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1. Multiband Optical Variability of the Blazar 3C 454.3 on Diverse Timescales

Author: Dogra, Karan, Gupta, Alok C., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Wiita, Paul J., Kurtanidze, S. O., Jorstad, S. G., Bachev, R., Damljanovic, G., Lorey, C., Savchenko, S. S., Vince, O., Abdelkareem, M., Aceituno, F. J., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Agudo, I., Andreuzzi, G., Ata, S. A., Baida, G. V., Barbieri, L., Blinov, D. A., Bonnoli, G., Borman, G. A., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Casanova, V., Chen, W. P., Cui, Lang, Elhosseiny, E. G., Elsaesser, D., Escudero, J., Feige, M., Gazeas, K., Gennadievna, L. E., Grishina, T. S., Gu, Minfeng, Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Hemrich, F., Hsiao, H. Y., Ismail, M., Ivanidze, R. Z., Jovanovic, M. D., Kamel, T. M., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kuberek, D., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtenkov, A., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, L. V., Liao, M., Lin, H. C., Mannheim, K., Marchini, A., Marinelli, C., Marscher, A. P., Morcuende, D., Morozova, D. A., Nazarov, S. V., Nikolashvili, M. G., Reinhart, D., Santos, J. O., Scherbantin, A., Semkov, E., Shishkina, E. V., Sigua, L. A., Singh, A. K., Sota, A., Steineke, R., Stojanovic, M., Strigachev, A., Takey, A., Tawfeek, Amira A., Troitskiy, I. S., Troitskaya, Y. V., Tsai, An-Li, Vasilyev, A. A., Vrontaki, K., Zhang, Zhongli, Zhovtan, A. V., Zottmann, N., and Zuo, Wenwen
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Due to its peculiar and highly variable nature, the blazar 3C 454.3 has been extensively monitored by the WEBT team. Here, we present for the first time these long-term optical flux and color variability results using data acquired in B, V, R, and I bands over a time span of $\sim$ 2 decades. We include data from WEBT collaborators and public archives such as SMARTS, Steward Observatory, and ZTF. The data are binned and segmented to study the source over this long term when more regular sampling was available. During our study, the long-term spectral variability reveals a redder when brighter (RWB) trend, which, however, stabilizes at a particular brightness cutoff $\sim$ 14.5 mag in the I-band, after which it saturates and evolves into a complex state. This trend indicates increasing jet emission dominance over accretion disk emission until jet emission completely dominates. Plots of the spectral index variation (following $F_{\nu} \propto \nu^{-\alpha}$) reveal a bimodal distribution using a one-day binning. These correlate with two extreme phases of 3C 454.3, an outburst or high flux state and quiescent or low flux state, which are respectively jet and accretion disk dominated. We have also conducted intra-day variability studies of nine light curves and found that six of them are variable. Discrete Correlation Function (DCF) analysis between different optical waveband pairs peak at zero lags, indicating co-spatial emission in different optical bands., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables
Published: 2024
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2. Multi-wavelength picture of the misaligned BL Lac object 3C 371

Author: Otero-Santos, J., Raiteri, C. M., Tramacere, A., Pedrosa, J. Escudero, Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Carnerero, M. I., Villata, M., Agudo, I., Rahimov, I. A., Andreeva, T. S., Ivanov, D. V., Marchili, N., Righini, S., Giroletti, M., Gurwell, M. A., Savchenko, S. S., Carosati, D., Chen, W. P., Kurtanidze, S. O., Joner, M. D., Semkov, E., Pursimo, T., Benítez, E., Damljanovic, G., Andreuzzi, G., Apolonio, G., Borman, G. A., Bozhilov, V., Galindo-Guil, F. J., Grishina, T. S., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Hiriart, D., Hsiao, H. Y., Ibryamov, S., Ivanidze, R. Z., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Minev, M., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Ovcharov, E., Sigua, L. A., Stojanovic, M., Troitskiy, I. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Tsai, A., Valcheva, A., Vasilyev, A. A., Vince, O., Zaharieva, E., and Zhovtan, A. V.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract: The BL Lac object 3C 371 is one of the targets that are regularly monitored by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration to study blazar variability on both short and long timescales. We aim to evaluate the long-term multiwavelength (MWL) behaviour of 3C 371, comparing it with the results derived for its optical emission in our previous study. For this, we make use of the multi-band campaigns organized by the WEBT Collaboration in optical and radio between January 2018 and December 2020, and of public data from Swift and Fermi satellites and the MOJAVE Very Large Interferometry programme. We evaluate the variability shown by the source in each band with the amplitude variability quantification, as well as possible interband correlation using the z-Discrete Correlation Function. We also present a deep analysis of the optical-UV, X-ray and $\gamma$-ray spectral variability. With the MOJAVE data we perform a kinematics analysis, looking for components propagating along the jet, calculating its kinematics parameters. This set of parameters is later used for the interpretation of the source MWL behaviour, modelling the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source with theoretical blazar emission scenarios., Comment: Accepted in A&A, 23 pages, 15 figures
Published: 2024

3. A wiggling filamentary jet at the origin of the blazar multi-wavelength behaviour

Author: Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Carnerero, M. I., Kurtanidze, S. O., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Benítez, E., Bonnoli, G., Carosati, D., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Agudo, I., Andreeva, T. S., Apolonio, G., Bachev, R., Borman, G. A., Bozhilov, V., Brown, L. F., Carbonell, W., Casadio, C., Chen, W. P., Damljanovic, G., Ehgamberdiev, S. A., Elsaesser, D., Escudero, J., Feige, M., Fuentes, A., Gabellini, D., Gazeas, K., Giroletti, M., Grishina, T. S., Gupta, A. C., Gurwell, M. A., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Hamed, G. M., Hiriart, D., Hodges, M., ivanidze, R. Z., Ivanov, D. V., Joner, M. D., Jorstad, S. G., Jovanovic, M. D., Kiehlmann, S., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kovalev, Yu. A., Kovalev, Y. Y., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtenkov, A., Larionova, E. G., Lessing, A., Lin, H. C., López, J. M., Lorey, C., Ludwig, J., Marchili, N., Marchini, A., Marscher, A. P., Matsumoto, K., Max-Moerbeck, W., Mihov, B., Minev, M., Mingaliev, M. G., Modaressi, A., Morozova, D. A., Mortari, F., Mufakharov, T. V., Myserlis, I., Nikolashvili, M. G., Pearson, T. J., Popkov, A. V., Rahimov, I. A., Readhead, A. C. S., Reinhart, D., Reeves, R., Righini, S., Romanov, F. D., Savchenko, S. S., Semkov, E., Shishkina, E. V., Sigua, L. A., Slavcheva-Mihova, L., Sotnikova, Yu. V., Steineke, R., Stojanovic, M., Strigachev, A., Takey, A., Traianou, E., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitskiy, I. S., Tsai, A. L., Valcheva, A., Vasilyev, A. A., Verna, G., Vince, O., Vrontaki, K., Weaver, Z. R., Webb, J., Yuldoshev, Q. X., Zaharieva, E., and Zhovtan, A. V.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Blazars are beamed active galactic nuclei known for their strong multi-wavelength variability on timescales from years down to minutes. We aim to investigate the suitability of the twisting jet model presented in previous works to explain the multi-wavelength behaviour of BL Lacertae, the prototype of one of the blazar classes. According to this model, the jet is inhomogeneous, curved, and twisting, and the long-term variability is due to changes in the Doppler factor due to variations in the orientation of the jet-emitting regions. We analysed optical data of the source obtained during monitoring campaigns organised by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) in 2019-2022, together with radio data from the WEBT and other teams, and gamma-ray data from the Fermi satellite. In this period, BL Lacertae underwent an extraordinary activity phase, reaching its historical optical and gamma-ray brightness maxima. The application of the twisting jet model to the source light curves allows us to infer the wiggling motion of the optical, radio, and gamma-ray jet-emitting regions. The optical-radio correlation shows that the changes in the radio viewing angle follow those in the optical viewing angle by about 120 days, and it suggests that the jet is composed of plasma filaments, which is in agreement with some radio high-resolution observations of other sources. The gamma-ray emitting region is found to be co-spatial with the optical one, and the analysis of the gamma-optical correlation is consistent with both the geometric interpretation and a synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) origin of the high-energy photons. We propose a geometric scenario where the jet is made up of a pair of emitting plasma filaments in a sort of double-helix curved rotating structure, whose wiggling motion produces changes in the Doppler beaming and can thus explain the observed multi-wavelength long-term variability., Comment: In press for A&A
Published: 2024
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4. The Method of Searching for Rotations of the Polarization Position Angle of Quasars

Author: Savchenko, S. S., Morozova, D. A., Jorstad, S. G., Blinov, D. A., Borman, G. A., Vasilyev, A. A., Grishina, T. S., Zhovtan, A. V., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., Troitskiy, I. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Shishkina, E. V., and Shkodkina, E. A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: Observations of quasars show that the polarization position angle of the emission coming from them varies greatly over time, including periods called rotations during which the angle changes in an orderly manner. The study proposes a method for identifying such events and assessing their statistical significance. The operation of the method is demonstrated using the example of long-term polarimetric observations of the blazars CTA 102, 3C 454.3, and OT 081. During the analysis of light curves, 51 rotations of the polarization position angle were found and it was shown that for CTA 102 and 3C 454.3 the rotations are predominantly oriented in one direction., Comment: 21 pages, 12 figures
Published: 2024
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5. Optical variability of the blazar 3C 371: from minute to year timescales

