We present the results of the power spectral density (PSD) analysis for the blazars Mrk\,421 and PKS\,2155$-$304, using good-quality, densely sampled light curves at multiple frequencies, covering 17 decades of the electromagnetic spectrum, and variability timescales from weeks up to a decade. The data were collected from publicly available archives of observatories at radio from OVRO, optical and infrared (B, V, R, I, J, H, and K-bands), X-rays from the {\it Swift} and the {\it Rossi} X-ray Timing Explorer, high and very high energy $γ-$rays from the {\it Fermi} and Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System as well as the High Energy Stereoscopic System. Our results are: (1) the power-law form of the variability power spectra at radio, infra-red and optical frequencies have slopes $\sim$1.8, indicative of random-walk type noise processes; (2) the power-law form of the variability power spectra at higher frequencies, from X-rays to very high energy \,$γ$-rays, however, have slopes $\sim$1.2, suggesting a flicker noise type process; (3) there is significantly more variability power at X-rays, high and very high energy $γ$-rays on timescales $\lesssim$ 100 days, as compared to lower energies. Our results do not easily fit into a simple model, in which a single compact emission zone is dominating the radiative output of the blazars across all the timescales probed in our analysis. Instead, we argue that the frequency-dependent shape of the variability power spectra points out a more complex picture, with highly inhomogeneous outflow producing non-thermal emission over an extended, stratified volume.
We reviewed X-ray flux and spectral variability properties studied to date by various X-ray satellites for Mrk 421 and PKS 2155-304, which are TeV emitting blazars. Mrk 421 and PKS 2155-304 are the most X-ray luminous blazars in the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively. Blazars show flux and spectral variabilities in the complete electromagnetic spectrum on diverse timescales ranging from a few minutes to hours, days, weeks, months and even several years. The flux and spectral variability on different timescales can be used to constrain the size of the emitting region, estimate the …
We present a large collection of photometric data on the Blazar PKS 0537-441 in the VRIJHK bands taken in 2004-2009. At least three flare-like episodes with months duration, and >3 mag amplitude are apparent. The spectral energy distribution is consistent with a power law, and no indication of a thermal component is found. We searched for short time scale variability, and an interesting event was identified in the J band, with a duration of ~25 minutes.
PKS 1424+240 is a BL-Lac blazar with unknown redshift detected at high-energy gamma rays by Fermi-LAT with a hard spectrum. It was first detected at very-high-energy by VERITAS and latter confirmed by MAGIC. Attempts to find limits on its redshift include three estimations by modeling gamma-ray observations, and one obtained by analyzing Lyb and Lyg absorption lines observed in the far-UV spectra (from HST/COS) caused by absorbing gas along the line of sight. They allowed to constrain the redshift range to 0:6<z<1:19, which places PKS 1424+240 in the very interesting condition to be one of the…
Variable gamma-ray emission has been discovered in five Radio-loud Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. This has clearly demonstrated that these NLSy1 galaxies do have relativistic jets similar to two other cases of gamma-ray emitting Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), namely blazars and radio galaxies. We present here our results on the multi-band analysis of two gamma-ray emitting NLSy1 galaxies namely PKS 1502+036 (z = 0.409) and PKS 2004-447 (z = 0.240) using archival data. We generate multi-band long term light cu…
The jet properties of Mrk 501 and 3C 279 are derived by fitting the broadband spectral energy distributions with the lepton models. The derived gamma_b (the break Lorenz factor of the electron distribution) are 10^4-10^6 for Mrk 501 and 200~600 for 3C 279 and the magnetic field strength (B) of Mrk 501 is usually one order of magnitude lower than that of 3C 279, but their Doppler factors (delta) are comparable. A spectral variation feature that the peak luminosity is correlated with the peak frequency, which is opposite to the blazar sequence, is observed in the two sources. We find that (1) th…
Evidence for the presence of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the optical polarization of the blazar PKS 2155-304, during a period of enhanced gamma-ray brightness, is presented. The periodogram of the polarized flux revealed the existence of a prominent peak at $T\sim 13$ min, detected at >99.7% significance, and $T\sim 30$ min, which was nominally significant at >99%. This is the first evidence of QPOs in the polarization of an active galactic nucleus, potentially opening up a new avenue of studying this phenomenon.
We report the results of flux and spectral variability studies of all seven {\it Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR)} observations of TeV $γ-$ray emitting blazar Markarian (or Mrk) 501. We found strong evidence of intraday variability in 3-79 keV X-ray light curves (LCs) of Mrk 501 during four out of these seven observations. We examined spectral variability using a model-independent hardness-ratio analysis and found a general "harder-when-brighter" behaviour in two observations. We also investigated the nature of 3-79 keV X-ray spectra of TeV blazar Mrk 501 and found that five out …
Since 2016 October, the active galaxy PKS 2247-131 has undergone a gamma-ray outburst, which we studied using data obtained with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The emission arises from a relativistic jet in PKS 2247-131, as an optical spectrum only shows a few weak absorption lines, typical of the BL Lacertae sub-class of the blazar class of active galactic nuclei. Here we report a ~34.5 day quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in the emission after the initial flux peak of the outburst. Compared to one-year time-scale QPOs, previously identified in blazars in Fermi energies, PKS 2247-131 ex…
We investigate the position of the radio core in a blazar by multi-epoch astrometric observations at 43 GHz. Using the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA), we have conducted four adjacent observations in February 2011 and another four in October 2011, and succeeded in measuring the position of the radio core in the TeV blazar Mrk 501 relative to a distant compact quasar NRAO 512. During our observations, we find that (1) there is no positional change within ~0.2 mas or ~2.0 pc de-projected with $\pm1σ$ error for the weighted-mean phase-referenced positions of Mrk 501 core relative to N…
We examine the gamma-ray quasi-periodic variability of PKS 2155-304 with the latest publicly available \emph{Fermi}-LAT Pass 8 data which covers the years from 2008 August to 2016 October. We produce the light curves in two ways, i.e., the exposure-weighted aperture photometry and the maximum likelihood optimization. The light curves are then analyzed by using Lomb-Scargle Periodogram (LSP) and Weighted Wavelet Z-transform (WWZ); and the results reveal a significant quasi-periodicity with a period of $1.74\pm0.13$ years and a significance of $\sim$ 4.9 $σ$. The constraint of multifrequencies q…
We present long-term observations of several VHE (E > 100 GeV) blazars with VERITAS, together with contemporaneous Swift and RXTE X-ray data. The observed targets include Mrk 421, Mrk 501, 1ES 2344+514. Strong flux and spectral variability is seen in Mrk 421 on nightly time-scales between January and June 2008, revealing a highly correlated X-ray to GeV/TeV connection. Modest X-ray variability is evident in Mrk 501. Observations of 1ES 2344+514 in December 2007 show VHE gamma-ray and X-ray flux doubling on nightly time-scales.
The radiation mechanism of very high energy $γ$-ray emission from blazars and crucial parameters like magnetic field, and size of the emitting region are not well understood yet. To understand the above mentioned properties of blazars, we observed five nearby TeV $γ$-ray emitting blazars (Mrk421, Mrk501, 1ES2344+514, 1ES1218+304 and 3C454.3) and one radio galaxy (M87) using the High Altitude GAmma Ray (HAGAR) telescope. HAGAR is an array of seven telescopes located at Hanle, India to detect Cherenkov light caused by extensive air showers initiated by $γ$-rays. Mrk421 was observed to undergo on…
The current generation of Cherenkov telescopes, together with Fermi-LAT, have greatly increased our knowledge of $γ$-ray blazars. Among them, the high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object (HBL) PKS1424+240 (z $\simeq$ 0.6) is the farthest persistent emitter of very-high-energy (VHE; E $\geq$ 100 GeV) $γ$-ray photons. Current emission models can satisfactorily reproduce typical blazar emission assuming that the dominant emission process is synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) in HBLs; and external-inverse-Compton (EIC) in LBLs and FSRQs. Hadronic models are also able to correctly reproduce the $γ$-ray…
We calculate the gamma-ray spectrum of a distant blazar, PKS 1424+240, located at redshift z > 0.6035, where the optical depth to primary gamma rays of the highest observed energies is τ> 5. The spectral shape agrees well with what is expected from secondary gamma rays produced in line-of-sight interactions of cosmic rays with background photons. In particular, we find an acceptable agreement with the source redshifts in the range 0.6 < z < 1.3. We discuss the implications of existing and future data for models of extragalactic background light (EBL) and for the redshift of the source. In the …
We report on multi-band photometric and polarimetric observations of the blazars AO 0235+164 and PKS 1510-089. These two blazars were active in 2008 and 2009, respectively. In these active states, prominent short flares were observed in both objects, having amplitudes of >1 mag within 10 d. The $V-J$ color became bluer when the objects were brighter in these flares. On the other hand, the color of PKS 1510-089 exhibited a trend that it became redder when it was brighter, except for its prominent flare. This redder-when-brighter trend can be explained by the strong contribution of thermal emiss…
A time-dependent Synchrotron Self Compton model (SSC) which is able to motivate the used electron spectra of many SSC models as a balance of acceleration and radiative losses is introduced. Using stochastic acceleration as well as Fermi-I processes even electron spectra with a rising part can be explained, which are mandatory to fit the lowstate spectral energy distribution (SED) of PKS 2155-304 as constrained from Fermi LAT observations. Due to the time resolution the outburst of PKS 2155-304 observed by H.E.S.S. in 2006 can be modelled selfconsistently as fluctuations along the jet axis with…
A study of the gravitationally lensed blazar PKS 1830-211 was carried out using multi waveband data collected by Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT and Swift-UVOT telescopes between MJD 58400 to MJD 58800 (9 Oct 2018 to 13 Nov 2019). Flaring states were identified by analysing the gamma-ray light curve. Simultaneous multi-waveband SED were obtained for those flaring periods. A cross-correlation analysis of the multi-waveband data was carried out, which suggested a common origin of the gamma-ray and X-ray emission. The broadband emission mechanism was studied by modelling the SED using a leptonic model. Phys…
The gamma-ray blazar PKS 0208-512 has shown strong periods of flaring, at all frequencies from radio to gamma-ray. This has led to its inclusion in the TANAMI project, which tracks the jets of southern AGN using VLBI as well as supporting flux density monitoring programs. Time series analysis of the light curves generated by such monitoring is presented and discussed and VLBI maps of the source are used to show the evolution in the jet. A frequency dependent lag is observed between flaring at different radio frequencies which does not appear to correspond to purely optical depth effects. Major…
We report our search for quasi-periodic signals in long-term optical and $γ$-ray data for the blazar PKS~1222+216, where the data are from the Steward Observatory blazar monitoring program and the all-sky survey with the Large Area Telescope onboard the {\it Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope}, respectively. A quasi-periodic signal, with a period of $\simeq$420\,days and a significance of $>5σ$, is found in the measurements of the optical linear polarization degree for the source, while no similar signals are found in the optical and $γ$-ray light curves covering approximately the same time perio…
Flux distribution is an important tool to understand the variability processes in active galactic nuclei. We now have available a great deal of observational evidences pointing towards the presence of log-normal components in the high energy light curves, and different models have been proposed to explain these data. Here, we collect some of the recent developments on this topic using the well-known blazar Mrk 501 as example of complex and interesting aspects coming from its flux distribution in different energy ranges and at different timescales. The observational data we refer to are those c…
Here we report our recent study on the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the high frequency BL Lac object Mrk 421 in different luminosity states. We used a full-fledged chi2-minimization procedure instead of more commonly used "eyeball" fit to model the observed flux of the source (from optical to very high energy), with a Synchrotron-Self-Compton (SSC) emission mechanism. Our study shows that the synchrotron power and peak frequency remain constant with varying source activity, and the magnetic field decreases with the source activity while the break energy of electron spectrum and the Do…
The variability of the high-frequency peaked BL Lac object PKS 2155-304 is studied using almost 10 years of optical, X-ray and gamma-rays data. Publicly available data have been gathered and analyzed with the aim to characterize the variability and to search for log-normality or periodic behavior. The optical and X-ray range follow a log-normal process; a hint for a periodicity of about 700 days is found in optical and in the high energy (100 MeV <E<300 GeV) range. A one zone, time-dependent, synchrotron self-Compton model is successfully used to reproduce the evolution with energy of the vari…
PKS 2155-304 is a blazar located in the Southern Hemisphere, monitored with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) at very high energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) $γ$ rays every year since 2002. Thanks to the large data set collected in the VHE range and simultaneous coverage in optical, ultraviolet (UV), X-ray and high energy $γ$-ray ranges, this object is an excellent laboratory to study spectral and temporal variability in blazars. However, despite many years of dense monitoring, the nature of the variability observed in PKS 2155-304 remains puzzling. In this paper, we discuss the complex spec…
We report a nominally high-confidence $γ$-ray quasi-periodic modulation in the blazar PKS 0301$-$243. For this target, we analyze its \emph{Fermi}-LAT Pass 8 data covering from 2008 August to 2017 May. Two techniques, i.e., the maximum likelihood optimization and the exposure-weighted aperture photometry, are used to build the $γ$-ray light curves. Then both the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram and the Weighted Wavelet Z-transform are applied to the light curves to search for period signals. A quasi-periodicity with a period of $2.1\pm0.3$ yr appears at the significance level of $\sim5σ$, although it …
Various attempts have been made in the literature at describing the origin and the physical mechanisms behind flaring events in blazars with radiative emission models, but detailed properties of multi-wavelength (MWL) light curves still remain difficult to reproduce. We have developed a versatile radiative code, based on a time-dependent treatment of particle acceleration, escape and radiative cooling, allowing us to test different scenarios to connect the continuous low-state emission self-consistently with that during flaring states. We consider flares as weak perturbations of the quiescent …
We report a detailed analysis of $γ$-ray data of 2FGL J0509.9+1802 observed by the Large Area Telescope on board {\it Fermi} satellite, especially focusing on April 2013 when extraordinary $γ$-ray variability has been detected. Localization of $γ$-ray emission during this epoch suggests that the $γ$-ray source only associates with PKS 0507+17. The $γ$-ray emission of PKS 0507+17 is identified at the first time. The daily peak flux is over two orders of magnitude higher than the first two-year average flux, giving an isotropic $γ$-ray luminosity of $\simeq4\times10^{48}$ erg $\rm s^{-1}$. Rapid…
We propose a scenario for self-consistent interpretation of GeV - TeV spectrum of a distant blazar PKS 1424+240. In this scenario, ultra-high energy (UHE) protons are assumed to exist in the blazar jet and produce gamma rays through synchrotron emission emitted by relativistic protons and pair cascades (resulted from $pγ$ interaction); meanwhile, some of these UHE protons may escape from the jet and are injected into intergalactic space. Therefore, we assume that UHE cosmic rays (CR) originate from relativistic protons in the jet and use energy-independent escape timescale to obtain UHECR inje…
The synchrotron peak of the X-ray bright High Energy Peaked Blazar (HBL) PKS 2155$-$304 occurs in the UV-EUV region and hence its X-ray emission (0.6--10 keV) lies mostly in the falling part of the synchrotron hump. We aim to study the X-ray emission of PKS 2155$-$304 during different intensity states in 2009$-$2014 using XMM$-$Newton satellite. We studied the spectral curvature of all of the observations to provide crucial information on the energy distribution of the non-thermal particles. Most of the observations show curvature or deviation from a single power-law and can be well modeled by…
We study the production of VHE emission in blazars as a superposition of a steady component from a baryonic jet and a time- dependent contribution from an inner e-e+ beam launched by the black hole. Both primary relativistic electrons and protons are injected in the jet, and the particle distributions along it are found by solving a one-dimensional transport equation that accounts for convection and cooling. The short-timescale variability of the emission is explained by local pair injections in turbulent regions of the inner beam. For illustration, we apply the model to the case of PKS 2155-3…
Context: The nearby (z=0.031) TeV blazar Mrk421 was reported to be in a high state of flux activity since November, 2009. Aims: To investigate possible changes in the physical parameters of Mrk421 during its high state of activity using multiwavelength data. Methods: We have observed this source in bright state using High Altitude GAmma Ray (HAGAR) telescope array at energies above 250 GeV during February 13 - 19, 2010. Optical, X-ray and gamma-ray archival data are also used to obtain the SEDs and light curves. Results: Mrk421 was found to undergo one of its brightest flaring episodes on Febr…
