ABSTRACT The detection of periodicity in the broadband non-thermal emission of blazars has so far been proven to be elusive. However, there are a number of scenarios that could lead to quasi-periodic ...variations in blazar light curves. For example, an orbital or thermal/viscous period of accreting matter around central supermassive black holes could, in principle, be imprinted in the multi-wavelength emission of small-scale blazar jets, carrying such crucial information about plasma conditions within the jet launching regions. In this paper, we present the results of our time series analysis of the ∼9.2 yr long, and exceptionally well-sampled, optical light curve of the BL Lac object OJ 287. The study primarily used the data from our own observations performed at the Mt. Suhora and Kraków Observatories in Poland, and at the Athens Observatory in Greece. Additionally, SMARTS observations were used to fill some of the gaps in the data. The Lomb-Scargle periodogram and the weighted wavelet Z-transform methods were employed to search for possible quasi-periodic oscillations in the resulting optical light curve of the source. Both methods consistently yielded a possible quasi-periodic signal around the periods of ∼400 and ∼800 days, the former with a significance (over the underlying colored noise) of . A number of likely explanations for this are discussed, with preference given to a modulation of the jet production efficiency by highly magnetized accretion disks. This supports previous findings and the interpretation reported recently in the literature for OJ 287 and other blazar sources.
ABSTRACT We report the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) detections of high-energy (>100 MeV) γ-ray emission from two recent optically bright classical novae, V1369 Centauri 2013 and V5668 Sagittarii ...2015. At early times, Fermi target-of-opportunity observations prompted by their optical discoveries provided enhanced LAT exposure that enabled the detections of γ-ray onsets beginning ∼2 days after their first optical peaks. Significant γ-ray emission was found extending to 39-55 days after their initial LAT detections, with systematically fainter and longer-duration emission compared to previous γ-ray-detected classical novae. These novae were distinguished by multiple bright optical peaks that encompassed the time spans of the observed γ-rays. The γ-ray light curves and spectra of the two novae are presented along with representative hadronic and leptonic models, and comparisons with other novae detected by the LAT are discussed.
Here we discuss the jet production efficiency in a sample of 17 young radio galaxies with measured redshifts, kinematic ages, and nuclear X-ray fluxes, for which the observed luminosities of compact ...jets/lobes and accretion disks correspond to the same episode of AGN activity. For the targets, we analyze the available optical data, estimating the bolometric luminosities of the accretion disks Lbol, and the black hole masses; we also derive the minimum jet kinetic luminosities, Pj. With this information we investigate the distribution of our sample in the three-dimensional space of the accretion rate λEdd Lbol/LEdd, the nuclear X-ray luminosity LX considered here as a limit for the emission of the disk coronae, and Pj, expressing the latter two parameters either in the Eddington units, or in the units of the disk luminosity. We find that (i) the accretion rate λEdd in our sample is distributed within a narrow range λEdd ∼ 0.01-0.2; (ii) the normalized jet power Pj/LEdd formally correlates with the accretion rate λEdd, with some saturation at the largest values λEdd > 0.05; (iii) the jet production efficiency spans a range from jet 10−3 up to ∼0.2 at maximum, which is below the level expected for magnetically arrested disks around maximally spinning black holes; and (iv) there is a diversification in jet on the hardness-intensity diagram LX/Lbol − λEdd, with the jets being produced most efficiently during the high/hard states, and suppressed during the soft states.