Author: Otero-Santos, J., Raiteri, C. M., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Carnerero, M. I., Villata, M., Savchenko, S. S., Carosati, D., Chen, W. P., Kurtanidze, S. O., Joner, M. D., Semkov, E., Pursimo, T., Benítez, E., Damljanovic, G., Apolonio, G., Borman, G. A., Bozhilov, V., Galindo-Guil, F. J., Grishina, T. S., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Hiriart, D., Hsiao, H. Y., Ibryamov, S., Ivanidze, R. Z., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Minev, M., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Ovcharov, E., Sigua, L. A., Stojanovic, M., Troitskiy, I. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Tsai, A., Valcheva, A., Vasilyev, A. A., Vince, O., Zaharieva, E., and Zhovtan, A. V.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: The BL Lac object 3C 371 has been observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (\textit{TESS}) for approximately a year, between July 2019 and July 2020, with an unmatched 2-minute observing cadence. In parallel, the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration organized an extensive observing campaign, providing three years of continuous optical monitoring between 2018 and 2020. These datasets allow for a thorough investigation of the variability of the source. The goal of this study is evaluating the optical variability of 3C 371. Taking advantage of the remarkable cadence of \textit{TESS} data, we aim to characterize the intra-day variability (IDV) displayed by the source and identify its shortest variability timescale. With this estimate, constraints on the size of the emitting region and black hole mass can be calculated. Moreover, WEBT data is used to investigate long-term variability (LTV), including understanding spectral behaviour of the source and the polarization variability. Based on the derived characteristics, information on the origin of the variability on different timescales is extracted. We evaluated the variability applying the variability amplitude tool that quantifies how variable the emission is. Moreover, we employed common tools like ANOVA (ANalysis Of VAariance) tests, wavelet and power spectral density (PSD) analyses to characterize the shortest variability timescales present in the emission and the underlying noise affecting the data. Short- and long-term colour behaviours have been evaluated to understand the spectral behaviour of the source. The polarized emission was analyzed, studying its variability and possible rotation patterns of the electric vector position angle (EVPA). Flux distributions of IDV and LTV were also studied with the aim of linking the flux variations to turbulent and/or accretion disc related processes., Comment: Accepted in A&A, 20 pages, 19 figures
Published: 2024
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6. The variability patterns of the TeV blazar PG 1553+113 from a decade of MAGIC and multi-band observations

Author: MAGIC Collaboration, Abe, H., Abe, S., Abhir, J., Acciari, V. A., Agudo, I., Aniello, T., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Engels, A. Arbet, Arcaro, C., Artero, M., Asano, K., Baack, D., Babić, A., Baquero, A., de Almeida, U. Barres, Batković, I., Baxter, J., González, J. Becerra, Bernardini, E., Bernete, J., Berti, A., Besenrieder, J., Bigongiari, C., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Bošnjak, Ž., Burelli, I., Busetto, G., Campoy-Ordaz, A., Carosi, A., Carosi, R., Carretero-Castrillo, M., Castro-Tirado, A. J., Chai, Y., Cifuentes, A., Cikota, S., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., D'Amico, G., D'Elia, V., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Del Popolo, A., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Mendez, C. Delgado, Depaoli, D., Di Pierro, F., Di Venere, L., Prester, D. Dominis, Donini, A., Dorner, D., Doro, M., Elsaesser, D., Emery, G., Escudero, J., Fariña, L., Fattorini, A., Foffano, L., Font, L., Fukami, S., Fukazawa, Y., López, R. J. García, Gasparyan, S., Gaug, M., Paiva, J. G. Giesbrecht, Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Gliwny, P., Grau, R., Green, J. G., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Heckmann, L., Herrera, J., Hovatta, T., Hrupec, D., Hütten, M., Imazawa, R., Inada, T., Iotov, R., Ishio, K., Martínez, I. Jiménez, Jormanainen, J., Kerszberg, D., Kluge, G. W., Kobayashi, Y., Kouch, P. M., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Lezáun, M. Láinez, Lamastra, A., Leone, F., Lindfors, E., Liodakis, I., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López-Moya, M., López-Oramas, A., Loporchio, S., Lorini, A., Fraga, B. Machado de Oliveira, Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Maneva, G., Mang, N., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Martínez-Chicharro, M., Mas-Aguilar, A., Mazin, D., Menchiari, S., Mender, S., Miceli, D., Miener, T., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., González, M. Molero, Molina, E., Mondal, H. A., Moralejo, A., Morcuende, D., Nakamori, T., Nanci, C., Neustroev, V., Nigro, C., Nikolić, L., Nilsson, K., Nishijima, K., Ekoume, T. Njoh, Noda, K., Nozaki, S., Ohtani, Y., Okumura, A., Otero-Santos, J., Paiano, S., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pavlović, D., Persic, M., Pihet, M., Pirola, G., Podobnik, F., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Principe, G., Priyadarshi, C., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Sahakyan, N., Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Saturni, F. G., Schleicher, B., Schmidt, K., Schmuckermaier, F., Schubert, J. L., Schweizer, T., Sciaccaluga, A., Sitarek, J., Spolon, A., Stamerra, A., Strišković, J., Strom, D., Suda, Y., Suutarinen, S., Tajima, H., Takeishi, R., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terauchi, K., Terzić, T., Teshima, M., Tosti, L., Truzzi, S., Tutone, A., Ubach, S., van Scherpenberg, J., Ventura, S., Verguilov, V., Viale, I., Vigorito, C. F., Vitale, V., Walter, R., Wunderlich, C., Yamamoto, T., collaborators, MWL, Jermak, H., Steele, I. A., Smith, P. S., Blinov, D., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Kurtanidze, S. O., Carosati, D., Savchenko, S. S., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Borman, G. A., Bozhilov, V., Carnerero, M. I., Chigladze, R. A., Damljanovic, G., Ehgamberdiev, S. A., Feige, M., Grishina, T. S., Gupta, A. C., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Ibryamov, S., Ivanidze, R. Z., Jorstad, S. G., Kania, J., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kopp, M., Kunkel, L., Kurtanidze, O. M., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Lorey, C., Marchini, A., Marscher, A. P., Minev, M., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Ovcharov, E., Reinhart, D., Sadun, A. C., Scherbantin, A., Schneider, L., Semkov, E., Sigua, L. A., Steineke, R., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitskiy, I. S., Valcheva, A., Vasilyev, A. A., Vince, O., Zaharieva, E., Zottmann, N., Kiehlmann, S., Readhead, A., Max-Moerbeck, W., Reeves, R. A., Sandrinelli, A., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Giroletti, M., Righini, S., Marchili, N., Patricelli, B., Ghirlanda, G., and Lico, R.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: PG 1553+113 is one of the few blazars with a convincing quasi-periodic emission in the gamma-ray band. The source is also a very high-energy (VHE; >100 GeV) gamma-ray emitter. To better understand its properties and identify the underlying physical processes driving its variability, the MAGIC Collaboration initiated a multiyear, multiwavelength monitoring campaign in 2015 involving the OVRO 40-m and Medicina radio telescopes, REM, KVA, and the MAGIC telescopes, Swift and Fermi satellites, and the WEBT network. The analysis presented in this paper uses data until 2017 and focuses on the characterization of the variability. The gamma-ray data show a (hint of a) periodic signal compatible with literature, but the X-ray and VHE gamma-ray data do not show statistical evidence for a periodic signal. In other bands, the data are compatible with the gamma-ray period, but with a relatively high p-value. The complex connection between the low and high-energy emission and the non-monochromatic modulation and changes in flux suggests that a simple one-zone model is unable to explain all the variability. Instead, a model including a periodic component along with multiple emission zones is required., Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 19 pages, 9 figures. Corresponding authors: Elisa Prandini, Antonio Stamerra, Talvikki Hovatta
Published: 2024
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7. Optical circular polarization of blazar S4 0954+65 during high linear polarized states

Author: Liodakis, I., Shablovinskaya, E., Blinov, D., Savchenko, S. S., Malygin, E., Kotov, S., Kiehlmann, S., Readhead, A. C. S., Potter, S. B., Rieger, F. M., Grishina, T. S., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., Morozova, D. A., Troitskiy, I. S., Troitskaya, Y. V., Vasilyev, A. A., Zhovtan, A. V., and Borman, G. A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: Optical circular polarization observations can directly test the particle composition in black holes jets. Here we report on the first observations of the BL Lac type object S4 0954+65 in high linear polarized states. While no circular polarization was detected, we were able to place upper limits of <0.5% at the 99.7% confidence. Using a simple model and our novel optical circular polarization observations we can constrain the allowed parameter space for the magnetic field strength and composition of the emitting particles. Our results favor models that require magnetic field strengths of only a few Gauss and models where the jet composition is dominated by electron-positron pairs. We discuss our findings in the context of typical magnetic field strength requirements for blazar emission models., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&A letters
Published: 2023

8. Quasi-simultaneous Optical Flux and Polarization Variability of the Binary Super Massive Black Hole Blazar OJ 287 from 2015 to 2023: Detection of an Anticorrelation in Flux and Polarization Variability

Author: Gupta, Alok C., Kushwaha, Pankaj, Valtonen, Mauri J., Savchenko, Sergey S., Jorstad, Svetlana G., Imazawa, Ryo, Wiita, Paul J., Gu, Minfeng, Marscher, Alan P., Zhang, Zhongli, Bachev, Rumen, Borman, G. A., Gaur, Haritma, Grishina, T. S., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Morozova, D. A., Nakaoka, T., Strigachev, A., Troitskaya, Yulia V., Troitsky, I. S., Uemura, M., Vasilyev, A. A., Weaver, Z. R., and Zhovtan, A. V.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We study the optical flux and polarization variability of the binary black hole blazar OJ 287 using quasi-simultaneous observations from 2015 to 2023 carried out using telescopes in the USA, Japan, Russia, Crimea, and Bulgaria. This is one of the most extensive quasi-simultaneous optical flux and polarization variability studies of OJ 287. OJ 287 showed large amplitude, ~3.0 mag flux variability, large changes of ~37% in degree of polarization, and a large swing of ~215 degrees in the angle of the electric vector of polarization. During the period of observation, several flares in flux were detected. Those flares are correlated with a rapid increase in the degree of polarization and swings in electric vector of polarization angle. A peculiar behavior of anticorrelation between flux and polarization degree, accompanied by a nearly constant polarization angle, was detected from JD 2,458,156 to JD 2,458,292. We briefly discuss some explanations for the flux and polarization variations observed in OJ 287., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, Published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2023 November 1
Published: 2023
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9. The Repeating Flaring Activity of Blazar AO 0235+164