Context. Blazars are a subset of active galactic nuclei (AGN) with jets that are oriented along our line of sight. Variability and spectral energy distribution (SED) studies are crucial tools for understanding the physical processes responsible for observed AGN emission. Aims. We report peculiar behaviour in the bright gamma-ray blazar PKS 1424-418 and use its strong variability to reveal information about the particle acceleration and interactions in the jet. Methods. Correlation analysis of the extensive optical coverage by the ATOM telescope and nearly continuous gamma-ray coverage by the F…
A study of blazar PKS 1424-418 was carried out using multi waveband data collected by Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT, Swift-UVOT and SMARTS telescopes between MJD 56000 to MJD 56600 (14 Mar 2012 to 4 Nov 2013). Two flaring episodes were identified by analysing the gamma ray light curve. Simultaneous multi waveband Spectral Energy Distributions (SED) were obtained for those two flaring periods. A cross-correlation analysis of IR-Optical and $γ$-ray data suggested the origin of these emissions from the same region. We have set a lower limit for the Doppler factor using the highest energy photon observed f…
Blazars are highly variable, radio-loud active galactic nuclei with jets oriented at a small angle to the line of sight. The observed emission of these sources covers the whole electromagnetic spectrum from radio frequencies up to the high or even very high energy gamma-ray range. To understand the complex physics of these objects, multi-wavelength observations and studies on the variability and correlations between different wavelengths are therefore essential. The long-term multi-frequency observations of PKS 0048-097 are analysed here to investigate its spectral and temporal features. The s…
Some extensions to the Standard Model lead to the introduction of Lorentz symmetry breaking terms, expected to induce deviations from Lorentz symmetry around the Planck scale. A parameterization of effects due to Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) can be introduced by adding an effective term to the photon dispersion relation. This affects the kinematics of electron-positron pair creation by TeV $γ$ rays on the extragalactic background light (EBL) and translates into modifications of the standard EBL opacity for the TeV photon spectra of extragalactic sources. Exclusion limits are presented, o…
There is an increasing number of observational evidence that very high energy gamma-rays in radio-loud active galactic nuclei are produced in the direct vicinity of a supermassive black hole (SMBH), close to the base of a relativistic jet. In the case of some blazars, the angle between the jet axis and the observer's line of sight is smaller than the angular extent of the jet. Gamma-rays that are produced close to SMBH therefore have to propagate in the nonthermal radiation of the extended jet before reaching the observer. This gamma-ray emission can be strongly absorbed in the extended jet ra…
Long-term gamma-ray variability of a non-blazar Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) PKS 0521-36 is investigated by using Fermi-LAT pass 8 data covering from 2008 August to 2021 March. The results show that the histogram of the gamma-ray fluxes follows a log-normal distribution. Interestingly, in the analysis of about 5.8-year (from MJD 56317 to 58447) LAT data between two outbursts (occurring during 2012 October and 2019 May respectively), a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) with a period of about 1.1 years (about 5 sigma of significance) is found in the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram (LSP), the Weighted W…
We report on the detection of excess hard X-ray emission from the TeV BL Lac object Mrk421 during the historical low-flux state of the source in January 2013. NuSTAR observations were conducted four times between MJD56294 and MJD56312 with a total exposure of 80.9 ksec. The source flux in the 3-40 keV range was nearly constant except for MJD56307, when the average flux level increased by a factor of three. Throughout the exposure, the X-ray spectra of Mrk421 were well represented by a steep power-law model with a photon index of 3.1, although a significant excess was noted above 20 keV in the …
Rapid variability on a time scale much faster than the light-crossing time of the central supermassive black hole has been seen in TeV emission from the blazar PKS 2155-304. The most plausible explanation of this puzzling observation is that the radiating fluid in the relativistic jet is divided into a large number of sub-regions which move in random directions with relativistic speeds. We consider two versions of this "jets in a jet" model. In the first, the "subjets" model, stationary regions in the mean jet frame emit relativistic subjets that produce the observed radiation. The variability…
Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO) originating from innermost regions of blazars can provide unique perspective of some of the burning issues in blazar studies including disk-jet connection, launch of relativistic jets from the central engine, and other extreme conditions near the fast rotating supermassive black holes. However, a number of hurdles associated with searching QPOs in blazars e.g., red-noise dominance, modest significance of the detection and periodic modulation lasting for only a couple of cycles, make it difficult to estimate the true significance of the detection. In this work,…
We present an extensive study of 72 archival Chandra light curves of the high-frequency-peaked type blazar Mrk 421, the first strong extragalactic object to be detected at TeV energies. Between 2000 and 2015 Mrk 421 often displayed intraday variability in the 0.3-10.0 keV energy range, as quantified through fractional variability amplitudes that range up to 21.3 per cent. A variability duty cycle of ~84 per cent is present in these data. Variability timescales, with values ranging from 5.5 to 30.5 ks, appear to be present in seven of these observations. Discrete correlation function analyses s…
The results of the first ever contemporaneous multi-wavelength observation campaign on the BL Lac object PKS2155-304 involving Swift, NuSTAR, Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. are reported. The use of these instruments allows us to cover a broad energy range, important for disentangling the different radiative mechanisms. The source, observed from June 2013 to October 2013, was found in a low flux state with respect to previous observations but exhibited highly significant flux variability in the X-rays. The high-energy end of the synchrotron spectrum can be traced up to 40 keV without significant contam…
Time variability of the photon flux is a known feature of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and in particular of blazars. The high frequency peaked BL Lac (HBL) object PKS 2155-304 is one of the brightest sources in the TeV band and has been monitored regularly with different instruments and in particular with the H.E.S.S. experiment above 200 GeV for more than 11 years. These data together with the observations of other instruments and monitoring programs like SMARTS (optical), Swift-XRT/RXTE/XMM-Newton (X-ray) and Fermi-LAT (100 MeV < E < 300 GeV) are used to characterize the variability of this …
Context: The $γ$-ray blazar PKS 2155-304 has attracted considerable attention because of its extreme TeV variability characteristics during an exceptional flaring period in 2006. Among the observed key findings are (i) a minimum variability timescale as short as $\sim 200$ sec and (ii) highly variable TeV emission, which in the frequency interval [$10^{-4}$ Hz, $10^{-2}$ Hz] can be described by a log-normal distribution and suggests an underlying multiplicative (and not additive) process. Aims: Simultaneously accounting for these findings appears difficult within conventional approaches. Follo…
By cross-correlating both the Parkes Catalogue and the Second Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources with the arrival direction of the track-type neutrinos detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, we find the flat-spectrum blazar PKS 0723-008 as a good candidate for the high-energy neutrino event 5 (ID5). Apart from its coordinates matching those of ID5, PKS 0723-008 exhibits further interesting radio properties. Its spectrum is flat up to high Planck frequencies, and it produced a fivefold-increased radio flux density through the last decade. Based upon these radio properties we propose a s…
We have examined 40 NuSTAR light curves (LCs) of five TeV emitting high synchrotron peaked blazars: 1ES 0229+200, Mrk 421, Mrk 501, 1ES 1959+650 and PKS 2155-304. Four of the blazars showed intraday variability in the NuSTAR energy range of 3-79 keV. Using an auto correlation function analysis we searched for intraday variability timescales in these LCs and found indications of several between 2.5 and 32.8 ks in eight LCs of Mrk 421, a timescale around 8.0 ks for one LC of Mrk 501, and timescales of 29.6 ks and 57.4 ks in two LCs of PKS 2155-304. The other two blazars' LCs do not show any evid…
