Quasi-periodic oscillation detected in $\gamma$-rays in blazar PKS 0346-27

Abstract

We present a variability study of the blazar PKS 0346-27 from December 2018 to January 2022 in its archival $\gamma$-ray observation by Fermi-LAT. We use the Lomb-Scargle periodogram and the weighted wavelet transform methods in order to detect the presence of periodicity/quasi-periodicity and localize this feature in time and frequency space. The significance of the periodicity feature has been estimated using the Monte-Carlo simulation approach. We have also determined the global significance of the periodicity to test the robustness of our claim. To explore the most probable scenario, we modeled the light curve with both a straight jet and a curved jet model. We detect a periodicity feature of $\sim$ 100 days duration for the entire period of observation with a statistical significance of $3\sigma$, which amounts to a 99.7\% confidence level. The global significance of this feature is found to be 96.96\%. Based on the Akaike Information Criteria, the most probable explanation is that the observed emission is enhanced due to the helical motion of a blob within a curved jet. The origin of this QPO is very likely a region of enhanced emission moving helically inside a curved jet. This work presents strong evidence for jet curvature in the source and an independent (albeit a little serendipitous) procedure to estimate the curvature in blazar jets.

arXiv comment7 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A, in Press

References in corpus (42)

• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog
• A precise determination of angular momentum in the black hole candidate GRO J1655-40
• Measuring the broadband power spectra of active galactic nuclei with RXTE
• A massive binary black-hole system in OJ287 and a test of general relativity
• A simple test for periodic signals in red noise
• A possible close supermassive black-hole binary in a quasar with optical periodicity
• Multiwavelength Evidence for Quasi-periodic Modulation in the Gamma-ray Blazar PG 1553+113
• Correlated Multi-Waveband Variability in the Blazar 3C~279 from 1996 to 2007
• Periodic Oscillations in the Intra-day Optical Light Curves of the Blazar S5 0716+714
• A method for the estimation of the significance of cross-correlations in unevenly sampled red-noise time series
• Quasi-periodicities at year-like timescales in Blazars
• The Blazar PG 1553+113 as a Binary System of Supermassive Black Holes
• Detection of Possible Quasi-periodic Oscillations in the Long-term Optical Light Curve of the BL Lac Object OJ 287
• General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of the Hard State as a Magnetically-Dominated Accretion Flow
• Kinematics of and emission from helically orbiting blobs in a relativistic magnetized jet
• A quasi-periodic oscillation in the blazar J1359+4011
• A ~4.6 h quasi-periodic oscillation in the BL Lacertae PKS 2155-304?
• 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
• Revisiting Quasi-Periodic modulation in $\gamma$-ray Blazar PKS 2155-304 with Fermi Pass 8 data
• A ~3.8 hour Periodicity from an Ultrasoft Active Galactic Nucleus Candidate
• Quasi-periodicities of PKS 2155-304
• Detection of a possible X-ray Quasi-periodic Oscillation in the Active Galactic Nucleus 1H~0707-495
• Gamma-ray and Optical Oscillations of 0716+714, MRK 421, and BL Lac
• The 72-Hour WEBT Microvariability Observation of Blazar S5 0716+714 in 2009
• Detection of a QPO in 5 XMM-Newton observations of RE J1034+396
• Multiwaveband Quasi--periodic Oscillation in the Blazar 3C 454.3
• Kink Instabilities In Relativistic Jets Can Drive Quasi-Periodic Radiation Signatures
• Blazar Mrk 501 shows rhythmic oscillations in its $\gamma$-ray emission
• A $\gamma$-ray Quasi-Periodic modulation in the Blazar PKS 0301$-$243?
• Possible ~ 1 hour quasi-periodic oscillation in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG--06--30--15
• Quasi-periodic oscillations in the $\gamma$-ray light curves of bright active galactic nuclei
• Transient Quasi-Periodic Oscillations at $\gamma$-rays in the TeV Blazar PKS 1510-089
• Universal scaling of the 3:2 twin-peak quasi-periodic oscillation frequencies with black hole mass and spin revisited
• Possible Quasi-Periodic modulation in the z = 1.1 $\gamma$-ray blazar PKS 0426-380
• Supermassive binary black holes among cosmic gamma-ray sources
• Multi-wavelength Intra-day Variability and Quasi-periodic Oscillation in Blazars
• Detection of a quasi-periodic oscillation in the optical light curve of the remarkable blazar AO 0235+164
• The detection of possible transient Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the $\gamma$-ray light curve of PKS 0244-470 and 4C+38.41
• The large gamma-ray flare of the FSRQ PKS 0346-27
• Multi-frequency Variability Study of Flat-Spectrum Radio Quasar PKS 0346-27

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Transient QPOs of Fermi-LAT blazars under the Curved Jet Model
• Multiwavelength Variability Analysis of the Blazar PKS 0727-11: A $\sim$168 Days Quasi-periodic Oscillation in Gamma-ray