Author: Pedrosa, Juan Escudero, Agudo, Iván, Tramacere, Andrea, Marscher, Alan P., Jorstad, Svetlana, Weaver, Z. R., Casadio, Carolina, Thum, Clemens, Myserlis, Ioannis, Fuentes, Antonio, Traianou, Efthalia, Kim, Jae-Young, Kramer, Joana, López-Coto, Rubén, D'Ammando, Filippo, Bernardos, M., Bonnoli, Giacomo, Blinov, Dmitriy A., Borman, G. A., Grishina, T. S., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, L. V., Morozova, D. A., Savchenko, S. S., Troitskiy, I. S., Troitskaya, Y. V., and Vasilyev, A. A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Context. Blazar AO 0235+164, located at redshift z = 0.94, has undergone several sharp multi-spectral-range flaring episodes during the last decades. In particular, the episodes peaking in 2008 and 2015, that received extensive multi-wavelength coverage, exhibited interesting behavior. Aims. We study the actual origin of these two observed flares by constraining the properties of the observed photo-polarimetric variability, those of the broad-band spectral energy-distribution and the observed time-evolution behavior of the source as seen by ultra-high resolution total-flux and polarimetric Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) imaging. Methods. The analysis of VLBI images allows us to constrain kinematic and geometrical parameters of the 7 mm jet. We use the Discrete Correlation Function to compute the statistical correlation and the delays between emission at different spectral ranges. Multi-epoch modeling of the spectral energy distributions allows us to propose specific models of emission; in particular for the unusual spectral features observed in this source in the X-ray region of the spectrum during strong multi spectral-range flares. Results. We find that these X-ray spectral features can be explained by an emission component originating in a separate particle distribution than the one responsible for the two standard blazar bumps. This is in agreement with the results of our correlation analysis that do not find a strong correlation between the X-rays and the remaining spectral ranges. We find that both external Compton dominated and synchrotron self-Compton dominated models can explain the observed spectral energy distributions. However, synchrotron self-Compton models are strongly favored by the delays and geometrical parameters inferred from the observations.
Published: 2023
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10. Extreme photometric and polarimetric variability of blazar S4 0954+65 at its maximum optical and $\gamma$-ray brightness levels

Author: Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Carnerero, M. I., Savchenko, S. S., Kurtanidze, S. O., Vlasyuk, V. V., Marchini, A., Matsumoto, K., Lorey, C., Joner, M. D., Gazeas, K., Carosati, D., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Pulido, J. A. Acosta, Agudo, I., Bachev, R., Benítez, E., Borman, G. A., Calcidese, P., Chen, W. P., Damljanovic, G., Ehgamberdiev, S. A., Elsässer, D., Feige, M., Frasca, A., Gaur, H., Grishina, T. S., Gupta, A. C., Hiriart, D., Holland, M., Horst, B., Ibryamov, S., Ivanidze, R. Z., Jensen, J., Jithesh, V., Jovanovic, M. D., Kiehlmann, S., Kimeridze, G. N., Kishore, S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Larionova, E. G., Lin, H. C., Mannheim, K., Marinelli, C., Reyes, J. Moreira, Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Reinhart, D., Romanov, F. D., Semkov, E., Seufert, J., Shishkina, E. V., Sigua, L. A., Skalidis, R., Spiridonova, O. I., Stojanovic, M., Strigachev, A., Troitskaya, Y. V., Troitskiy, I. S., Tsai, A., Vasilyev, A. A., Vince, O., Vrontaki, K., Wani, K., Watts, D., and Zhovtan, A. V.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: In 2022 the BL Lac object S4 0954+65 underwent a major variability phase, reaching its historical maximum brightness in the optical and $\gamma$-ray bands. We present optical photometric and polarimetric data acquired by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) Collaboration from 2022 April 6 to July 6. Many episodes of unprecedented fast variability were detected, implying an upper limit to the size of the emitting region as low as $10^{-4}$ parsec. The WEBT data show rapid variability in both the degree and angle of polarization. We analyse different models to explain the polarization behaviour in the framework of a twisting jet model, which assumes that the long-term trend of the flux is produced by variations in the emitting region viewing angle. All the models can reproduce the average trend of the polarization degree, and can account for its general anticorrelation with the flux, but the dispersion of the data requires the presence of intrinsic mechanisms, such as turbulence, shocks, or magnetic reconnection. The WEBT optical data are compared to $\gamma$-ray data from the Fermi satellite. These are analysed with both fixed and adaptive binning procedures. We show that the strong correlation between optical and $\gamma$-ray data without measurable delay assumes different slopes in faint and high brightness states, and this is compatible with a scenario where in faint states we mainly see the imprint of the geometrical effects, while in bright states the synchrotron self-Compton process dominates., Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, in press for MNRAS
Published: 2023

11. Multi-year characterisation of the broad-band emission from the intermittent extreme BL Lac 1ES~2344+514

Author: Abe, H., Abe, S., Acciari, V. A., Agudo, I., Aniello, T., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Engels, A. Arbet, Arcaro, C., Artero, M., Asano, K., Baack, D., Babić, A., Baquero, A., de Almeida, U. Barres, Batković, I., Baxter, J., González, J. Becerra, Bernardini, E., Bernete, J., Berti, A., Besenrieder, J., Bigongiari, C., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Bošjak, Ž, Burelli, I., Busetto, G., Campoy-Ordaz, A., Carosi, A., Carosi, R., Carretero-Castrillo, M., Castro-Tirado, A. J., Chai, Y., Cifuentes, A., Cikota, S., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., D'Amico, G., D'Ammando, F., D'Elia, V., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Del Popolo, A., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Mendez, C. Delgado, Depaoli, D., Di Pierro, F., Di Venere, L., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Elsaesser, D., Emery, G., Escudero, J., Fariña, L., Fattorini, A., Foffano, L., Font, L., Fukami, S., Fukazawa, Y., López, R. J. García, Gasparyan, S., Gaug, M., Paiva, J. G. Giesbrecht, Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Gliwny, P., Grau, R., Green, J. G., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Heckmann, L., Herrera, J., Hrupec, D., Hütten, M., Imazawa, R., Inada, T., Iotov, R., Ishio, K., Martínez, I. Jiménez, Jormanainen, J., Kerszberg, D., Kluge, G. W., Kobayashi, Y., Kouch, P. M., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Lezáun, M. Láinez, Lamastra, A., Leone, F., Lindfors, E., Linhoff, L., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López-Moya, M., López-Oramas, A., Loporchio, S., Lorini, A., Fraga, B. Machado de Oliveira, Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Maneva, G., Mang, N., Manganaro, M., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Martínez-Chicharro, M., Mas-Aguilar, A., Mazin, D., Menchiari, S., Mender, S., Miceli, D., Miener, T., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., González, M. Molero, Molina, E., Mondal, H. A., Moralejo, A., Morcuende, D., Nakamori, T., Nanci, C., Neustroev, V., Nigro, C., Nikolić, L., Nishijima, K., Ekoume, T. Njoh, Noda, K., Nozaki, S., Ohtani, Y., Okumura, A., Otero-Santos, J., Paiano, S., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pavlović, D., Persic, M., Pihet, M., Pirola, G., Podobnik, F., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Principe, G., Priyadarshi, C., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Sahakyan, N., Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Saturni, F. G., Schleicher, B., Schmidt, K., Schmuckermaier, F., Schubert, J. L., Schweizer, T., Sciaccaluga, A., Sitarek, J., Spolon, A., Stamerra, A., Strišović, J., Strom, D., Suda, Y., Tajima, H., Takeishi, R., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terauchi, K., Terzić, T., Teshima, M., Tosti, L., Truzzi, S., Tutone, A., Ubach, S., van Scherpenberg, J., Ventura, S., Verguilov, V., Viale, I., Vigorito, C. F., Vitale, V., Walter, R., Wunderlich, C., Leto, T. Yamamoto M. Perri F. Verrecchia C., Das, S., Chatterjee, R., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Semkov, E., Ibryamov, S., Bachev, R., Strigachev, A., Damljanovic, G., Vince, O., Jovanovic, M. D., Stojanovic, M., Larionov, V. M., Grishina, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., Morozova, D. A., Savchenko, S. S., Troitskiy, I. S., Troitskaya, Y. V., Vasilyev, A. A., Chen, W. P., Hou, W. J., Lin, C. S., Tsai, A., Jorstad, S. G., Weaver, Z. R., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Kurtanidze, S. O., Kurtanidze, O. M., Jordan, B., Ivanidze, R. Z., Gazeas, K., Vrontaki, K., Hovatta, T., Liodakis, I., Readhead, A. C. S., Kiehlmann, S., Zheng, W., and Filippenko, A. V.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: The BL Lac 1ES 2344+514 is known for temporary extreme properties (e.g., a shift of the synchrotron SED peak energy $\nu_{synch,p}$ above 1keV). While those extreme states were so far observed only during high flux levels, additional multi-year observing campaigns are required to achieve a coherent picture. Here, we report the longest investigation of the source from radio to VHE performed so far, focusing on a systematic characterisation of the intermittent extreme states. While our results confirm that 1ES 2344+514 typically exhibits $\nu_{synch,p}>$1keV during elevated flux periods, we also find periods where the extreme state coincides with low flux activity. A strong spectral variability thus happens in the quiescent state, and is likely caused by an increase of the electron acceleration efficiency without a change in the electron injection luminosity. We also report a strong X-ray flare (among the brightest for 1ES 2344+514) without a significant shift of $\nu_{synch,p}$. During this particular flare, the X-ray spectrum is among the softest of the campaign. It unveils complexity in the spectral evolution, where the common harder-when-brighter trend observed in BL Lacs is violated. During a low and hard X-ray state, we find an excess of the UV flux with respect to an extrapolation of the X-ray spectrum to lower energies. This UV excess implies that at least two regions contribute significantly to the infrared/optical/ultraviolet/X-ray emission. Using the simultaneous MAGIC, XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, and AstroSat observations, we argue that a region possibly associated with the 10 GHz radio core may explain such an excess. Finally, we investigate a VHE flare, showing an absence of simultaneous variability in the 0.3-2keV band. Using a time-dependent leptonic modelling, we show that this behaviour, in contradiction to single-zone scenarios, can instead be explained by a two-component model., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Published: 2023
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12. Multi-messenger characterization of Mrk 501 during historically low X-ray and $\gamma$-ray activity

