We report the discovery by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope of high-energy gamma-ray emission from the peculiar quasar PMN J0948+0022 (z=0.5846). The optical spectrum of this object exhibits rather narrow Hbeta (FWHM(Hbeta) ~ 1500 km s^-1), weak forbidden lines and is therefore classified as a narrow-line type I quasar. This class of objects is thought to have relatively small black hole mass and to accrete at high Eddington ratio. The radio loudness and variability of the compact radio core indicates the presence of a relativistic jet. Quasi simultaneous radio-optical-X-ray and gamma-ray observations are presented. Both radio and gamma-ray emission (observed over 5-months) are strongly variable. The simultaneous optical and X-ray data from Swift show a blue continuum attributed to the accretion disk and a hard X-ray spectrum attributed to the jet. The resulting broad band spectral energy distribution (SED) and, in particular, the gamma-ray spectrum measured by Fermi are similar to those of more powerful FSRQ. A comparison of the radio and gamma-ray characteristics of PMN J0948+0022 with the other blazars detected by LAT shows that this source has a relatively low radio and gamma-ray power, with respect to other FSRQ. The physical parameters obtained from modelling the SED also fall at the low power end of the FSRQ parameter region discussed in Celotti & Ghisellini (2008). We suggest that the similarity of the SED of PMN J0948+0022 to that of more massive and more powerful quasars can be understood in a scenario in which the SED properties depend on the Eddington ratio rather than on the absolute power.
High-redshift blazars are valuable tools to study the early Universe. So far only a handful of $γ$-ray blazars have been found at redshifts above 3. $γ$-ray signals are detected in the direction of PMN J2219-2719 ($z=3.63$) and PMN J2321-0827 ($z=3.16$) by analyzing the 10-year $Fermi$-LAT Pass 8 data. PMN J2219-2719 is not distinguished from the background in the global analysis. During the 5-month epoch, the TS value is 47.8 and the flux is more than 10 times of the 10-year averaged flux. In addition, the angular distance between the $γ$-ray position and the radio position of PMN J2219-2719 …
We report radio observations of the quasar PMN J1106-3647. Our data, taken with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, show large variations in the amplitude and shape of its spectrum, on a short time-scale. A great variety of spectral features is evident, including: sharp kinks; broad spectral peaks; and wiggles. No two spectra are alike. We interpret the variations as interstellar scintillation of a radio source that is compact, but not point-like. Under this interpretation, complex spectral structure can arise purely refractively, under high magnification conditions, or from interference be…
The high-redshift quasar PMN J0909+0354 ($z=3.288$) is known to have a pc-scale compact jet structure, based on global 5-GHz very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations performed in 1992. Its kpc-scale structure was studied with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in the radio and the Chandra space telescope in X-rays. Apart from the north-northwestern jet component seen in both the VLA and Chandra images at $2.3''$ separation from the core, there is another X-ray feature at $6.48''$ in the northeastern (NE) direction. To uncover more details and possibly structural changes in …
MeV blazars are a sub--population of the blazar family, exhibiting larger--than--average jet powers, accretion luminosities and black hole masses. Because of their extremely hard X--ray continua, these objects are best studied in the X-ray domain. Here, we report on the discovery by the $Fermi$ Large Area Telescope and subsequent follow-up observations with $NuSTAR$, $Swift$ and GROND of a new member of the MeV blazar family: PMN J0641$-$0320. Our optical spectroscopy provides confirmation that this is a flat--spectrum radio quasar located at a redshift of $z=1.196$. Its very hard $NuSTAR$ spe…
We present a comprehensive analysis of multiple wavelength observational data of the first GeV-selected narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy PMN J0948+0022. We derive its lightcurves in the γ-ray and X-ray bands from the data observed with Fermi/LAT and Swift/XRT, and make the optical and radio lightcurves by collecting the data from the literature. These lightcurves show significant flux variations. With the LAT data we show that this source is analogue to typical flat spectrum radio quasars in the $L_γ-Γ_γ$ plane, where $L_γ$ and $Γ_γ$ are the luminosity and spectral index in the LAT energy band. Th…
PMN J1603$-$4904 is a likely member of the rare class of $γ$-ray emitting young radio galaxies. Only one other source, PKS 1718$-$649, has been confirmed so far. These objects, which may transition into larger radio galaxies, are a stepping stone to understanding AGN evolution. It is not completely clear how these young galaxies, seen edge-on, can produce high-energy $γ$-rays. PMN J1603$-$4904 has been detected by TANAMI Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations and has been followed-up with multiwavelength observations. A Fermi/LAT $γ$-ray source has been associated with it in the…
