Synchrotron Self-Compton Model for Rapid Nonthermal Flares in Blazars with Frequency-Dependent Time Lags

Abstract

We model rapid variability of multifrequency emission from blazars occurring across the electromagnetic spectrum (from radio to gamma-rays). Lower energy emission is produced by the synchrotron mechanism, whereas higher energy emission is due to inverse Compton scattering of the synchrotron emission. We take into account energy stratification established by particle acceleration at shock fronts and energy losses due to synchrotron emission. We also consider the effect of light travel delays for the synchrotron emission that supplies the seed photons for inverse Compton scattering. The production of a flare is caused by the collision between a relativistic shock wave and a stationary feature in the jet (e.g., a Mach disk). The collision leads to the formation of forward and reverse shocks, which confine two contiguous emission regions resulting in complex profiles of simulated flares. Simulations of multifrequency flares indicate that relative delays between the inverse Compton flares and their synchrotron counterparts are dominated by energy stratification and geometry of the emitting regions, resulting in both negative and positive time delays depending on the frequency of observation. Light travel effects of the seed photons may lead to a noticeable delay of the inverse Compton emission with respect to synchrotron variability if the line of sight is almost perfectly aligned with the jet. We apply the model to a flare in 3C 273 and derive the properties of shocked plasma responsible for the flare. We show that the pronounced negative time delay between the X-ray and IR light curves (X-rays peak after the maximum in the synchrotron emission) can be accounted for if both forward and reverse shocks are considered.

48 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (14)

• Theories of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Particle acceleration by ultra-relativistic shocks: theory and simulations
• Comptonization of Infrared Radiation from Hot Dust by Relativistic Jets in Quasars
• Multi-Epoch VLBA Observations of EGRET-Detected Quasars and BL Lac Objects: Superluminal Motion of Gamma-Ray Bright Blazars
• Internal shocks in the jets of radio-loud quasars
• Rapid variability in the synchrotron self Compton model for blazars
• Variability Pattern and the Spectral Evolution of the BL Lacertae Object PKS 2155-304
• Modeling the production of flares in $\gamma$-ray quasars
• 3D Simulations of Relativistic Precessing Jets Probing the Structure of Superluminal Sources
• Simultaneous X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Observations of TeV Blazars: Testing Synchro-Compton Emission Models and Probing the Infrared Extragalactic Background
• On Spectral and Temporal Variability in Blazars and Gamma Ray Bursts
• Simultaneous X-ray and infrared variability in the quasar 3C273
• Rapid Variability of Gamma-Ray Blazars: A Model for MKN 421
• The Evolution of Shocks in Blazar Jets

Cited by in corpus (94)