Author: MAGIC collaboration, Abe, H., Abe, S., Acciari, V. A., Agudo, I., Aniello, T., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Engels, A. Arbet, Arcaro, C., Artero, M., Asano, K., Baack, D., Babić, A., Baquero, A., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., Batković, I., Baxter, J., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bernardini, E., Bernardos, M., Berti, A., Besenrieder, J., Bhattacharyya, W., Bigongiari, C., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Bošnjak, Ž., Burelli, I., Busetto, G., Carosi, R., Carretero-Castrillo, M., Castro-Tirado, A. J., Ceribella, G., Chai, Y., Chilingarian, A., Cikota, S., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., D'Amico, G., D'Elia, V., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Del Popolo, A., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Mendez, C. Delgado, Depaoli, D., Di Pierro, F., Di Venere, L., Espiñeira, E. Do Souto, Prester, D. Dominis, Donini, A., Dorner, D., Doro, M., Elsaesser, D., Emery, G., Escudero, J., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Fariña, L., Fattorini, A., Foffano, L., Font, L., Fruck, C., Fukami, S., Fukazawa, Y., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Gasparyan, S., Gaug, M., Paiva, J. G. Giesbrecht, Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Gliwny, P., Godinović, N., Grau, R., Green, D., Green, J. G., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Hassan, T., Heckmann, L., Herrera, J., Hrupec, D., Hütten, M., Imazawa, R., Inada, T., Iotov, R., Ishio, K., Martínez, I. Jiménez, Jormanainen, J., Kerszberg, D., Kobayashi, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Lamastra, A., Lelas, D., Leone, F., Lindfors, E., Linhoff, L., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López-Coto, R., López-Moya, M., López-Oramas, A., Loporchio, S., Lorini, A., Lyard, E., Fraga, B. Machado de Oliveira, Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Maneva, G., Mang, N., Manganaro, M., Mangano, S., Mannheim, K., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Mas-Aguilar, A., Mazin, D., Menchiari, S., Mender, S., Mićanović, S., Miceli, D., Miener, T., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Molina, E., Mondal, H. A., Moralejo, A., Morcuende, D., Moreno, V., Nakamori, T., Nanci, C., Nava, L., Neustroev, V., Rosillo, M. Nievas, Nigro, C., Nilsson, K., Nishijima, K., Ekoume, T. Njoh, Noda, K., Nozaki, S., Ohtani, Y., Oka, T., Okumura, A., Otero-Santos, J., Paiano, S., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pavletić, L., Persic, M., Pihet, M., Pirola, G., Podobnik, F., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Principe, G., Priyadarshi, C., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Rugliancich, A., Sahakyan, N., Saito, T., Sakurai, S., Satalecka, K., Saturni, F. G., Schleicher, B., Schmidt, K., Schmuckermaier, F., Schubert, J. L., Schweizer, T., Sitarek, J., Sliusar, V., Sobczynska, D., Spolon, A., Stamerra, A., Strišković, J., Strom, D., Strzys, M., Suda, Y., Surić, T., Tajima, H., Takahashi, M., Takeishi, R., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terauchi, K., Terzić, T., Teshima, M., Tosti, L., Truzzi, S., Tutone, A., Ubach, S., van Scherpenberg, J., Acosta, M. Vazquez, Ventura, S., Verguilov, V., Viale, I., Vigorito, C. F., Vitale, V., Vovk, I., Walter, R., Will, M., Wunderlich, C., Yamamoto, T., Zarić, D., groups, Other, collaborations, Cerruti, M., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Apolonio, G., Bachev, R., Baloković, M., Benítez, E., Björklund, I., Bozhilov, V., Brown, L. F., Bugg, A., Carbonell, W., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Casadio, C., Chamani, W., Chen, W. P., Chigladze, R. A., Damljanovic, G., Epps, K., Erkenov, A., Feige, M., Finke, J., Fuentes, A., Gazeas, K., Giroletti, M., Grishina, T. S., Gupta, A. C., Gurwell, M. A., Heidemann, E., Hiriart, D., Hou, W. J., Hovatta, T., Ibryamov, S., Joner, M. D., Jorstad, S. G., Kania, J., Kiehlmann, S., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kopp, M., Korte, M., Kotas, B., Koyama, S., Kramer, J. A., Kunkel, L., Kurtanidze, S. O., Kurtanidze, O. M., Lähteenmäki, A., López, J. M., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Leto, C., Lorey, C., Mújica, R., Madejski, G. M., Marchili, N., Marscher, A. P., Minev, M., Modaressi, A., Morozova, D. A., Mufakharov, T., Myserlis, I., Nikiforova, A. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Ovcharov, E., Perri, M., Raiteri, C. M., Readhead, A. C. S., Reimer, A., Reinhart, D., Righini, S., Rosenlehner, K., Sadun, A. C., Savchenko, S. S., Scherbantin, A., Schneider, L., Schoch, K., Seifert, D., Semkov, E., Sigua, L. A., Singh, C., Sola, P., Sotnikova, Y., Spencer, M., Steineke, R., Stojanovic, M., Strigachev, A., Tornikoski, M., Traianou, E., Tramacere, A., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitskiy, I. S., Trump, J. B., Tsai, A., Valcheva, A., Vasilyev, A. A., Verrecchia, F., Villata, M., Vince, O., Vrontaki, K., Weaver, Z. R., Zaharieva, E., and Zottmann, N.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We study the broadband emission of Mrk 501 using multi-wavelength observations from 2017 to 2020 performed with a multitude of instruments, involving, among others, MAGIC, Fermi-LAT, NuSTAR, Swift, GASP-WEBT, and OVRO. Mrk 501 showed an extremely low broadband activity, which may help to unravel its baseline emission. Nonetheless, significant flux variations are detected at all wavebands, with the highest occurring at X-rays and very-high-energy (VHE) $\gamma$-rays. A significant correlation ($>$3$\sigma$) between X-rays and VHE $\gamma$-rays is measured, supporting leptonic scenarios to explain the variable parts of the emission, also during low activity. This is further supported when we extend our data from 2008 to 2020, and identify, for the first time, significant correlations between Swift-XRT and Fermi-LAT. We additionally find correlations between high-energy $\gamma$-rays and radio, with the radio lagging by more than 100 days, placing the $\gamma$-ray emission zone upstream of the radio-bright regions in the jet. Furthermore, Mrk 501 showed a historically low activity in X-rays and VHE $\gamma$-rays from mid-2017 to mid-2019 with a stable VHE flux ($>$0.2 TeV) of 5% the emission of the Crab Nebula. The broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) of this 2-year-long low-state, the potential baseline emission of Mrk 501, can be characterized with one-zone leptonic models, and with (lepto)-hadronic models fulfilling neutrino flux constraints from IceCube. We explore the time evolution of the SED towards the low-state, revealing that the stable baseline emission may be ascribed to a standing shock, and the variable emission to an additional expanding or traveling shock., Comment: 55 pages, 30 figures, 14 tables, accepted by APJS. Corresponding authors are L. Heckmann, D. Paneque, S. Gasparyan, M. Cerruti, and N. Sahakyan
Published: 2022
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13. Investigation of the correlation patterns and the Compton dominance variability of Mrk 421 in 2017