Abstract
A well-known active galaxy of the blazar type, S5 0716+714, is characterized by a particularly high-variability duty cycle on short timescales at optical frequencies. As such, the source was ...subjected to numerous monitoring programs, including both ground-based as well as spaceborne telescopes. On closer inspection of the most recent accumulation of the data provided by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, we have noticed several conspicuous events with “volcano-like” symmetric shape, all lasting for several hours, which closely resemble the achromatic events detected with the previous Whole Earth Blazar Telescope campaigns targeting the source. We propose that those peculiar features could be due to the gravitational microlensing of the innermost segments of the precessing jet in the system by a binary lens. We study the magnification pattern of the lens with the inverse-ray shooting method and the source trajectory parameters with the Python package
MuLensModel
. In this way, we were able to fit successfully all the selected events with a single lens, adjusting slightly only the source trajectory parameters for each lensing event. Based on the fit results, we postulate the presence of a massive binary lens containing an intermediate-mass black hole, possibly even a supermassive one, and a much less massive companion (by a factor of ≲0.01) located within the host galaxy of the blazar, most likely the central kiloparsec region. We discuss the major physical implications of the proposed scenario regarding the quest for the intermediate-mass and dual supermassive black holes in active galaxies.
ABSTRACT Here we present a new approach for constraining luminous blazars, incorporating fully time-dependent and self-consistent modeling of bright γ-ray flares of PKS 1510-089, resolved with ...Fermi-LAT, in the framework of the internal shock scenario. The results of our modeling imply the location of the γ-ray flaring zone to be outside of the broad-line region, namely around pc from the core for a free-expanding jet with the opening angle (where Γ is the jet bulk Lorentz factor), up to pc for a collimated outflow with . Moreover, under the condition, our modeling indicates the maximum efficiency of the jet production during the flares, with the total jet energy flux strongly dominated by protons and exceeding the available accretion power in the source. This is in contrast to the quiescence states of the blazar, characterized by lower jet kinetic power and an approximate energy equipartition between different plasma constituents. We demostrate how strictly simultaneous observations of flaring PKS 1510-089 at optical, X-ray, and GeV photon energies, on hourly timescales, augmented by extensive simulations as presented in this paper, may help to impose further precise constraints on the magnetization and opening angle of the emitting region. In addition, our detailed modeling implies that a non-uniformity of the Doppler factor across the jet, caused by the radial expansion of the outflow, may lead to a pronounced time distortion in the observed γ-ray light curves, resulting, in particular, in asymmetric flux profiles with substantially extended decay phases.
Deep Chandra observations of Pictor A Hardcastle, M. J; Lenc, E; Birkinshaw, M ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
02/2016, Letnik:
455, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We report on deep Chandra observations of the nearby broad-line radio galaxy Pictor A, which we combine with new Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) observations. The new X-ray data have a ...factor of 4 more exposure than observations previously presented and span a 15 yr time baseline, allowing a detailed study of the spatial, temporal and spectral properties of the AGN, jet, hotspot and lobes. We present evidence for further time variation of the jet, though the flare that we reported in previous work remains the most significantly detected time-varying feature. We also confirm previous tentative evidence for a faint counterjet. Based on the radio through X-ray spectrum of the jet and its detailed spatial structure, and on the properties of the counterjet, we argue that inverse-Compton models can be conclusively rejected, and propose that the X-ray emission from the jet is synchrotron emission from particles accelerated in the boundary layer of a relativistic jet. For the first time, we find evidence that the bright western hotspot is also time-varying in X-rays, and we connect this to the small-scale structure in the hotspot seen in high-resolution radio observations. The new data allow us to confirm that the spectrum of the lobes is in good agreement with the predictions of an inverse-Compton model and we show that the data favour models in which the filaments seen in the radio images are predominantly the result of spatial variation of magnetic fields in the presence of a relatively uniform electron distribution.
