Evidence for two Lognormal States in Multi-wavelength Flux Variation of FSRQ PKS 1510-089

Abstract

We present a systematic characterization of multi-wavelength emission from blazar PKS 1510-089 using well-sampled data at infrared(IR)-optical, X-ray and $\gamma$-ray energies. The resulting flux distributions, except at X-rays, show two distinct lognormal profiles corresponding to a high and a low flux level. The dispersions exhibit energy dependent behavior except for the LAT $\gamma$-ray and optical B-band. During the low level flux states, it is higher towards the peak of the spectral energy distribution, with $\gamma$-ray being intrinsically more variable followed by IR and then optical, consistent with mainly being a result of varying bulk Lorentz factor. On the other hand, the dispersions during the high state are similar in all bands expect optical B-band, where thermal emission still dominates. The centers of distributions are a factor of $\sim 4$ apart, consistent with anticipation from studies of extragalactic $\gamma$-ray background with the high state showing a relatively harder mean spectral index compared to the low state.

arXiv commentaccepted for publication in the ApJL (13 pages, 2 Figures and 3 Tables)

References in corpus (37)

• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• On characterising the variability properties of X-ray light curves from active galaxies
• Active Galactic Nuclei as scaled-up Galactic black holes
• BL Lac Objects in the Synchrotron Proton Blazar Model
• Non-linear X-ray variability in X-ray binaries and active galaxies
• The power of relativistic jets is larger than the luminosity of their accretion disks
• MOJAVE. X. Parsec-Scale Jet Orientation Variations and Superluminal Motion in AGN
• Combined Long and Short Timescale X-ray Variability of NGC4051 with RXTE and XMM-Newton
• Gamma-ray Light Curves and Variability of Bright Fermi-Detected Blazars
• SMARTS optical and infrared monitoring of 12 gamma-ray bright blazars
• The Origin of the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background and Implications for Dark-Matter Annihilation
• Accretion states and radio loudness in Active Galactic Nuclei: analogies with X-ray binaries
• The Gamma-Ray Background from Blazars: A New Look
• GASS: The Parkes Galactic All-Sky Survey. Update: improved correction for instrumental effects and new data release
• Automated Solar Flare Statistics in Soft X-rays over 37 Years of GOES Observations - The Invariance of Self-Organized Criticality during Three Solar Cycles
• Innermost collimation structure of the M87 jet down to ~ten Schwarzschild radii
• Similarity of the Optical-IR and Gamma-Ray Time Variability of Fermi Blazars
• VHE gamma-ray emission of PKS 2155-304: spectral and temporal variability
• Multiwavelength Observations of the Powerful Gamma-ray Quasar PKS 1510-089: Clues on the Jet Composition
• Equipartition Gamma-Ray Blazars and the Location of the Gamma-Ray Emission Site in 3C 279
• Components of the Extragalactic Gamma Ray Background
• Stochastic Modeling of the Fermi/LAT Gamma-ray Blazar Variability
• The brightest gamma-ray flares of blazars
• Possible Production of High-Energy Gamma Rays from Proton Acceleration in the Extragalactic Radio Source Markarian 501
• The role of fast magnetic reconnection on the radio and gamma-ray emission from the nuclear regions of microquasars and low luminosity AGNs
• Lognormal variability in BL Lacertae
• Extremely violent optical microvariability in blazars: fact or fiction?
• Flux and Photon Spectral Index Distributions of Fermi-LAT Blazars And Contribution To The Extragalactic Gamma-ray Background
• Modelling the VHE flare of 3C 279 using one zone leptonic model
• New constraints on the structure and dynamics of black hole jets
• Rapid optical variability in blazar S5 0716+71 during 2010 March
• High Energy Emission Processes in OJ 287 during 2009 Flare
• Time series analysis of gamma-ray blazars and implications for the central black-hole mass
• Brightest Fermi-LAT Flares of PKS 1222+216: Implications on Emission and Acceleration Processes
• A Determination of the Gamma-ray Flux and Photon Spectral Index Distributions of Blazars from the Fermi-LAT 3LAC
• Log-Normal Distributions in Cygnus X-1: Possible Physical Link with Gamma-Ray Bursts and Blazars

Cited by in corpus (33)

• Stochastic modeling of multiwavelength variability of the classical BL Lac object OJ 287 on timescales ranging from decades to hours
• Log-normal flux distribution of bright Fermi blazars
• Gamma-ray Flux Distribution and Non-linear behavior of Four LAT Bright AGNs
• The flux distribution of individual blazars as a key to understand the dynamics of particle acceleration
• Characteristic Variability Timescales in the Gamma-ray Power Spectra of Blazars
• Multi-waveband quasi-periodic oscillations in the light curves of blazar CTA 102 during its 2016-2017 optical outburst
• A decade of multi-wavelength observations of the TeV blazar 1ES 1215+303: Extreme shift of the synchrotron peak frequency and long-term optical-gamma-ray flux increase
• A Possible $\gamma$-ray Quasi-periodic Oscillation of $\sim$ 314 days in the Blazar OJ 287
• Observation of a sudden cessation of a very-high-energy gamma-ray flare in PKS 1510-089 with H.E.S.S. and MAGIC in May 2016
• Multiwavelength variability study and search for periodicity of PKS 1510-089
• Broadband study of blazar 1ES 1959+650 during flaring state in 2016
• On the spectral curvature of VHE blazar 1ES\,1011+496: Effect of spatial particle diffusion
• Broad line region and black hole mass of PKS 1510-089 from spectroscopic reverberation mapping
• Blazar variability power spectra from radio up to TeV photon energies: Mrk 421 and PKS 2155-304
• Multi-wavelength Temporal Variability of the Blazar 3C 454.3 during 2014 Activity Phase
• Study of long-term flux and photon Index distributions of blazars using RXTE observations
• A Multi-wavelength View of OJ 287 Activity in 2015-2017: Implications of Spectral Changes on Central-engine Models and MeV-GeV Emission Mechanism
• On the distribution of fluxes of gamma-ray blazars: hints for a stochastic process?
• The variability of blazars throughout the electromagnetic spectrum
• The detection of possible transient Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the $\gamma$-ray light curve of PKS 0244-470 and 4C+38.41
• Broadband study of OQ 334 during its flaring state
• Optical variability of the blazar 3C 371: from minute to year timescales
• Blazar OJ 287 After First VHE Activity: Tracking the Re-emergence of the HBL like Component in 2020
• Temporal and spectral study of PKS 0208-512 during the 2019-2020 flare
• Multi-wavelength temporal variability of the blazar PKS 1510-089
• Short-term X-ray Variability during Different Activity Phases of Blazars S5 0716+714 and PKS 2155-304
• X-ray Studies of Blazar 1ES 1959+650 Using SWIFT & XMM-NEWTON Satellite
• X-ray Flux and Spectral Variability of the Blazar OJ 287 with Suzaku
• Stochastic modeling of the time variability of ALMA calibrators
• On the origin of multifrequency temporal and spectral variability in Ton 599
• Study of Intra-Day Flux Distributions of Blazars Using XMM-Newton Satellite
• Simultaneous Optical to X-ray Spectra of OJ 287: Insights into X-ray spectral changes and particle spectra
• 20 years of monitoring: PKS 2155-304 and PKS 1510-089 in the eyes of Swift and Fermi. II. PKS 1510-089 and comparison