Author: MAGIC Collaboration, Acciari, V. A., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Engels, A. Arbet, Artero, M., Asano, K., Babić, A., Baquero, A., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., Batković, I., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bellizzi, L., Bernardini, E., Bernardos, M., Berti, A., Besenrieder, J., Bhattacharyya, W., Bigongiari, C., Blanch, O., Bošnjak, Ž., Busetto, G., Carosi, R., Ceribella, G., Cerruti, M., Chai, Y., Chilingarian, A., Cikota, S., Colak, S. M., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., D'Amico, G., D'Elia, V., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Mendez, C. Delgado, Depaoli, D., Di Pierro, F., Di Venere, L., Espiñeira, E. Do Souto, Prester, D. Dominis, Donini, A., Doro, M., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Fattorini, A., Ferrara, G., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Fruck, C., Fukami, S., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Gasparyan, S., Gaug, M., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Gliwny, P., Godinović, N., Green, J. G., Green, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Heckmann, L., Herrera, J., Hoang, J., Hrupec, D., Hütten, M., Inada, T., Inoue, S., Ishio, K., Iwamura, Y., Jiménez, I., Jormanainen, J., Jouvin, L., Kajiwara, Y., Karjalainen, M., Kerszberg, D., Kobayashi, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Lamastra, A., Lelas, D., Leone, F., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López-Coto, R., López-Moya, M., López-Oramas, A., Loporchio, S., Fraga, B. Machado de Oliveira, Maggio, C., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Mallamaci, M., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Maraschi, L., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Mazin, D., Menchiari, S., Mender, S., Mićanović, S., Miceli, D., Miener, T., Minev, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Molina, E., Moralejo, A., Morcuende, D., Moreno, V., Moretti, E., Neustroev, V., Nigro, C., Nilsson, K., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nozaki, S., Ohtani, Y., Oka, T., Otero-Santos, J., Paiano, S., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pavletić, L., Peñil, P., Perennes, C., Persic, M., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Priyadarshi, C., Puljak, I., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Rugliancich, A., Saha, L., Sahakyan, N., Saito, T., Sakurai, S., Satalecka, K., Saturni, F. G., Schmidt, K., Schweizer, T., Sitarek, J., Šnidarić, I., Sobczynska, D., Spolon, A., Stamerra, A., Strom, D., Strzys, M., Suda, Y., Surić, T., Takahashi, M., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Teshima, M., Tosti, L., Truzzi, S., Tutone, A., Ubach, S., van Scherpenberg, J., Vanzo, G., Acosta, M. Vazquez, Ventura, S., Verguilov, V., Vigorito, C. F., Vitale, V., Vovk, I., Will, M., Wunderlich, C., Zarić, D., Collaboration, FACT, Baack, D., Balbo, M., Biederbeck, N., Biland, A., Bretz, T., Buss, J., Dorner, D., Eisenberger, L., Elsaesser, D., Hildebrand, D., Iotov, R., Mannheim, K., Neise, D., Noethe, M., Paravac, A., Rhode, W., Schleicher, B., Sliusar, V., Walter, R., groups, Other, collaborations, D'Ammando, F., Horan, D., Lien, A. Y., Baloković, M., Madejski, G. M., Perri, M., Verrecchia, F., Leto, C., Lähteenmäki, A., Tornikoski, M., Ramakrishnan, V., Järvelä, E., Vera, R. J. C., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Gupta, A. C., Pandey, A., Fuentes, A., Agudo, I., Casadio, C., Semkov, E., Ibryamov, S., Marchini, A., Bachev, R., Strigachev, A., Ovcharov, E., Bozhilov, V., Valcheva, A., Zaharieva, E., Damljanovic, G., Vince, O., Larionov, V. M., Borman, G. A., Grishina, T. S., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Morozova, D. A., Nikiforova, A. A., Savchenko, S. S., Troitskiy, I. S., Troitskaya, Y. V., Vasilyev, A. A., Merkulova, O. A., Chen, W. P., Samal, M., Lin, H. C., Moody, J. W., Sadun, A. C., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Weaver, Z. R., Feige, M., Kania, J., Kopp, M., Kunkel, L., Reinhart, D., Scherbantin, A., Schneider, L., Lorey, C., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Kurtanidze, S. O., Kurtanidze, O. M., Nikolashvili, M. G., Chanishvili, R. G., Chigladze, R. A., Ivanidze, R. Z., Kimeridze, G. N., Sigua, L. A., Joner, M. D., Spencer, M., Giroletti, M., Marchili, N., Righini, S., Rizzi, N., and Bonnoli, G.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We present a detailed characterisation and theoretical interpretation of the broadband emission of the paradigmatic TeV blazar Mrk 421, with special focus on the multi-band flux correlations. The dataset has been collected through an extensive multiwavelength campaign organised between 2016 December and 2017 June. The instruments involved are MAGIC, FACT, Fermi-LAT, Swift, GASP-WEBT, OVRO, Medicina and Mets\"ahovi. Additionally, four deep exposures (several hours long) with simultaneous MAGIC and NuSTAR observations allowed a precise measurement of the falling segments of the two spectral components. The very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma rays and X-rays are positively correlated at zero time lag, but the strength and characteristics of the correlation change substantially across the various energy bands probed. The VHE versus X-ray fluxes follow different patterns, partly due to substantial changes in the Compton dominance during a few days without a simultaneous increase in the X-ray flux (i.e. orphan gamma-ray activity). Studying the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) during the days including NuSTAR observations, we show that these changes can be explained within a one-zone leptonic model with a blob that increases its size over time. Our multi-band correlation study also hints at an anti-correlation between UV/optical and X-ray at a significance higher than 3 sigmas. A VHE flare observed on 2017 February 4 shows gamma-ray variability on multi-hour timescales, with a factor 10 increase in the TeV flux but only a moderate increase in the keV flux. The related broadband SED is better described by a two-zone leptonic scenario rather than by a one-zone scenario. We find that the flare can be produced by the appearance of a compact second blob populated by high energetic electrons spanning a narrow range of Lorentz factors., Comment: 38 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Corresponding authors: Axel Arbet-Engels, David Paneque
Published: 2021
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14. Parameters of the type-IIP supernova SN 2012aw

Author: Nikiforova, A. A., Baklanov, P. V., Blinnikov, S. I., Blinov, D. A., Grishina, T. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Morozova, D. A., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., and Troitsky, I. S.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We present the results the photometric observations of the Type IIP supernova SN 2012aw obtained for the time interval from 7 till 371 days after the explosion. Using the previously published values of the photospheric velocities we've computed the hydrodynamic model which simultaneously reproduced the photometry observations and velocity measurements. The model was calculated with the multi-energy group radiation hydrodynamics code STELLA. We found the parameters of the pre-supernova: radius $R = 500 R_\odot$, nickel mass $M(^{56}$Ni$)$ $\sim 0.06 M_\odot$, pre-supernova mass $25 M_\odot$, mass of ejected envelope $23.6 M_\odot$, explosion energy $E \sim 2 \times 10^{51}$ erg. The model progenitor mass $M=25 M_\odot$ significantly exceeds the upper limit mass $M=17 M_\odot$, obtained from analysis the pre-SNe observations. This result confirms once more that the 'Red Supergiant Problem' must be resolved by stellar evolution and supernova explosion theories in interaction with observations., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Published: 2021
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15. Short-Timescale Variability of the Blazar Mrk 421 from AstroSat and Simultaneous Multi-Wavelength Observations

Author: Chatterjee, Ritaban, Das, Susmita, Khasnovis, Archishman, Ghosh, Ritesh, Kumari, Neeraj, Naik, Sachindra, Larionov, V. M., Grishina, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., Nikiforova, A. A., Morozov, D. A., Savchenko, S. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., and Vasilyev, A. A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract: We study the multi-wavelength variability of the blazar Mrk 421 at minutes to days timescales using simultaneous data at $\gamma$-rays from Fermi, 0.7-20 keV energies from AstroSat, and optical and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths from ground-based observatories. We compute the shortest variability timescales at all of the above wavebands and find its value to be ~1.1 ks at the hard X-ray energies and increasingly longer at soft X-rays, optical and NIR wavelengths as well as at the GeV energies. We estimate the value of the magnetic field to be 0.5 Gauss and the maximum Lorentz factor of the emitting electrons ~1.6 x $10^5$ assuming that synchrotron radiation cooling drives the shortest variability timescale. Blazars vary at a large range of timescales often from minutes to years. These results, as obtained here from the very short end of the range of variability timescales of blazars, are a confirmation of the leptonic scenario and in particular the synchrotron origin of the X-ray emission from Mrk 421 by relativistic electrons of Lorentz factor as high as $10^5$. This particular mode of confirmation has been possible using minutes to days timescale variability data obtained from AstroSat and simultaneous multi-wavelength observations., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy
Published: 2021
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16. VHE gamma-ray detection of FSRQ QSO B1420+326 and modeling of its enhanced broadband state in 2020

Author: Acciari, V. A., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Engels, A. Arbet, Artero, M., Asano, K., Baack, D., Babić, A., Baquero, A., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bellizzi, L., Bernardini, E., Bernardos, M., Berti, A., Besenrieder, J., Bhattacharyya, W., Bigongiari, C., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Bošnjak, Ž., Busetto, G., Carosi, R., Ceribella, G., Cerruti, M., Chai, Y., Chilingarian, A., Cikota, S., Colak, S. M., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., D'Amico, G., D'Elia, V., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Mendez, C. Delgado, Depaoli, D., Di Pierro, F., Di Venere, L., Espiñeira, E. Do Souto, Prester, D. Dominis, Donini, A., Dorner, D., Doro, M., Elsaesser, D., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Fattorini, A., Ferrara, G., Foffano, L., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Fruck, C., Fukami, S., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Gasparyan, S., Gaug, M., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Gliwny, P., Godinović, N., Green, J. G., Green, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Heckmann, L., Herrera, J., Hoang, J., Hrupec, D., Hütten, M., Inada, T., Inoue, S., Ishio, K., Iwamura, Y., Jormanainen, J., Jouvin, L., Kajiwara, Y., Karjalainen, M., Kerszberg, D., Kobayashi, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Lamastra, A., Lelas, D., Leone, F., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López-Coto, R., López-Moya, M., López-Oramas, A., Loporchio, S., Fraga, B. Machado de Oliveira, Maggio, C., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Mallamaci, M., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Mazin, D., Mender, S., Mićanović, S., Miceli, D., Miener, T., Minev, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Molina, E., Moralejo, A., Morcuende, D., Moreno, V., Moretti, E., Neustroev, V., Nigro, C., Nilsson, K., Ninci, D., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nozaki, S., Ohtani, Y., Oka, T., Otero-Santos, J., Paiano, S., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pavletić, L., Peñil, P., Perennes, C., Persic, M., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Priyadarshi, C., Puljak, I., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Rugliancich, A., Saha, L., Sahakyan, N., Saito, T., Sakurai, S., Satalecka, K., Saturni, F. G., Schleicher, B., Schmidt, K., Schweizer, T., Sitarek, J., Šnidarić, I., Sobczynska, D., Spolon, A., Stamerra, A., Strom, D., Strzys, M., Suda, Y., Surić, T., Takahashi, M., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Teshima, M., Torres-Albà, N., Tosti, L., Truzzi, S., Tutone, A., van Scherpenberg, J., Vanzo, G., Acosta, M. Vazquez, Ventura, S., Verguilov, V., Vigorito, C. F., Vitale, V., Vovk, I., Will, M., Zarić, D., Angioni, R., D'Ammando, F., Ciprini, S., Cheung, C. C., Orienti, M., Pacciani, L., Prajapati, P., Kumar, P., Ganesh, S., Kurtenkov, A., Marchini, A., Carrasco, L., Escobedo, G., Porras, A., Recillas, E., Lähteenmäki, A., Tornikoski, M., Berton, M., Tammi, J., Vera, R. J. C., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Weaver, Z. R., Hart, M., Hallum, M. K., Larionov, V. M., Borman, G. A., Grishina, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., Nikiforova, A. A., Morozova, D. A., Savchenko, S. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Vasilyev, A. A., Hodges, M., Hovatta, T., Kiehlmann, S., Max-Moerbeck, W., Readhead, A. C. S., Reeves, R., and Pearson, T. J.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Context. QSO B1420+326 is a blazar classified as a Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar (FSRQ). In the beginning of 2020 it underwent an enhanced flux state. An extensive multiwavelength campaign allowed us to trace the evolution of the flare. Aims. We search for VHE gamma-ray emission from QSO B1420+326 during this flaring state. We aim to characterize and model the broadband emission of the source over different phases of the flare. Methods. The source was observed with a number of instruments in radio, near infrared, optical (including polarimetry and spectroscopy), ultra-violet, X-ray and gamma-ray bands. We use dedicated optical spectroscopy results to estimate the accretion disk and the dust torus luminosity. We perform spectral energy distribution modeling in the framework of combined Synchrotron-Self-Compton and External Compton scenario in which the electron energy distribution is partially determined from acceleration and cooling processes. Results. During the enhanced state the flux of both SED components drastically increased and the peaks were shifted to higher energies. Follow up observations with the MAGIC telescopes led to the detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from this source, making it one of only a handful of FSRQs known in this energy range. Modeling allows us to constrain the evolution of the magnetic field and electron energy distribution in the emission region. The gamma-ray flare was accompanied by a rotation of the optical polarization vector during a low polarization state. Also, a new, superluminal radio knot contemporaneously appeared in the radio image of the jet. The optical spectroscopy shows a prominent FeII bump with flux evolving together with the continuum emission and a MgII line with varying equivalent width., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in A&A
Published: 2020
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17. Two Flares with One Shock: the Interesting Case of 3C 454.3