We collect long term $γ$-ray, optical and radio $15$ GHz light curves of quasar object PMN J2345-1555. The correlation analyses between them are performed via the local cross-correlation function (LCCF). We found that all the optical $V$, $R$ band and the infrared $J$ band are correlated with the radio 15 GHz at beyond $3σ$ significance level, and the lag times are $-221.81^{+6.26}_{-6.72}$, $-201.38^{+6.42}_{-6.02}$ and $-192.27^{+8.26}_{-7.37}$ days, respectively. The $γ$-ray is strongly correlated with optical, but weakly correlated with the radio. We present that time lags between differen…
The Fermi/LAT instrument has detected about two thousands Extragalactic High Energy (E > 100 MeV) gamma-ray sources. One of the brightest is 3FGL 1603.9-4903, associated to the radio source PMN J1603-4904. Its nature is not yet clear, it could be either a very peculiar BL Lac or a CSO (Compact Symmetric Object) radio source, considered as the early stage of a radio galaxy. The latter, if confirmed, would be the first detection in gamma-rays for this class of objects. Recently a redshift z=0.18 +/- 0.01 has been claimed on the basis of the detection of a single X-ray line at 5.44 +/- 0.05 keV i…
Context. The majority of bright extragalactic gamma-ray sources are blazars. Only a few radio galaxies have been detected by Fermi/LAT. Recently, the GHz-peaked spectrum source PKS 1718-649 was confirmed to be gamma-ray bright, providing further evidence for the existence of a population of gamma-ray loud, compact radio galaxies. A spectral turnover in the radio spectrum in the MHz to GHz range is a characteristic feature of these objects, which are thought to be young due to their small linear sizes. The multiwavelength properties of the gamma-ray source PMN J1603-4904 suggest that it is a me…
By modeling the broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of a typical flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ, 3C 279) and two GeV narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s, PMN J0948+0022 and 1H 0323+342) in different flux stages with the one-zone leptonic models, we find a universal correlation between their Doppler factors ($δ$) and peak luminosities ($L_{\rm c}$) of external Compton scattering bumps. Compiling a combined sample of FSRQs and GeV NLS1s, it is found that both FSRQs and GeV NLS1s in different stages and in different sources well follow the same $δ$-$L_{\rm c}$ correlation. This ind…
To date, PMN J2134-0419 (at a redshift z=4.33) is the second most distant quasar known with a milliarcsecond-scale morphology permitting direct estimates of the jet proper motion. Based on two-epoch observations, we constrained its radio jet proper motion using the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) technique. The observations were conducted with the European VLBI Network (EVN) at 5 GHz on 1999 November 26 and 2015 October 6. We imaged the central 10-pc scale radio jet emission and modeled its brightness distribution. By identifying a jet component at both epochs separated by 15.86 yr, a…
We perform a blind search for the variability of the gamma-ray sky in the energy range E>1 GeV using 308 weeks of the Fermi-LAT data. We use the technique based on the comparison of the weekly photon counts and exposures in sky pixels by means of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. We consider the flux variations in the region significant if statistical probability of uniformity is less than $4\times10^{-6}$, which corresponds to 0.05 false detections in the whole set of 12288 pixels. Close inspection of the detected variable regions result in identification of 8 sources without previous known variab…
Instituto de Física. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学物理研究所）；Instituto de Astronomía. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学天文研究所）；Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学射电天文学与天体物理研究所）
During a decade of the $Fermi$-Large Area Telescope (LAT) operation, thousands of blazars have been detected in the $γ$-ray band. However, there are still numbers of blazars that have not been detected in the $γ$-ray band. In this work, we focus on investigating why some flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) are undetected by $Fermi$-LAT. By cross-matching the Candidate Gamma-ray Blazars Survey catalog with the Fourth Catalog of Active Galactic Nuclei Detected by the $Fermi$-LAT, we select 11 $γ$-ray undetected ($γ$-ray quiet) FSRQs as our sample whose quasi-simultaneous multi-wavelength data ar…
For the interpretation of X-ray radiation from kiloparsec jets of quasars, the inverse Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background has been widely used for almost 20 years. A recent analysis of the Fermi-LAT observational data showed that this assumption is inapplicable for jets of several quasars. In this paper, we consider the inverse Compton scattering of photons from a central source as a possible mechanism for the formation of X-ray radiation from kiloparsec jets of the quasars PKS 0637-752, 3C 273, PKS 1510-089, and PKS 1045-188. Estimates for the angle between the line of sigh…
