S5 0716+714 : GeV variability study

Abstract

The GeV observations by Fermi-LAT give us the opportunity to characterize the high-energy emission (100 MeV - 300 GeV) variability properties of the BL Lac object S5 0716+714. In this study, we performed flux and spectral analysis of more than 3 year long (August 2008 to April 2012) Fermi-LAT data of the source. During this period, the source exhibits two different modes of flux variability with characteristic timescales of ~75 and ~140 days, respectively. We also notice that the flux variations are characterized by a weak spectral hardening. The GeV spectrum of the source shows a clear deviation from a simple power law, and is better explained by a broken power law. Similar to other bright Fermi blazars, the break energy does not vary with the source flux during the different activity states. We discuss several possible scenarios to explain the observed spectral break.

21 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in Advances in Space Research journal

References in corpus (6)

• Fermi Large Area Telescope Bright Gamma-ray Source List
• GeV breaks in blazars as a result of gamma-ray absorption within the broad-line region
• Simultaneous X-ray and optical observations of S5 0716+714 after the outburst of March 2004
• Does the Blazar Gamma-Ray Spectrum Harden with Increasing Flux? Analysis of 9 Years of EGRET Data
• Disentangling the synchrotron and Inverse Compton variability in the X-ray emission of the intermediate BL Lac object S5 0716+71
• AGILE detection of variable gamma-ray activity from the blazar S5 0716+714 in September-October 2007

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Constraining the location of rapid gamma-ray flares in the FSRQ 3C 273
• The connection between the radio jet and the gamma-ray emission in the radio galaxy 3C 120
• Jet outflow and gamma-ray emission correlations in S5 0716+714
• Connection between inner jet kinematics and broadband flux variability in the BL Lac object S5 0716+714
• Study of correlation between optical flux and polarization variations in BL Lac objects
• Optical variability in IBL S5 0716+714 during the 2013-2015 outburst
• The Radio and $\gamma$-ray Variability Analysis of S5 0716+714
• Location and origin of gamma-rays in blazars