Author: Liodakis, I., Blinov, D., Jorstad, S. G., Arkharov, A. A., Di Paola, A., Efimova, N. V., Grishina, T. S., Kiehlmann, S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, L. V., Larionova, E. G., Marscher, A. P., Morozova, D. A., Nikiforova, A. A., Pavlidou, V., Traianou, E., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Uemura, M., and Weaver, Z. R.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: The quasar 3C 454.3 is a blazar known for its rapid and violent outbursts seen across the electromagnetic spectrum. Using gamma-ray, X-ray, multi-band optical, and very long baseline interferometric data we investigate the nature of two such events that occurred in 2013 and 2014 accompanied by strong variations in optical polarization, including a 230 degree electric vector position angle (EVPA) rotation. Our results suggest that a single disturbance was responsible for both flaring events. We interpret the disturbance as a shock propagating down the jet. Under this interpretation the 2013-flare originated most likely due to changes in the viewing angle caused by perhaps a bent or helical trajectory of the shock upstream of the radio core. The 2014-flare and optical polarization behavior are the result of the shock exiting the 43 GHz radio core, suggesting that shock crossings are one of the possible mechanisms for EVPA rotations., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 2 Tables, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal
Published: 2020
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18. Multi-Wavelength Variability of BL Lacertae Measured with High Time Resolution

Author: Weaver, Zachary R., Williamson, K. E., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Larionov, V. M., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Bachev, R., Baida, G. V., Balonek, T. J., Benitez, E., Borman, G. A., Bozhilov, V., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Chen, W. P., Damljanovic, G., Dhiman, V., Dougherty, D. J., Ehgamberdiev, S. A., Grishina, T. S., Gupta, A. C., Hart, M., Hiriart, D., Hsiao, H. Y., Ibryamov, S., Joner, M., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionova, E. G., Matsumoto, K., Matsumura, R., Minev, M., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Morozova, D. A., Nikiforova, A. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Ovcharov, E., Rizzi, N., Sadun, A., Savchenko, S. S., Semkov, E., Slater, J. J., Smith, K. L., Stojanovic, M., Strigachev, A., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Tsai, A. L., Vince, O., Valcheva, A., Vasilyev, A. A., Zaharieva, E., and Zhovtan, A. V.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: In an effort to locate the sites of emission at different frequencies and physical processes causing variability in blazar jets, we have obtained high time-resolution observations of BL Lacertae over a wide wavelength range: with the \emph{Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite} (TESS) at 6,000-10,000 \AA\ with 2-minute cadence; with the Neil Gehrels \emph{Swift} satellite at optical, UV, and X-ray bands; with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array at hard X-ray bands; with the \emph{Fermi} Large Area Telescope at $\gamma$-ray energies; and with the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope for measurement of the optical flux density and polarization. All light curves are correlated, with similar structure on timescales from hours to days. The shortest timescale of variability at optical frequencies observed with TESS is $\sim 0.5$ hr. The most common timescale is $13\pm1$~hr, comparable with the minimum timescale of X-ray variability, 14.5 hr. The multi-wavelength variability properties cannot be explained by a change solely in the Doppler factor of the emitting plasma. The polarization behavior implies that there are both ordered and turbulent components to the magnetic field in the jet. Correlation analysis indicates that the X-ray variations lag behind the $\gamma$-ray and optical light curves by up to $\sim 0.4$ days. The timescales of variability, cross-frequency lags, and polarization properties can be explained by turbulent plasma that is energized by a shock in the jet and subsequently loses energy to synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation in a magnetic field of strength $\sim3$ G, Comment: 33 pages, 25 figures, 14 tables. Accepted to ApJ
Published: 2020

19. Unravelling the complex behavior of Mrk 421 with simultaneous X-ray and VHE observations during an extreme flaring activity in April 2013

Author: MAGIC collaboration, Acciari, V. A., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Engels, A. Arbet, Baack, D., Babic, A., Banerjee, B., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., Gonzalez, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bellizzi, L., Bernardini, E., Berti, A., Besenrieder, J., Bhattacharyya, W., Bigongiari, C., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Bosnjak, Z., Busetto, G., Carosi, R., Ceribella, G., Cerruti, M., Chai, Y., Chilingarian, A., Cikota, S., Colak, S. M., Colin, U., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., D'Elia, V., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Del Puppo, F., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Depaoli, D., Di Pierro, F., Di Venere, L., Espineira, E. Do Souto, Prester, D. Dominis, Donini, A., Dorner, D., Doro, M., Elsaesser, D., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Fattorini, A., Ferrara, G., Foffano, L., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Fruck, C., Fukami, S., Lopez, R. J. Garcia, Garczarczyk, M., Gasparyan, S., Gaug, M., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Gliwny, P., Godinovic, N., Green, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Herrera, J., Hoang, J., Hrupec, D., Hutten, M., Inada, T., Inoue, S., Ishio, K., Iwamura, Y., Jouvin, L., Kajiwara, Y., Kerszberg, D., Kobayashi, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Lamastra, A., Lelas, D., Leone, F., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., Lopez, M., Lopez-Coto, R., Lopez-Oramas, A., Loporchio, S., Fraga, B. Machado de Oliveira, Maggio, C., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Mallamaci, M., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Mariotti, M., Martinez, M., Mazin, D., Mender, S., Micanovic, S., Miceli, D., Miener, T., Minev, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Molina, E., Moralejo, A., Morcuende, D., Moreno, V., Moretti, E., Munar-Adrover, P., Neustroev, V., Nigro, C., Nilsson, K., Ninci, D., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nogues, L., Nozaki, S., Ohtani, Y., Oka, T., Otero-Santos, J., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pavletic, L., Penil, P., Peresano, M., Persic, M., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Rhode, W., Ribo, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Rugliancich, A., Saha, L., Sahakyan, N., Saito, T., Sakurai, S., Satalecka, K., Schleicher, B., Schmidt, K., Schweizer, T., Sitarek, J., Snidaric, I., Sobczynska, D., Spolon, A., Stamerra, A., Strom, D., Strzys, M., Suda, Y., Suric, T., Takahashi, M., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzic, T., Teshima, M., Torres-Alba, N., Tosti, L., van Scherpenberg, J., Vanzo, G., Acosta, M. Vazquez, Ventura, S., Verguilov, V., Vigorito, C. F., Vitale, V., Vovk, I., Will, M., Zaric, D., groups, Other, Petropoulou, M., Finke, J., D'Ammando, F., Balokovic, M., Madejski, G., Mori, K., Puccetti, Simonetta, Leto, C., Perri, M., Verrecchia, F., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Agudo, I., Bachev, R., Berdyugin, A., Blinov, D. A., Chanishvili, R., Chen, W. P., Chigladze, R., Damljanovic, G., Eswaraiah, C., Grishina, T. S., Ibryamov, S., Jordan, B., Jorstad, S. G., Joshi, M., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Larionov, V. M., Latev, G., Lin, H. C., Marscher, A. P., Mokrushina, A. A., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Semkov, E., Smith, P. S., Strigachev, A., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Vince, O., Barnes, J., Guever, T., Moody, J. W., Sadun, A. C., Hovatta, T., Richards, J. L., Max-Moerbeck, W., Readhead, A. C. R., Lahteenmaki, A., Tornikoski, M., Tammi, J., Ramakrishnan, V., and Reinthal, R.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We report on a multi-band variability and correlation study of the TeV blazar Mrk 421 during an exceptional flaring activity observed from 2013 April 11 to 2013 April 19. The study uses, among others, data from GASP-WEBT, Swift, NuSTAR, Fermi-LAT, VERITAS, and MAGIC. The large blazar activity, and the 43 hours of simultaneous NuSTAR and MAGIC/VERITAS observations, permitted variability studies on 15 minute time bins, and over three X-ray bands (3-7 keV, 7-30 keV and 30-80 keV) and three very-high-energy (>0.1 TeV, hereafter VHE) gamma-ray bands (0.2-0.4 TeV, 0.4-0.8 TeV and >0.8 TeV). We detected substantial flux variations on multi-hour and sub-hour timescales in all the X-ray and VHE gamma-ray bands. The characteristics of the sub-hour flux variations are essentially energy-independent, while the multi-hour flux variations can have a strong dependence on the energy of the X-ray and the VHE gamma rays. The three VHE bands and the three X-ray bands are positively correlated with no time-lag, but the strength and the characteristics of the correlation changes substantially over time and across energy bands. Our findings favour multi-zone scenarios for explaining the achromatic/chromatic variability of the fast/slow components of the light curves, as well as the changes in the flux-flux correlation on day-long timescales. We interpret these results within a magnetic reconnection scenario, where the multi-hour flux variations are dominated by the combined emission from various plasmoids of different sizes and velocities, while the sub-hour flux variations are dominated by the emission from a single small plasmoid moving across the magnetic reconnection layer., Comment: 46 pages, 17 figures, 9 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ Supplements
Published: 2020
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20. Multiwavelength behaviour of the blazar 3C279: decade-long study from $\gamma$-ray to radio