Here we present an analysis of the X-ray morphology and flux variability of the particularly bright and extended western hotspot in the nearest powerful (FR II-type) radio galaxy, Pictor A, based on ...data obtained with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The hotspot marks the position where the relativistic jet, which originates in the active nucleus of the system, interacts with the intergalactic medium, at hundreds-of-kiloparsec distances from the host galaxy, forming a termination shock that converts jet bulk kinetic energy to internal energy of the plasma. The hotspot is bright in X-rays due to the synchrotron emission of electrons accelerated to ultrarelativistic energies at the shock front. In our analysis, we make use of several Chandra observations targeting the hotspot over the last decades with various exposures and off-axis angles. For each pointing, we study in detail the point-spread function, which allows us to perform the image deconvolution, and to resolve the hotspot structure. In particular, the brightest segment of the X-ray hotspot is observed to be extended in the direction perpendicular to the jet, forming a thin, ∼3 kpc long, feature that we identify with the front of the reverse shock. The position of this feature agrees well with the position of the optical intensity peak of the hotspot, but is clearly offset from the position of the radio intensity peak, located ∼1 kpc further downstream. In addition, we measure the net count rate on the deconvolved images, finding a gradual flux decrease by about 30% over the 15 yr timescale of the monitoring.
We determine the radio and optical luminosity evolutions and the true distribution of the radio-loudness parameter R, defined as the ratio of the radio to optical luminosity, for a set of more than ...5000 quasars combining Sloan Digital Sky Survey optical and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty cm (FIRST) radio data. We apply the method of Efron and Petrosian to access the intrinsic distribution parameters, taking into account the truncations and correlations inherent in the data. We find that the population exhibits strong positive evolution with redshift in both wavebands, with somewhat greater radio evolution than optical. With the luminosity evolutions accounted for, we determine the density evolutions and local radio and optical luminosity functions. The intrinsic distribution of the radio-loudness parameter R is found to be quite different from the observed one and is smooth with no evidence of a bimodality in radio loudness for log R > or =, slanted -1. The results we find are in general agreement with the previous analysis of Singal et al., which used POSS-I optical and FIRST radio data.
ABSTRACT A recent Chandra observation of the nearby galaxy cluster Abell 585 has led to the discovery of an extended X-ray jet associated with the high-redshift background quasar B3 0727+409, a ...luminous radio source at redshift z = 2.5. This is one of only few examples of high-redshift X-ray jets known to date. It has a clear extension of about 12″, corresponding to a projected length of ∼100 kpc, with a possible hot spot located 35″ from the quasar. The archival high resolution Very Large Array maps surprisingly reveal no extended jet emission, except for one knot about 1 4 from the quasar. The high X-ray to radio luminosity ratio for this source appears consistent with the amplification expected from the inverse Compton radiative model. This serendipitous discovery may signal the existence of an entire population of similar systems with bright X-ray and faint radio jets at high redshift, a selection bias that must be accounted for when drawing any conclusions about the redshift evolution of jet properties and indeed about the cosmological evolution of supermassive black holes and active galactic nuclei in general.
We present an analysis of the new, deep (94 ksec) Chandra ACIS-S observation of radio-loud active galaxy CGCG 292−057, characterized by a LINER-type nucleus and a complex radio structure that ...indicates intermittent jet activity. On the scale of the host galaxy bulge, we detected excess X-ray emission with a spectrum best fit by a thermal plasma model with a temperature of ∼0.8 keV. We argue that this excess emission results from compression and heating of the hot diffuse fraction of the interstellar medium displaced by the expanding inner, ∼20 kpc-scale lobes observed in this restarted radio galaxy. The nuclear X-ray spectrum of the target clearly displays an ionized iron line at ∼6.7 keV, and is best fitted with a phenomenological model consisting of a power-law (photon index 1.8) continuum absorbed by a relatively large amount of cold matter (hydrogen column density 0.7 × 1023 cm−2), and partly scattered (fraction ∼3%) by ionized gas, giving rise to a soft excess component and K line from iron ions. We demonstrate that the observed X-ray spectrum, particularly the equivalent width of Fe XXV K (of order 0.3 keV) can in principle, be explained in a scenario involving a Compton-thin gas located at the scale of the broad-lined region in this source and photoionized by nuclear illumination. We compare the general spectral properties of the CGCG 292−057 nucleus, with those of other nearby LINERs studied in X-rays.
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