Optical Quasi-periodic Oscillations in the TESS light curves of three blazars

Abstract

We report the time series analysis of TESS light curves of three blazars, BL Lacertae, 1RXS J111741.0+254858, and 1RXS J004519.6+212735, obtained using a customized approach for extracting AGN light curves. We find tentative evidence for quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in these light curves that range from 2 to 6 days. Two methods of analysis are used for assessing their significance: generalized Lomb-Scargle periodograms and weighted wavelet Z-transforms. The different approaches of these methods together ensure a robust measurement of the significance of the claimed periodicities. We can attribute the apparent QPOs to the kink instability model which postulates that the observed QPOs are related to the temporal growth of kinks in the magnetized relativistic jet. We confirm the application of this model to BL Lacertae and extend the kink instability model to the other two BL Lac objects.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (65)

• The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package
• Unified Schemes for Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• The generalised Lomb-Scargle periodogram. A new formalism for the floating-mean and Keplerian periodograms
• The VizieR database of Astronomical Catalogues
• AGN Black Hole Masses and Bolometric Luminosities
• Lense-Thirring Precession and QPOs in Low Mass X-Ray Binaries
• Low frequency QPO spectra and Lense-Thirring precession
• Correlations in the QPO Frequencies of Low Mass X-Ray Binaries and the Relativistic Precession Model
• Multi-Epoch VLBA Observations of EGRET-Detected Quasars and BL Lac Objects: Superluminal Motion of Gamma-Ray Bright Blazars
• A simple test for periodic signals in red noise
• A possible close supermassive black-hole binary in a quasar with optical periodicity
• False periodicities in quasar time-domain surveys
• Stingray: A Modern Python Library For Spectral Timing
• Minute-Timescale >100 MeV gamma-ray variability during the giant outburst of quasar 3C 279 observed by Fermi-LAT in 2015 June
• Optical and radio behaviour of the BL Lacertae object 0716+714
• 'Stable' QPOs and Black Hole Properties from Diskoseismology
• Optical and radio variability of the BL Lac object AO 0235+16: a possible 5-6 year periodicity
• Properties of flat-spectrum radio-loud Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• A method for the estimation of the significance of cross-correlations in unevenly sampled red-noise time series
• Relativistic Diskoseismology. I. Analytical Results for 'Gravity Modes'
• The WEBT BL Lacertae Campaign 2001 and its extension
• Long-term optical monitoring of TeV emitting Blazars
• Quasi periodic oscillations in black hole binaries
• Variability and stability in blazar jets on time scales of years: Optical polarization monitoring of OJ287 in 2005-2009
• 3D Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Current-Driven Instability. I. Instability of a static column
• Three-dimensional Simulations of AGN Jets: Magnetic Kink Instability versus Conical Shocks
• The importance of discovering a 3:2 twin-peak QPO in a ULX or how to solve the puzzle of intermediate mass black holes
• A quasi-periodic oscillation in the blazar J1359+4011
• The correlated optical and radio variability of BL Lacertae. WEBT data analysis 1994-2005
• F-GAMMA: Variability Doppler factors of blazars from multiwavelength monitoring
• Quasi-Periodic Oscillations from Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability at a Disk-Magnetosphere Interface
• Wavelet Analysis of AGN X-Ray Time Series: A QPO in 3C 273?
• Observations of TeV gamma ray flares from Markarian 501 with the Telescope Array Prototype
• A ~3.8 hour Periodicity from an Ultrasoft Active Galactic Nucleus Candidate
• Simultaneous X-ray and optical observations of S5 0716+714 after the outburst of March 2004
• Gamma-ray and Optical Oscillations of 0716+714, MRK 421, and BL Lac
• Observation of Markarian 421 in TeV gamma rays over a 14-year time span
• Quasi-periodicities of BL Lac Objects
• Radio and $\gamma$-ray variability in the BL Lac PKS 0219 -164: Detection of quasi-periodic oscillations in the radio light curve
• Kink Instabilities In Relativistic Jets Can Drive Quasi-Periodic Radiation Signatures
• The dual nature of blazar fast variability. Space and ground observations of S5 0716+714
• Possible ~ 1 hour quasi-periodic oscillation in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG--06--30--15
• Confrontation of Observation and Theory: High Frequency QPOs in X-ray Binaries, Tidal Disruption Events, and Active Galactic Nuclei
• Quasi-periodic oscillations in the $\gamma$-ray light curves of bright active galactic nuclei
• An Accretion-Ejection Instability in magnetized disks
• The final SDSS-IV/SPIDERS X-ray point source spectroscopic catalogue
• Detection of a quasi-periodic oscillation in gamma-ray light curve of the high redshift blazar B2 1520+31
• An X-ray periodicity of $\sim$1.8 hours in a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 766
• Universal scaling of the 3:2 twin-peak quasi-periodic oscillation frequencies with black hole mass and spin revisited
• The complex variability of blazars: Time-scales and periodicity analysis in S4 0954+65
• Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the long term radio light curves of the blazar AO 0235+164
• Evidence for an Optical Low-frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillation in the Kepler Light Curve of an Active Galaxy
• First Multi-wavelength Campaign on the Gamma-ray-loud Active Galaxy IC 310
• A Vertical Resonances of G-Mode Oscillations in Warped Disks and QPOs in Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries
• Black hole mass measurement using ALMA observations of [CI] and CO emissions in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC7469
• An Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer Atlas of Seyfert Galaxy Light Curves: Search for Periodicity
• Blazar Variability: A Study of Non-stationarity and the Flux-RMS Relation
• Non-stationary variability in accreting compact objects
• The optical behaviour of BL Lacertae at its maximum brightness levels: a blend of geometry and energetics
• The Variability and Period Analysis for the BL Lac AO 0235+164
• Detection of a quasi-periodic oscillation in the optical light curve of the remarkable blazar AO 0235+164
• Detection of Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the Blazar S4 0954+658 with TESS
• Keck/Deimos Spectroscopy of a GALEX UV Selecte Sample from the Medium Imaging Survey

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Revisiting radio variability of the blazar 3C 454.3
• Time Evolution of Mg II in SDSS J2320+0024: Implications for a Subparsec Binary Supermassive Black Hole System
• Multi-band optical variability on diverse timescales of blazar 1E 1458.8+2249
• Rapid multi-band space-based optical timing: revolutionizing accretion physics
• Multi-Band Optical Variability of Blazar 1ES 2344+514 on Diverse Time-Scales