Author: Larionov, V. M., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Smith, P. S., Agudo, I., Savchenko, S. S., Morozova, D. A., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Aller, M. F., Aller, H. D., Andreeva, T. S., Arkharov, A. A., Bachev, R., Bonnoli, G., Borman, G. A., Bozhilov, V., Calcidese, P., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Casadio, C., Chen, W. -P., Damljanovic, G., Dementyev, A. V., Di Paola, A., Frasca, A., Fuentes, A., Gómez, J. L., Gónzalez-Morales, P., Giunta, A., Grishina, T. S., Gurwell, M. A., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Hovatta, T., Ibryamov, S., Joshi, M., Kiehlmann, S., Kim, J. -Y., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kovalev, Yu. A., Kovalev, Y. Y., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Lähteenmäki, A., Lázaro, C., Larionova, L. V., Larionova, E. G., Leto, G., Marchini, A., Matsumoto, K., Mihov, B., Minev, M., Mingaliev, M. G., Mirzaqulov, D., Dimitrova, R. V. Muñoz, Myserlis, I., Nikiforova, A. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Nizhelsky, N. A., Ovcharov, E., Pressburger, L. D., Rakhimov, I. A., Righini, S., Rizzi, N., Sadakane, K., Sadun, A. C., Samal, M. R., Sanchez, R. Z., Semkov, E., Sergeev, S. G., Sigua, L. A., Slavcheva-Mihova, L., Sola, P., Sotnikova, Yu. V., Strigachev, A., Thum, C., Traianou, E., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Tsybulev, P. G., Vasilyev, A. A., Vince, O., Weaver, Z. R., Williamson, K. E., and Zhekanis, G. V.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract: We report the results of decade-long (2008-2018) $\gamma$-ray to 1 GHz radio monitoring of the blazar 3C 279, including GASP/WEBT, $\it{Fermi}$ and $\it{Swift}$ data, as well as polarimetric and spectroscopic data. The X-ray and $\gamma$-ray light curves correlate well, with no delay > 3 hours, implying general co-spatiality of the emission regions. The $\gamma$-ray-optical flux-flux relation changes with activity state, ranging from a linear to a more complex dependence. The behaviour of the Stokes parameters at optical and radio wavelengths, including 43 GHz VLBA images, supports either a predominantly helical magnetic field or motion of the radiating plasma along a spiral path. Apparent speeds of emission knots range from 10 to 37c, with the highest values requiring bulk Lorentz factors close to those needed to explain $\gamma$-ray variability on very short time scales. The Mg II emission line flux in the `blue' and `red' wings correlates with the optical synchrotron continuum flux density, possibly providing a variable source of seed photons for inverse Compton scattering. In the radio bands we find progressive delays of the most prominent light curve maxima with decreasing frequency, as expected from the frequency dependence of the $\tau=1$ surface of synchrotron self-absorption. The global maximum in the 86 GHz light curve becomes less prominent at lower frequencies, while a local maximum, appearing in 2014, strengthens toward decreasing frequencies, becoming pronounced at $\sim5$ GHz. These tendencies suggest different Doppler boosting of stratified radio-emitting zones in the jet., Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS
Published: 2020
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21. Quasi-periodic behaviour in the optical and {\gamma}-ray light curves of blazars 3C 66A and B2 1633+38

Author: Otero-Santos, J., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Raiteri, C. M., Larionov, V. M., Peñil, P., Smith, P. S., Niebla, C. Ballester, Borman, G. A., Carnerero, M. I., Segura, N. Castro, Grishina, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., Morozova, D. A., Nikiforova, A. A., Savchenko, S. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Vasilyev, A. A., and Villata, M.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We report on quasi-periodic variability found in two blazars included in the Steward Observatory Blazar Monitoring data sample: the BL Lac object 3C 66A and the Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar B2 1633+38. We collect optical photometric and polarimetric data in V and R bands of these sources from different observatories: St. Petersburg University, Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, WEBT-GASP, Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, Steward Observatory, STELLA Robotic Observatory and Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope. In addition, an analysis of the $\gamma$-ray light curves from $\textit{Fermi}$-LAT is included. Three methods are used to search for any periodic behaviour in the data: the Z-transform Discrete Correlation Function, the Lomb-Scargle periodogram and the Weighted Wavelet Z-transform. We find evidences of possible quasi-periodic variability in the optical photometric data of both sources with periods of $\sim$3 years for 3C 66A and $\sim$1.9 years for B2 1633+38, with significances between 3$\sigma$ and 5$\sigma$. Only B2 1633+38 shows evidence of this behaviour in the optical polarized data set at a confidence level of 2$\sigma$-4$\sigma$. This is the first reported evidence of quasi-periodic behaviour in the optical light curve of B2 1633+38. Also a hint of quasi-periodic behaviour is found in the $\gamma$-ray light curve of B2 1633+38 with a confidence level $\geqslant$2$\sigma$, while no periodicity is observed for 3C 66A in this energy range. We propose different jet emission models that could explain the quasi-periodic variability and the differences found between these two sources., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Published: 2020
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22. Investigating the multiwavelength behaviour of the flat spectrum radio quasar CTA 102 during 2013-2017

Author: D'Ammando, F., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Agudo, I., Arkharov, A. A., Bachev, R., Baida, G. V., Benitez, E., Borman, G. A., Boschin, W., Bozhilov, V., Butuzova, M. S., Calcidese, P., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Casadio, C., Castro-Segura, N., Chen, W. -P., Damljanovic, G., Di Paola, A., Echevarria, J., Efimova, N. V., Ehgamberdiev, Sh. A., Espinosa, C., Fuentes, A., Giunta, A., Gomez, J. L., Grishina, T. S., Gurwell, M. A., Hiriart, D., Jermak, H., Jordan, B., Jorstad, S. G., Joshi, M., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kuratov, K., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Lahteenmaki, A., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Lazaro, C., Lin, C. S., Malmrose, M. P., Marscher, A. P., Matsumoto, K., McBreen, B., Michel, R., Mihov, B., Minev, M., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Molina, S. N., Moody, J. W., Morozova, D. A., Nazarov, S. V., Nikiforova, A. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Ohlert, J. M., Okhmat, N., Ovcharov, E., Pinna, F., Polakis, T. A., Protasio, C., Pursimo, T., Redondo-Lorenzo, F. J., Rizzi, N., Rodriguez-Coira, G., Sadakane, K., Sadun, A. C., Samal, M. R., Savchenko, S. S., Semkov, E., Sigua, L., Skiff, B. A., Slavcheva-Mihova, L., Smith, P. S., Steele, I. A., Strigachev, A., Tammi, J., Thum, C., Tornikoski, M., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Vasilyev, A. A., Vince, O., Hovatta, T., Kiehlmann, S., Max-Moerbeck, W., Readhead, A. C. S., Reeves, R., Pearson, T. J., Mufakharov, T., Sotnikova, Yu. V., and Mingaliev, M. G.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We present a multiwavelength study of the flat-spectrum radio quasar CTA 102 during 2013-2017. We use radio-to-optical data obtained by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope, 15 GHz data from the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, 91 and 103 GHz data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, near-infrared data from the Rapid Eye Monitor telescope, as well as data from the Swift (optical-UV and X-rays) and Fermi ($\gamma$ rays) satellites to study flux and spectral variability and the correlation between flux changes at different wavelengths. Unprecedented $\gamma$-ray flaring activity was observed during 2016 November-2017 February, with four major outbursts. A peak flux of (2158 $\pm$ 63)$\times$10$^{-8}$ ph cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, corresponding to a luminosity of (2.2 $\pm$ 0.1)$\times$10$^{50}$ erg s$^{-1}$, was reached on 2016 December 28. These four $\gamma$-ray outbursts have corresponding events in the near-infrared, optical, and UV bands, with the peaks observed at the same time. A general agreement between X-ray and $\gamma$-ray activity is found. The $\gamma$-ray flux variations show a general, strong correlation with the optical ones with no time lag between the two bands and a comparable variability amplitude. This $\gamma$-ray/optical relationship is in agreement with the geometrical model that has successfully explained the low-energy flux and spectral behaviour, suggesting that the long-term flux variations are mainly due to changes in the Doppler factor produced by variations of the viewing angle of the emitting regions. The difference in behaviour between radio and higher energy emission would be ascribed to different viewing angles of the jet regions producing their emission., Comment: 24 pages, 18 figures, and 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published: 2019
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23. A Fast Very High Energy $\gamma$-ray Flare from BL Lacertae during a Period of Multiwavelength activity in June 2015