We investigate the formation of TeV spectrum of a distant blazar PKS 1424+240 residing at a redshift $z\geq0.6$ in two scenarios in the frame of a lepto-hadronic jet model taking both the uncertainties of the extragalactic background light (EBL) and its redshift into account. In the first scenario, TeV emission is attributed to the synchrotron emission of pair cascades resulting from $pγ$ interaction; in the second scenario, TeV emission is attributed to the proton-synchrotron emission, and an internal absorption due to interaction with the photons around the jet is included. The results show …
We report the discovery of an anomalous flare in a bright blazar, namely, PKS 0208-512, one of the targets of the Yale/SMARTS optical-near-infrared (OIR) monitoring program of Fermi blazars. We identify three intervals during which PKS 0208-512 undergoes outbursts at OIR wavelengths lasting for longer than 3 months. Its brightness increases and then decreases again by at least 1 magnitude in these intervals. In contrast, the source undergoes bright phases in GeV energies lasting for longer than 1 month during intervals 1 and 3 only. The OIR outburst during interval 2 is comparable in brightnes…
Following the detection of a $\sim$300 TeV neutrino potentially associated with the flaring blazar TXS 0506+056, an excess of neutrinos around its position in 2014-2015 was revealed by IceCube. However, its contemporaneous quiescence in $γ$-rays is challenging to interpret consistently. Meanwhile, the blazar PKS 0502+049, positioned within the neutrino localization uncertainties, was seen to be flaring in $γ$-rays. We show that dense, line-emitting gas clouds that interact with its jet and induce cosmic ray acceleration and hadronuclear interaction can plausibly explain the 2014-2015 neutrino …
We have considered the \textit{Fermi} $γ$-ray light curve of the blazar PKS 0537-441 during a high state extending from 2008/08/10 to 2011/08/27. The periodogram exhibits a peak at T $\sim$ 280 d, with a significance of $\sim$ 99.7 \%. A peak of similar relevance at $\frac{1}{2}$ T is found in the optical light curves. Considering the entire duration of the \textit{ Fermi} light curve 2008-2015, no significant peak is revealed, while the optical one remains meaningful. Comparing with recent observations of PKS 2155-304 and PG 1553+113 it seems that month-year oscillations can characterize some…
Aims: We aim at investigating the time-behaviour of a sample of gamma-ray blazars. We present the results from a 13 month-long optical photometry monitoring campaign of the blazars PKS 0048-097, PKS 0754+100, HB89 0827+243, PKS 0851+202, PKS 1253-055, PKS1510-089, PKS 1749+096, PKS 2230+114 and PKS 2251+158. Methods: We analyse the variability of each object, focusing on different time-scales (long term, short term, and microvariability), in an attempt to achieve a statistical comparison of the results. Results: After applying a geometric model to explain the variability results, we found that…
We report multi-wavelength (IR-O, UV, X-ray, gamma-ray) data of the flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) PKS B1424-418 (z=1.52) gathered during an active phase in 2013 April . As for a few other cases of FSRQs reported in literature, the detection by the Large Area Telescope onboard Fermi of gamma rays with energy above 10 GeV indicates that the emission likely occurs beyond the highly opaque (tau ~10) broad line region. This conclusion is strengthened by a model fit to the spectral energy distribution, which allows us to locate the emission region even beyond the distance generally assumed for t…
We present multiwavelength observations of the ultraluminous blazar-type radio loud quasar PKS 0528+134 in quiescence during the period July to December 2009. Significant flux variability on a time scale of several hours was found in the optical regime, accompanied by a weak trend of spectral softening with increasing flux. We suggest that this might be the signature of a contribution from the accretion disk at the blue end of the optical spectrum. The optical flux is weakly polarized with rapid variations of the degree and direction of polarization, while the polarization of the 43 GHz radio …
The broad band optical/UV and X-ray spectra of blazars have been often modeled as synchrotron component arising from a broken power-law distribution of electrons. A broken power-law distribution is expected, since the high energy electrons undergo radiative losses effectively. The change in the energy index should then be approximately 1 and corresponds to a spectral index difference of 0.5. However, one of the long outstanding problems has been that the observed index change is significantly different. On the other hand, recent high quality observations of blazars suggest that their local spe…
