Mid-infrared variability of the neutrino source blazar TXS 0506$+$056

Abstract

The IceCube instrument detected a high-energy cosmic neutrino event on 2017 September 22 (IceCube_170922A, IceCube Collaboration 2018), which the electromagnetic follow-up campaigns associated with the flaring $\gamma$-ray blazar TXS 0506$+$056 (e.g., Padovani et al., 2018). We investigated the mid-infrared variability of the source by using the available single exposure data of the WISE satellite at $3.4$ and $4.6\mu$m. TXS 0506$+$056 experienced a $\sim 30$% brightening in both of these bands a few days prior to the neutrino event. Additional intraday infrared variability can be detected in 2010. Similar behaviour seen previously in $\gamma$-ray bright radio-loud AGN has been explained by their jet emission (e.g., Jiang et al. 2012).

3 pages, 1 figure; accepted by the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society

References in corpus (5)

• Multi-messenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A
• Neutrino emission from the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 prior to the IceCube-170922A alert
• Initial Performance of the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission
• A Population of Radio-loud Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies with Blazar-like Properties?
• SDSS J211852.96-073227.5: a new γ-ray flaring narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Mid-infrared Variability of gamma-ray emitting blazars
• Radio and mid-infrared properties of the blazar J1419$-$0838