We present a temporal and spectral analysis of the gamma-ray flux from nine of the brightest flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) detected with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) during its first eight years of operation, with the aim of constraining the location of the emission region. Using the increased photon statistics provided from the two brightest flares of each source, we find evidence of sub-hour variability from B2 1520+31, PKS 1502+106 and PKS 1424-41, with the remaining sources showing variability on timescales of a few hours. These indicate gamma-ray emission from extremely comp…
The regular monitoring of flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) in $γ$-rays by Fermi-LAT since past 12 years indicated six sources who exhibited extreme $γ$-ray outbursts crossing daily flux of $10^{-5}$ photons/cm$^{2}$/s. We obtained nearly-simultaneous multi-wavelength data of these sources in radio to $γ$-ray waveband from OVRO, Steward Observatory, SMARTS, Swift-UVOT, Swift-XRT, and Fermi-LAT. The time-averaged broadband Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of these sources in quiescent states were studied to get an idea about the underlying baseline radiation processes. We modeled the SEDs…
In external Compton scenario, we investigate the formation of the very hard electron spectrum in the fast-cooling regime, using a time-dependent emission model. It is shown that a very hard electron distribution $N'_{\rm e}(\gp)\propto\gp^{-p}$ with the spectral index $p\sim1.3$ is formed below the minimum energy of injection electron when inverse Compton scattering takes place in the Klein-Nishina regime, i.e., inverse Compton scattering of relativistic electrons on broad-line region radiation in flat spectrum radio quasars. This produces a very hard gamma-ray spectrum, and can reasonably exp…
We present the results of a study of the time-averaged spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of eight flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) present in the second catalog of high energy sources detected beyond 50 GeV by the {\it Fermi}-Large Area Telescope (2FHL). Both leptonic and hadronic scenarios are adopted to explain the multi-wavelength SEDs and we find them to be marginally consistent with the 2FHL spectra above 50 GeV. We derive the expected degree of X-ray and $γ$-ray polarizations both for the average and elevated activity states and note that: (i) a hadronic radiative model consistentl…
Obscuring winds driven away from active supermassive black holes are rarely seen due to their transient nature. They have been observed with multi-wavelength observations in a few Seyfert 1 galaxies and one broad absorption line radio-quiet quasar so far. An X-ray obscuration event in MR 2251-178 was caught in late 2020, which triggered multi-wavelength (NIR to X-ray) observations targeting this radio-quiet quasar. In the X-ray band, the obscurer leads to a flux drop in the soft X-ray band from late 2020 to early 2021. X-ray obscuration events might have a quasi-period of two decades consideri…
According to radiative models, radio galaxies and quasars are predicted to produce gamma rays from the earliest stages of their evolution. Exploring their high-energy emission is crucial for providing information on the most energetic processes, the origin and the structure of the newly born radio jets. Taking advantage of more than 11 years of \textit{Fermi}-LAT data, we investigate the gamma-ray emission of 162 young radio sources (103 galaxies and 59 quasars), the largest sample of young radio sources used so far for such a gamma-ray study. We separately analyze each source and perform the …
Flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) is the most luminous blazar at the GeV energies. In this paper, we probe the photon-axion-like particle (ALP) oscillation effect on the latest very-high-energy (VHE) $γ$-ray observations of the FSRQ 4C+21.35 (PKS 1222+216). The $γ$-ray spectra are measured by the collaborations Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes (MAGIC), Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), and Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT), which cover two activity VHE flares of 4C+21.35 in 2010 and 2014. We show the spectral energy distributions (SEDs)…
Almost 10 yr of $γ$-ray observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) have revealed extreme $γ$-ray outbursts from flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), temporarily making these objects the brightest $γ$-ray emitters in the sky. Yet, the location and mechanisms of the $γ$-ray emission remain elusive. We characterize long-term $γ$-ray variability and the brightest $γ$-ray flares of six FSRQs. Consecutively zooming in on the brightest flares, which we identify in an objective way through Bayesian blocks and a hill-climbing algorithm, we find variability on subhour time scales and as shor…
