Optical monitoring of BL Lac object S5 0716+714 and FSRQ 3C273 from 2000 to 2014

Abstract

Using the 1.56m telescope at the Shanghai Observatory (ShAO), China, we monitored two sources, BL Lac object S5 0716+714 and Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar (FSRQ) 3C 273. For S5 0716+714, we report 4969 sets of CCD (Charge-coupled Device) photometrical optical observations (1369 for V band, 1861 for R band and 1739 for I band) in the monitoring time from Dec.4, 2000 to Apr.5, 2014. For 3C 273, we report 460 observations (138 for V band, 146 for R band and 176 for I band) in the monitoring time from Mar. 28, 2006 to Apr. 9, 2014. The observations provide us with a large amount of data to analyze the short-term and long-term optical variabilities. Based on the variable timescales, we can estimate the central black hole mass and the Doppler factor. An abundance of multi-band observations can help us to analyze the relations between the brightness and spectrum. We use Gaussian fitting to analyze the intra-day light curves and obtain the intra-day variability (IDV) timescales. We use the discrete correlation function (DCF) method and Jurkevich method to analyze the quasi-periodic variability. Based on the VRI observations, we use the linear fitting to analyze the relations between brightness and spectrum. The two sources both show IDV properties for S5 0716+714. The timescales are in the range from 17.3 minutes to 4.82 hours; for 3C273, the timescale is 35.6 minutes. Based on the periodic analysis methods, we find the periods P(V) = 24.24 days, P(R)=24.12 days, P(I)=24.82 days for S5 0716+714, and P = 12.99, 21.76 yr for 3C273. The two sources displayed the "bluer-when-brighter" spectral evolution properties. S5 0716+714 and 3C 273 are frequently studied objects. The violent optical variability and IDV may come from the jet. Gaussian fitting can be used to analyze IDVs. The relations between brightness (flux density) and spectrum are strongly influenced by the frequency.

28 pages, 3 tables

References in corpus (9)

• Doppler factors, Lorentz factors and viewing angles for quasars, BL Lacertae objects and radio galaxies
• Multi-colour optical monitoring of eight red blazars
• Periodic Oscillations in the Intra-day Optical Light Curves of the Blazar S5 0716+714
• Fermi/LAT broad emission line blazars
• Optical Intra-day Variability in Blazars
• Radio variability properties for radio sources
• Multifrequency Photo-polarimetric WEBT Observation Campaign on the Blazar S5 0716+714: Source Microvariability and Search for Characteristic Timescales
• Rapid optical variability in blazar S5 0716+71 during 2010 March
• Evolution of Supermassive Black Hole Binary and Acceleration of Jet Precession in Galactic Nuclei

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• Optical Spectral Variations of a Large Sample of Fermi Blazars
• The optical spectral features of 27 Fermi blazars
• Optical variability of a newly discovered blazar sample from the BZCAT Catalog
• Investigating Optical Variability of the Blazar S5 0716+714 On Diverse Time-scales
• Optical Monitoring and Long-term Optical Spectral Variability of BL Lacertae Object S5 0716+714
• Multi-wavelength variability analysis of the blazar S5 0716+714 during a long-lasting period of low activity