Multiwavelength variability power spectrum analysis of the blazars 3C 279 and PKS 1510-089 on multiple timescales

Abstract

We present the results of variability power spectral density (PSD) analysis using multiwavelength radio to GeV\,$\gamma$-ray light curves covering decades/years to days/minutes timescales for the blazars 3C 279 and PKS 1510-089. The PSDs are modeled as single power-laws, and the best-fit spectral shape is derived using the `power spectral response' method. With more than ten years of data obtained with weekly/daily sampling intervals, most of the PSDs cover ~2-4 decades in temporal frequency; moreover, in the optical band, the PSDs cover ~6 decades for 3C 279 due to the availability of intranight light curves. Our main results are the following: (1) on timescales ranging from decades to days, the synchrotron and the inverse Compton spectral components, in general, exhibit red-noise (slope ~2) and flicker-noise (slope ~1) type variability, respectively; (2) the slopes of $\gamma$-ray variability PSDs obtained using a 3-hr integration bin and a 3-weeks total duration exhibit a range between ~1.4 and ~2.0 (mean slope = 1.60$\pm$0.70), consistent within errors with the slope on longer timescales; (3) comparisons of fractional variability indicate more power on timescales $\le$100\, days at $\gamma$-ray frequencies as compared to longer wavelengths, in general (except between $\gamma$-ray and optical frequencies for PKS 1510$-$089); (4) the normalization of intranight optical PSDs for 3C\,279 appears to be a simple extrapolation from longer timescales, indicating a continuous (single) process driving the variability at optical wavelengths; (5) the emission at optical/infrared wavelengths may involve a combination of disk and jet processes for PKS\,1510$-$089.

ApJ accepted. Comments are welcome

References in corpus (36)

• Probing the Inner Jet of the Quasar PKS 1510-089 with Multi-waveband Monitoring during Strong Gamma-ray Activity
• Very-High-Energy Gamma Rays from a Distant Quasar: How Transparent Is the Universe?
• The 1% Concordance Hubble Constant
• A change in the optical polarization associated with a gamma-ray flare in the blazar 3C 279
• Rapid Variability of Blazar 3C 279 during Flaring States in 2013-2014 with Joint Fermi-LAT, NuSTAR, Swift, and Ground-Based Multi-wavelength Observations
• Correlated Multi-Waveband Variability in the Blazar 3C~279 from 1996 to 2007
• A method for the estimation of the significance of cross-correlations in unevenly sampled red-noise time series
• Results of WEBT, VLBA and RXTE monitoring of 3C 279 during 2006-2007
• Unprecedented study of the broadband emission of Mrk 421 during flaring activity in March 2010
• Fermi-LAT Observations of Two Gamma-Ray Emission Components from the Quiescent Sun
• Detection of Possible Quasi-periodic Oscillations in the Long-term Optical Light Curve of the BL Lac Object OJ 287
• Multi-wavelength observations of 3C 279 during the extremely bright gamma-ray flare in 2014 March-April
• Stochastic Modeling of the Fermi/LAT Gamma-ray Blazar Variability
• AGILE detection of extreme gamma-ray activity from the blazar PKS 1510-089 during March 2009. Multifrequency analysis
• The WEBT Campaign on the Blazar 3C279 in 2006
• Systematic Study of Gamma-ray bright Blazars with Optical Polarization and Gamma-ray Variability
• Multifrequency Photo-polarimetric WEBT Observation Campaign on the Blazar S5 0716+714: Source Microvariability and Search for Characteristic Timescales
• Fourier Analysis of Blazar Variability
• Gamma-ray Flux Distribution and Non-linear behavior of Four LAT Bright AGNs
• Multiwavelength behaviour of the blazar 3C279: decade-long study from $\gamma$-ray to radio
• Multi-wavelength temporal and spectral variability of the blazar OJ 287 during and after the December 2015 flare: a major accretion disc contribution
• Looking at Blazar Light Curve Periodicities with Gaussian Processes
• First NuSTAR observations of the BL Lac - type blazar PKS~2155-304: constraints on the jet content and distribution of radiating particles
• Gaussian Process Modeling $Fermi$-LAT $\gamma$-ray Blazar Variability: A Sample of Blazars with $\gamma$-ray Quasi-periodicities
• MAXI investigation into the longterm X-ray variability from the very-high-energy gamma-ray blazar Mrk 421
• Long-term optical variability of PKS 2155-304
• Multi-wavelength variability study of the classical BL Lac object PKS 0735+178 on timescales ranging from decades to minutes
• Connecting steady emission and Very High Energy flaring states in blazars: the case of Mrk 421
• 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
• Signature of Inverse Compton emission from blazars
• The long-term centimeter variability of active galactic nuclei: A new relation between variability timescale and accretion rate
• Optical variability power spectrum analysis of blazar sources on intranight timescales
• Multiband Observations of the Quasar PKS 2326-502 during Active and Quiescent Gamma-Ray States in 2010-2012
• Optical variability modeling of newly identified blazar candidates behind Magellanic Clouds
• Correlations between $\gamma$-ray luminosity and magnetization of the jet as well as relativistic electron injection power:cases for Mrk 421, 3C 454.3 and 3C 279

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Flaring activity from magnetic reconnection in BL Lacertae
• Probing the disc-jet coupling in S4 0954+65, PKS 0903-57, & 4C +01.02 with $\gamma$-rays
• Long-term hard X-ray variability properties of Swift-BAT blazars
• Understanding the Broadband Emission Process of 3C 279 through Longterm Spectral Analysis
• Variability Signatures of a Burst Process in Flaring Gamma-ray Blazars
• Investigating the variability of Swift-BAT blazars with NICER
• Optical variability of eight FRII-type quasars with 13-yr photometric light curves