The Accretion Disc-Jet Connection in Blazars

Abstract

The power spectral density (PSD) of the X-ray emission variability from the accretion disc-corona region of black hole X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei has a broken power law shape with a characteristic break time-scale. If the disc and the jet are connected, the jet variability may also contain a characteristic time-scale related to that of the disc-corona. Recent observations of the blazar Mrk 421 have confirmed the broken power law shape of the PSD of its jet X-ray variability. We model the time variability of a blazar, in which emitting particles are assumed to be accelerated by successive shock waves flowing down the jet with a varying inter-shock time-scale. We investigate the possible relation between the characteristic time-scales in the disc and jet variability based on the above model, along with mathematically and physically simulated disc variability. We find that both the PSD of the jet and disc variability may have a broken power law shape but the break time-scales are not related in general except only in systems with a small range of BH mass. The break in the jet and the disc PSD are connected to the interval between large amplitude outbursts in the jet (inter-shock time-scale) and to the viscous time-scale in the disc, respectively. In frequency bands where multiple emission processes are involved or emission is from lower energy particles, the break in the PSD may not be prominent enough for detection.

arXiv comment9 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• The Powers of Relativistic Jets depend on the Spin of Accreting Supermassive Black Hole
• Blazar Variability: A Study of Non-stationarity and the Flux-RMS Relation
• Discovering the Mass-Scaled Damping Timescale from Microquasars to Blazars
• RMS-Flux Relation and Disc-Jet Connection in Blazars in the Context of the Internal Shocks Model
• Exploring the disc-jet scenario in 3C 273 using simultaneous XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations
• Reconnection-driven State Transitions in Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars