Title
Multiwavelength Variability Power Spectrum Analysis of the Blazars 3C 279 and PKS 1510-089 on Multiple Timescales
Date Issued
01 March 2022
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Goyal A.
Soida M.
Stawarz Ł.
Wiita P.J.
Nilsson K.
Jorstad S.
Marscher A.P.
Aller M.F.
Aller H.D.
Lähteenmäki A.
Hovatta T.
Zoła S.
Nalewajko K.
Tornikoski M.
Tammi J.
Hodges M.
Kiehlmann S.
Readhead A.C.S.
Max-Moerbeck W.
Lindfors E.
Ramazani V.F.
Reichart D.E.
Caton D.B.
Horan D.
Ojha R.
Van Zyl P.
University of Maryland
Publisher(s)
IOP Publishing Ltd
Abstract
We present the results of variability power spectral density (PSD) analysis using multiwavelength radio to GeV 3-ray light curves covering timescales of decades/years to days/minutes for the blazars 3C 279 and PKS 1510-089. The PSDs are modeled as single power laws, and the best-fit spectral shape is derived using the "power spectral response"method. With more than 10 yr of data obtained with weekly/daily sampling intervals, most of the PSDs cover 1/42-4 decades in temporal frequency; moreover, in the optical band, the PSDs cover 1/46 decades for 3C 279 due to the availability of intranight light curves. Our main results are the following: (1) on timescales ranging from decades to days, the synchrotron and the inverse-Compton spectral components, in general, exhibit red-noise (slope 1/42) and flicker-noise (slope 1/41) type variability, respectively; (2) the slopes of 3-ray variability PSDs obtained using a 3 hr integration bin and 3 weeks total duration exhibit a range between 1/41.4 and 1/42.0 (mean slope = 1.60 ± 0.70), consistent within errors with the slope on longer timescales; (3) comparisons of fractional variability indicate more power on timescales ≤100 days at 3-ray frequencies compared to longer wavelengths, in general (except between the 3-ray and optical wavelengths for PKS 1510-089); (4) the normalization of intranight optical PSDs for 3C 279 appears to be a simple extrapolation from longer timescales, indicating a continuous (single) process driving the variability at optical wavelengths; and (5) the emission at optical/infrared wavelengths may involve a combination of disk and jet processes for PKS 1510-089.
Volume
927
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Astronomía
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85127348067
Source
Astrophysical Journal
ISSN of the container
0004637X
Sponsor(s)
We thank the journal referee for insightful and constructive comments, which improved the clarity and content of the manuscript. We thank our internal Fermi-LAT reviewer, C. C. Cheung, for careful reading and several constructive comments on the manuscript. We also thank the Fermi-LAT publication board members, Philippe Bruel and Matthew Kerr, for useful comments. A.G. acknowledges the financial support from the Polish National Science Centre (NCN) through the grant 2018/29/B/ST9/02298. S.Z. acknowledges NCN grant 2018/29/B/ST9/01793. L. S. was supported by the Polish NSC grant 2016/22/E/ST9/00061. S.K. acknowledges support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 771282. A.G. acknowledges many discussions with FSSC help desk contact Nestor Mirabel regarding the LAT analysis. The Monte Carlo simulations of the light curves have been performed at the Prometheus cluster of the Cyfronet PL grid under the computing grants “lcsims2” and “plglcsims.” A.G. thanks Michał Ostrowski, Marek Sikora, and Stefan Wagner for useful discussions on the manuscript.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus