the line emitting gas. This idea is consistent with the observed trends of the variability amplitude with lambda, EW(HeII) and the X-ray to optical spectral index (abridged).

In this paper we review the basic Poissonian formulation of quasar variability, using it as a mathematical tool to extract relevant parameters such as the energy, rate and lifetimes of the flares through the analysis of observed light curves. It is shown that in this very general framework the well established anti-correlation between variability amplitude and wavelength can only be understood as an effect of an underlying spectral component which remains stable on long time-scales, and is redder than the variable component. The formalism is applied to the B and R light curves of 42 PG quasars collected by the Wise Observatory group. Variability indices for these data are obtained with a Structure Function analysis. The mean number of living flares is constrained to be in the range between 5 and 100, while their rates are found to be of order 1--100 per yr. Monochromatic optical flare energies of 10^{46-48} erg/A and life-times of 0.5 to 3 yr are derived. Lower limits of typically 25% are established for the contribution of a non-variable component in the R band. The substantial diversity in these properties among quasars invalidates simple versions of the Poissonian model in which flare energies, lifetimes and the background contribution are treated as universal invariants. The good correlation between the EW(H_beta) and the long term variability amplitude is interpreted in a scenario where only the variable component participates in the ionization of the line emitting gas. This idea is consistent with the observed trends of the variability amplitude with lambda, EW(HeII) and the X-ray to optical spectral index (abridged).

We present spectrophotometry in the 3600-9700 A region for a sample of 39 H II regions in the Galaxy and Magellanic Clouds, for which independent information is available on the spectral types and effective temperatures of the ionizing stars. The spectra have been used to evaluate nebular diagnostics of stellar temperature, metal abundance, and ionization parameter, and compare the observed behavior of the line indices with predictions of nebular photoionization models. We observe a strong degeneracy between forbidden-line sequences produced by changes in stellar Teff and metal abundance, which severely complicates the application of many forbidden-line diagnostics to extragalactic H II regions. Our data confirm however that the Edmunds and Pagel [O II]+[O III] abundance index and the Vilchez and Pagel `eta' index provide more robust diagnostics of metal abundance and stellar effective temperature, respectively. A comparison of the fractional helium ionization of the H II regions with stellar temperature confirms the reliability of the spectral type vs Teff calibration for the relevant temperature range Teff < 38000 K. We use empirical relations between the nebular hardness indices and Teff to reinvestigate the case for systematic variations in the stellar effective temperatures and the upper IMFs of massive stars in extragalactic H II regions. The data are consistent with a significant softening of the ionizing spectra (consistent with cooler stellar temperatures) with increasing metal abundance, especially for Z less than solar. However unresolved degeneracies between Z and Teff still complicate the interpretation of this result.