Quasi-periodic oscillations in the $\gamma$-ray light curves of bright active galactic nuclei

Abstract

The detection of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the light curves of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can provide insights into the physics of the super-massive black-holes (SMBHs) powering these systems and could represent a signature of the existence of SMBH binaries, setting fundamental constraints on SMBH evolution in the Universe. The identification of long term QPOs, characterized by periods on the order of several months to years, is particularly challenging and can only be achieved via all-sky monitoring instruments that provide unbiased, continuous light-curves of astrophysical objects. The Fermi-LAT satellite, thanks to its monitoring observing strategy, is an ideal instrument for such a goal. Here, we aim to identify QPOs in the $\gamma$-ray light-curves of the brightest AGNs within the Fermi-LAT catalog. We analyzed the light curves of the 35 brightest Fermi-LAT AGNs, including data from the beginning of the Fermi mission (August 2008) to April 2021, with energies from 100 MeV to 300 GeV. Two time binnings were investigated, 7 and 30 days. The search for quasi-periodic features was then performed using the continuous wavelet transform. The significance of the result was tested via Monte Carlo simulations of artificial light curves with the same power spectral density and probability distribution function as the original light curves. The significances were then corrected for the look-elsewhere effect and provided as post-trials. We identified 24 quasars with candidate QPOs. Several of our candidates coincide with previous claims in the literature, namely: PKS 0537-441, S5 0716+714, Mrk 421, B2 1520+31, and PKS 2247-131. All our candidates are transient. The most significant multi-year QPO, with a period of about 1100 days, was observed in the quasar S5 1044+71. It is reported here for the first time.

arXiv comment32 pages incl. Appendix. Accepted for publication in A&A. Compared to V1, the significances are now given post-trial

References in corpus (35)

• Unified Schemes for Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Mission
• Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog
• General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Magnetically Choked Accretion Flows around Black Holes
• Relativistic Jets in Active Galactic Nuclei
• A review of quasi-periodic oscillations from black hole X-ray binaries: observation and theory
• The Fourth Catalog of Active Galactic Nuclei Detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Generating artificial light curves: Revisited and updated
• Multiwavelength Evidence for Quasi-periodic Modulation in the Gamma-ray Blazar PG 1553+113
• On the geometrical origin of periodicity in blazar-type sources
• A model for periodic blazars
• The Blazar PG 1553+113 as a Binary System of Supermassive Black Holes
• Systematic search for gamma-ray periodicity in active galactic nuclei detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• On The Fourier And Wavelet Analysis Of Coronal Time Series
• A 34.5 day quasi-periodic oscillation in gamma-ray emission from the blazar PKS 2247-131
• Discovery of a ~2 hr high frequency X-ray QPO and iron K alpha reverberation in the active galaxy MS 2254.9-3712
• Leptonic and Hadronic Radiative Processes in Supermassive-Black-Hole Jets
• Revisiting Quasi-Periodic modulation in $\gamma$-ray Blazar PKS 2155-304 with Fermi Pass 8 data
• Gamma-ray quasi-periodicities of blazars. A cautious approach
• Quasi-periodicities of BL Lac Objects
• Gamma-ray and Optical Oscillations of 0716+714, MRK 421, and BL Lac
• A comprehensive power spectral density analysis of astronomical time series I: the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray light curves of selected blazars
• A search for cyclical sources of gamma-ray emission on the period range from days to years in the Fermi-LAT sky
• Gamma-ray and optical oscillations in the blazar PKS 0537-441
• Multiwaveband Quasi--periodic Oscillation in the Blazar 3C 454.3
• Blazar Mrk 501 shows rhythmic oscillations in its $\gamma$-ray emission
• A $\gamma$-ray Quasi-Periodic modulation in the Blazar PKS 0301$-$243?
• Looking at Blazar Light Curve Periodicities with Gaussian Processes
• Evaluating Quasi-Periodic Variations in the $\gamma$-ray Lightcurves of Fermi-LAT Blazars
• Gaussian Process Modeling $Fermi$-LAT $\gamma$-ray Blazar Variability: A Sample of Blazars with $\gamma$-ray Quasi-periodicities
• A Possible $\gamma$-ray Quasi-periodic Oscillation of $\sim$ 314 days in the Blazar OJ 287
• A Quasi-periodic Oscillation in the gamma-ray Emission from the Non-blazar Active Galactic Nucleus PKS 0521-36
• A Possible 3-Year Quasi-Periodic Oscillation in γ-Ray Emission from the FSRQ S5 1044+71
• Searching for Quasi-Periodic Modulations in $\gamma$-ray Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Radio and $\gamma$-ray Variability Analysis of S5 0716+714

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Comparisons between fast algorithms for the continuous wavelet transform and applications in cosmology: the 1D case
• Periodic Gamma-ray Modulation of the blazar PG 1553+113 Confirmed by Fermi-LAT and Multi-wavelength Observations
• Optical Quasi-periodic Oscillations in the TESS light curves of three blazars
• Quasi-periodic oscillation detected in $\gamma$-rays in blazar PKS 0346-27
• The detection of possible transient Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the $\gamma$-ray light curve of PKS 0244-470 and 4C+38.41
• Singular Spectrum Analysis of Fermi-LAT Blazar Light Curves: A Systematic Search for Periodicity and Trends in the Time Domain
• Transient quasi-periodic oscillations in the gamma-ray light curves of bright blazars
• Origin of multiwavelength emission from flaring high redshift blazar PKS 0537-286
• A QPO in Mkn 421 from Archival RXTE Data
• The detection of possible $\gamma$-ray quasi-periodic modulation with $\sim$600 days from the blazar S2 0109+22
• Coexistence of Chromatic Flares and an Achromatic QPO in the Gamma-ray Blazar PG 1553+113
• Not so Swift: 20 years of multiwavelength observations of Mrk 421 and Mrk 501
• Characterization and classification of $\gamma$-ray bursts from blazars
• Multiwavelength Variability Analysis of the Blazar PKS 0727-11: A $\sim$168 Days Quasi-periodic Oscillation in Gamma-ray
• Spectral Hardening Revealed by Geometric De-boosting in the Masked Jet of PKS 2155$-$304
• A precessing jet from a supermassive black hole: multi-wavelength observations of S5 1044+71