• Leptonic and Hadronic Modeling of Fermi-Detected Blazars
• Polarimetric Observations of 15 Active Galactic Nuclei at High Frequencies: Jet Kinematics from Bimonthly Monitoring with the Very Long Baseline Array
• Gamma-ray Light Curves and Variability of Bright Fermi-Detected Blazars
• Modeling the Emission Processes in Blazars
• The blazar sequence: a new perspective
• Non-thermal particle acceleration in collisionless relativistic electron-proton reconnection
• Constraining the location of the emitting region in Fermi blazars through rapid gamma-ray variability
• A Tight Connection between Gamma-Ray Outbursts and Parsec-Scale Jet Activity in the Quasar 3C 454.3
• Correlated Multi-Waveband Variability in the Blazar 3C~279 from 1996 to 2007
• Relativistic Jets in Active Galactic Nuclei und Microquasars
• On the origin of the gamma-ray emission from the flaring blazar PKS 1222+216
• Similarity of the Optical-IR and Gamma-Ray Time Variability of Fermi Blazars
• Unprecedented study of the broadband emission of Mrk 421 during flaring activity in March 2010
• Timing Signatures of the Internal-Shock Model for Blazars
• On the Location of the Gamma-ray Emission in the 2008 Outburst in the BL Lacertae Object AO 0235+164 through Observations across the Electromagnetic Spectrum
• PKS 1502+106: a new and distant gamma-ray blazar in outburst discovered by the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Simultaneous multiwavelength observations of the blazar 1ES1959+650 at a low TeV flux
• 3C454.3 reveals the structure and physics of its 'blazar zone'
• Locating the gamma-ray emission region of the flat spectrum radio quasar PKS 1510-089
• Leptonic and Hadronic Radiative Processes in Supermassive-Black-Hole Jets
• External Compton Radiation from Rapid Nonthermal Flares in Blazars
• Lepto-hadronic $\gamma$-ray and neutrino emission from the jet of TXS 0506+056
• Time-dependent Radiation Transfer in the Internal Shock Model Scenario for Blazar Jets
• Synchrotron and inverse-Compton emission from blazar jets I: a uniform conical jet model
• Time dependent simulations of multiwavelength variability of the blazar Mrk 421 with a Monte Carlo multi-zone code
• A multi-zone model for simulating the high energy variability of TeV blazars
• Temporal Correlations Between Optical and Gamma-ray Activity in Blazars
• Multifrequency VLBA Monitoring of 3C 273 during the INTEGRAL Campaign in 2003 - I. Kinematics of the Parsec Scale Jet from 43 GHz Data
• High redshift Fermi blazars
• Locating the gamma-ray emission site in Fermi/LAT blazars from correlation analysis between 37 GHz radio and gamma-ray light curves
• Emitting electrons spectra and acceleration processes in the jet of Mrk 421: from low state to giant flare state
• Multiwavelength Observations of the Blazar Mrk 421 in December 2002 and January 2003
• Radio and $\gamma$-ray variability in the BL Lac PKS 0219 -164: Detection of quasi-periodic oscillations in the radio light curve
• Synchrotron and inverse-Compton emission from blazar jets - II. An accelerating jet model with a geometry set by observations of M87
• Multiwavelength Variability Signatures of Relativistic Shocks in Blazar Jets
• Detection of Polarimetric Variations Associated with the Shortest Time-Scale Variability in S5 0716$+$714
• The Megaparsec-Scale X-ray Jet of the BL Lac Object OJ287
• An X-ray and Multiwavelength Survey of Highly Radio-Loud Quasars at z > 4: Jet-Linked Emission in the Brightest Radio Beacons of the Early Universe
• Polarization Signatures of Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Shocks in the Blazar Emission Region - I. Force-free Helical Magnetic Fields
• Simultaneous B'V'R' Monitoring of BL Lacertae Object S5~0716+714 and Detection of Inter-Band Time Delay
• Multiwavelength observations of 3C 454.3 II. The AGILE 2007 December campaign
• X-Ray Variability of AGN and Relationship to Galactic Black Hole Binary Systems
• Multi-wavelength study of flaring activity in BL Lac object S5 0716+714 during 2015 outburst
• Multiwavelength behaviour of the blazar OJ 248 from radio to γ-rays
• A method for localizing energy dissipation in blazars using Fermi variability
• Recollimation shocks and radiative losses in extragalactic relativistic jets
• Clues on High Energy Emission Mechanism from Blazar 3C 454.3 during 2015 August Flare
• VERITAS detection of $\gamma$-ray flaring activity from the BL Lac object 1ES 1727+502 during bright moonlight observations
• Time-dependent simulations of emission from FSRQ PKS1510-089: multiwavelength variability of external Compton and SSC models
• Multiwavelength observations and modeling of 1ES 1959+650 in a low flux state
• Swift observations of Mrk\,421 in selected epochs. iii. Extreme x-ray timing/spectral properties and multiwavelength lognormality in 2015\,December--2018\,April
• Long-term optical polarization variability of the tev blazar 1es~1959+650
• Modelling rapid TeV variability of PKS 2155-304
• Multi-frequency variability study of Ton 599 during high activity of 2017
• Optical/$\gamma$-ray blazar flare correlations: understanding the high-energy emission process using ASAS-SN and Fermi light curves
• Particle diffusion and localized acceleration in inhomogeneous AGN jets - Part II: stochastic variation
• 3C 279 in Outburst in June 2015: A Broadband-SED Study Based on the INTEGRAL Detection
• Particle diffusion and localized acceleration in inhomogeneous AGN jets - Part I: Steady-state spectra
• Simultaneous X-ray and infrared variability in the quasar 3C273 II: Confirmation of the correlation and X-ray lag
• Multi-color optical monitoring of ten blazars from 2005 to 2011
• A Magnetohydrodynamic Model of The M87 Jet. II. Self-consistent Quad-shock Jet Model for Optical Relativistic Motions and Particle Acceleration
• On the correlation between the X-ray and gamma-ray emission in TeV blazars
• CTA 102 in exceptionally high state during 2016-17
• Synchrotron Lightcurves of blazars in a time-dependent synchrotron-self Compton cooling scenario
• MOMO IV: The complete Swift X-ray and UV/optical light curve and characteristic variability of the blazar OJ 287 during the last two decades
• Multi-wavelength study of flaring activity in HBL 1ES 1959+650 during 2015-16
• Magnetic Field Amplification and Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars
• 3C273 variability at 7 mm: Evidences of shocks and precession in the jet
• High energy variability of 3C 273 during the AGILE multiwavelength campaign of December 2007 - January 2008
• The gamma-ray and Optical Variability Analysis of the BL Lac Object 3FGL J0449.4-4350
• Filling the Infrared Gap: ISO Observations of 1 Jy BL Lacertae Objects
• The strange case of the transient HBL blazar 4FGL J1544.3-0649
• Optical intra-day variability in 3C 66A: 10 years of observations
• First-generation Science Cases for Ground-based Terahertz Telescopes
• Understanding the X-ray spectral curvature of Mkn 421 using broadband AstroSat observations
• Modeling spectral lags in active galactic nucleus flares in the context of Lorentz invariance violation searches
• Optical/X-ray correlations during the V404 Cyg June 2015 outburst
• The optical spectral features of 27 Fermi blazars
• Optical Spectral Variations of a Large Sample of Fermi Blazars
• X-ray and TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from Parallel Electron-Positron or Electron-Proton Beams in BL Lac Objects
• Multiwavelength flaring activity of PKS1510-089
• Statistical properties of flux variations in blazar light curves at GeV and TeV energies
• Inverse Compton light curves of blazars under non-linear, time-dependent synchrotron-self Compton cooling
• Understanding the nature of the blazar CGRaBS~J0211$+$1051
• Modeling the spectral-energy-distribution of 3C 454.3 in a "flat" broad-line-region scenario
• X-ray Studies of Blazar 1ES 1959+650 Using SWIFT & XMM-NEWTON Satellite
• The Repeating Flaring Activity of Blazar AO 0235+164
• Multi-wavelength study of the short term TeV flaring activity from the blazar Mrk 501 observed in June 2014
• Flaring of Blazars from an Analytical, Time-dependent Model for Combined Synchrotron and Synchrotron Self-Compton Radiative Losses of Multiple Ultrarelativistic Electron Populations
• Stochastic modeling of the time variability of ALMA calibrators
• Statistical analysis of variability properties of the Kepler blazar W2R 1926+42
• Connection Between Optical and VHE Gamma-ray Emission in Blazar Jets
• Not so Swift: 20 years of multiwavelength observations of Mrk 421 and Mrk 501
• A new insight into the innermost jet regions: probing extreme jet variability with LOFT