Quasi-Periodic Oscillations of ~ 15 minutes in the Optical Light Curve of the BL Lac S5 0716+714

Abstract

Over the course of three hours on 27 December 2008 we obtained optical (R-band) observations of the blazar S5 0716+714 at a very fast cadence of 10 s. Using several different techniques we find fluctuations with an approximately 15-minute quasi-period to be present in the first portion of that data at a > 3 sigma confidence level. This is the fastest QPO that has been claimed to be observed in any blazar at any wavelength. While this data is insufficient to strongly constrain models for such fluctuations, the presence of such a short timescale when the source is not in a very low state seems to favor the action of turbulence behind a shock in the blazar's relativistic jet.

12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

References in corpus (4)

• Periodic Oscillations in the Intra-day Optical Light Curves of the Blazar S5 0716+714
• Optical Intra-day Variability in Blazars
• Multi-color Near Infra-red Intra-day and Short Term Variability of the Blazar S5 0716+714
• Significant Limb-Brightening in the Inner Parsec of Markarian 501

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