A novel variability-based method for quasar selection: evidence for a
  rest frame ~54 day characteristic timescale
  We compare quasar selection techniques based on their optical variability
using data from the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS). We introduce a
new technique based on Slepian wavelet variance (SWV) that shows comparable or
better performance to structure functions and damped random walk models but
with fewer assumptions. Combining these methods with WISE mid-IR colors
produces a highly efficient quasar selection technique which we have validated
spectroscopically. The SWV technique also identifies characteristic timescales
in a time series and we find a characteristic rest frame timescale of ~54 days,
confirmed in the light curves of ~18000 quasars from CRTS, SDSS and MACHO data,
and anticorrelated with absolute magnitude. This indicates a transition between
a damped random walk and $P(f) \propto f^{-1/3}$ behaviours and is the first
strong indication that a damped random walk model may be too simplistic to
describe optical quasar variability.