Author: MAGIC Collaboration, Acciari, V. A., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Engels, A. Arbet, Baack, D., Babić, A., Banerjee, B., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bernardini, E., Berti, A., Besenrieder, J., Bhattacharyya, W., Bigongiari, C., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Carosi, R., Ceribella, G., Cikota, S., Colak, S. M., Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., D'Elia, V., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Di Pierro, F., Espiñera, E. Do Souto, Domínguez, A., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Elsaesser, D., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Fattorini, A., Fernández-Barral, A., Ferrara, G., Fidalgo, D., Foffano, L., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Fruck, C., Galindo, D., Gallozzi, S., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Gaug, M., Giammaria, P., Godinović, N., Guberman, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Hassan, T., Herrera, J., Hoang, J., Hrupec, D., Inoue, S., Ishio, K., Iwamura, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Kuveždić, D., Lamastra, A., Lelas, D., Leone, F., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López, M., López-Oramas, A., Maggio, C., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Masuda, S., Mazin, D., Minev, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Molina, E., Moralejo, A., Moreno, V., Moretti, E., Munar-Adrover, P., Neustroev, V., Niedzwiecki, A., Rosillo, M. Nievas, Nigro, C., Nilsson, K., Ninci, D., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nogués, L., Nöthe, M., Paiano, S., Palacio, J., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pedaletti, G., Peñil, P., Peresano, M., Persic, M., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Garcia, J. R., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Rugliancich, A., Saha, L., Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Schweizer, T., Sitarek, J., Šnidarić, I., Sobczynska, D., Somero, A., Stamerra, A., Strzys, M., Surić, T., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Teshima, M., Torres-Albà, N., Tsujimoto, S., van Scherpenberg, J., Vanzo, G., Acosta, M. Vazquez, Vovk, I., Will, M., Zarić, D., D'Ammando, F., Hada, K., Jorstad, S., Marscher, A. P., Mobeen, M. Z., Larionov, V. M., Borman, G. A., Grishina, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Morozova, D. A., Nikiforova, A. A., Lähteenmäki, A., Tornikoski, M., and Agudo, I.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: The mechanisms producing fast variability of the $\gamma$-ray emission in active galactic nuclei are under debate. The MAGIC telescopes detected a fast very high energy (VHE, E$>100$ GeV) $\gamma$-ray flare from BL Lacertae on 2015 June 15. The flare had a maximum flux of $(1.5\pm 0.3)\times 10^{-10}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ and halving time of $26\pm8$ minutes. The MAGIC observations were triggered by a high state in the optical and high energy (HE, E$>100$ MeV) $\gamma$-ray bands. In this paper we present the MAGIC VHE $\gamma$-ray data together with multiwavelength data from radio, optical, X-rays, and HE $\gamma$ rays from 2015 May 1 to July 31. Well-sampled multiwavelength data allow us to study the variability in detail and compare it to the other epochs when fast VHE $\gamma$-ray flares have been detected from this source. Interestingly, we find that the behaviour in radio, optical, X-rays and HE $\gamma$-rays is very similar to two other observed VHE $\gamma$-ray flares. In particular, also during this flare there was an indication of rotation of the optical polarization angle and of activity at the 43\,GHz core. These repeating patterns indicate a connection between the three events. We also test modelling of the spectral energy distribution, based on constraints from the light curves and VLBA observations, with two different geometrical setups of two-zone inverse Compton models. In addition we model the $\gamma$-ray data with the star-jet interaction model. We find that all of the tested emission models are compatible with the fast VHE $\gamma$-ray flare, but all have some tension with the multiwavelength observations., Comment: Accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysics
Published: 2019
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24. Rapid quasi-periodic oscillations in the relativistic jet of BL Lacertae

Author: Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Weaver, Z. R., Zhang, H., Dong, L., Gómez, J. L., Perel, M. V., Savchenko, S. S., Larionov, V. M., Carosati, D., Chen, W. P., Kurtanidze, O. M., Marchini, A., Matsumoto, K., Mortari, F., Aceti, P., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Andreeva, T., Apolonio, G., Arena, C., Arkharov, A., Bachev, R., Banfi, M., Bonnoli, G., Borman, G. A., Bozhilov, V., Carnerero, M. I., Damljanovic, G., Ehgamberdiev, S. A., Elsässer, D., Frasca, A., Gabellini, D., Grishina, T. S., Gupta, A. C., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Hallum, M. K., Hart, M., Hasuda, K., Hemrich, F., Hsiao, H. Y., Ibryamov, S., Irsmambetova, T. R., Ivanov, D. V., Joner, M. D., Kimeridze, G. N., Klimanov, S. A., Knött, J., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, S. O., Kurtenkov, A., Kuutma, T., Larionova, E. G., Leonini, S., Lin, H. C., Lorey, C., Mannheim, K., Marino, G., Minev, M., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Morozova, D. A., Nikiforova, A. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Ovcharov, E., Papini, R., Pursimo, T., Rahimov, I., Reinhart, D., Sakamoto, T., Salvaggio, F., Semkov, E., Shakhovskoy, D. N., Sigua, L. A., Steineke, R., Stojanovic, M., Strigachev, A., Troitskaya, Y. V., Troitskiy, I. S., Tsai, A., Valcheva, A., Vasilyev, A. A., Vince, O., Waller, L., Zaharieva, E., and Chatterjee, R.
Published: 2022
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25. AGILE, Fermi, Swift, and GASP-WEBT multi-wavelength observations of the high-redshift blazar 4C $+$71.07 in outburst

Author: Vercellone, S., Romano, P., Piano, G., Vittorini, V., Donnarumma, I., Munar-Adrover, P., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Verrecchia, F., Lucarelli, F., Pittori, C., Bulgarelli, A., Fioretti, V., Tavani, M., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Agudo, I., Arkharov, A. A., Bach, U., Bachev, R., Borman, G. A., Butuzova, M. S., Carnerero, M. I., Casadio, C., Damljanovic, G., D'Ammando, F., Di Paola, A., Doroshenko, V. T., Efimova, N. V., Ehgamberdiev, Sh. A., Giroletti, M., Gómez, J. L., Grishina, T. S., Järvelä, E., Klimanov, S. A., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Lähteenmäki, A., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, L. V., Mihov, B., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Molina, S. N., Morozova, D. A., Nazarov, S. V., Orienti, M., Righini, S., Savchenko, S. S., Semkov, E., Slavcheva-Mihova, L., Strigachev, A., Tornikoski, M., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Vince, O., Cattaneo, P. W., Colafrancesco, S., Longo, F., Morselli, A., Paoletti, F., and Parmiggiani, N.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: The flat-spectrum radio quasar 4C $+$71.07 is a high-redshift ($z=2.172$), $\gamma$-loud blazar whose optical emission is dominated by the thermal radiation from accretion disc. 4C $+$71.07 has been detected in outburst twice by the AGILE $\gamma$-ray satellite during the period end of October - mid November 2015, when it reached a $\gamma$-ray flux of the order of $F_{\rm E>100\,MeV} = (1.2 \pm 0.3)\times 10^{-6}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ and $F_{\rm E>100\,MeV} = (3.1 \pm 0.6)\times 10^{-6}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, respectively, allowing us to investigate the properties of the jet and of the emission region. We investigated its spectral energy distribution by means of almost simultaneous observations covering the cm, mm, near-infrared, optical, ultra-violet, X-ray and $\gamma$-ray energy bands obtained by the GASP-WEBT Consortium, the Swift and the AGILE and Fermi satellites. The spectral energy distribution of the second $\gamma$-ray flare (the one whose energy coverage is more dense) can be modelled by means of a one-zone leptonic model, yielding a total jet power of about $4\times10^{47}$ erg s$^{-1}$. During the most prominent $\gamma$-ray flaring period our model is consistent with a dissipation region within the broad-line region. Moreover, this class of high-redshift, large-mass black-hole flat-spectrum radio quasars might be good targets for future $\gamma$-ray satellites such as e-ASTROGAM., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 9 pages, 4 Figures, 3 Tables
Published: 2018
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26. The extreme HBL behaviour of Markarian 501 during 2012

Author: Ahnen, M. L., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Arcaro, C., Babić, A., Banerjee, B., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bernardini, E., Berti, A., Bhattacharyya, W., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Carosi, R., Carosi, A., Chatterjee, A., Colak, S. M., Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., Cumani, P., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Di Pierro, F., Doert, M., Domínguez, A., Prester, D. Dominis, Doro, M., Glawion, D. Eisenacher, Engelkemeier, M., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Fernández-Barral, A., Fidalgo, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Fruck, C., Galindo, D., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Gaug, M., Giammaria, P., Godinović, N., Gora, D., Guberman, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Hassan, T., Hayashida, M., Herrera, J., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Ishio, K., Konno, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Kuveždić, D., Lelas, D., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López, M., Maggio, C., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Maraschi, L., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Mazin, D., Menzel, U., Minev, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Moreno, V., Moretti, E., Nagayoshi, T., Neustroev, V., Niedzwiecki, A., Rosillo, M. Nievas, Nigro, C., Nilsson, K., Ninci, D., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nogués, L., Paiano, S., Palacio, J., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pedaletti, G., Peresano, M., Perri, L., Persic, M., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Garcia, J. R., Reichardt, I., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Rugliancich, A., Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Schroeder, S., Schweizer, T., Shore, S. N., Sitarek, J., Šnidarić, I., Sobczynska, D., Stamerra, A., Strzys, M., Surić, T., Takalo, L., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Teshima, M., Torres-Albà, N., Treves, A., Tsujimoto, S., Vanzo, G., Acosta, M. Vazquez, Vovk, I., Ward, J. E., Will, M., Zarić, D., Arbet-Engels, A., Baack, D., Balbo, M., Biland, A., Blank, M., Bretz, T., Bruegge, K., Bulinski, M., Buss, J., Dmytriiev, A., Dorner, D., Einecke, S., Elsaesser, D., Herbst, T., Hildebrand, D., Kortmann, L., Linhoff, L., Mahlke, M., Mannheim, K., Mueller, S. A., Neise, D., Neronov, A., Noethe, M., Oberkirch, J., Paravac, A., Rhode, W., Schleicher, B., Schulz, F., Sedlaczek, K., Shukla, A., Sliusar, V., Walter, R., Archer, A., Benbow, W., Bird, R., Brose, R., Buckley, J. H., Bugaev, V., Christiansen, J. L., Cui, W., Daniel, M. K., Falcone, A., Feng, Q., Finley, J. P., Gillanders, G. H., Gueta, O., Hanna, D., Hervet, O., Holder, J., Hughes, G., Hütten, M., Humensky, T. B., Johnson, C. A., Kaaret, P., Kar, P., Kelley-Hoskins, N., Kertzman, M., Kieda, D., Krause, M., Krennrich, F., Kumar, S., Lang, M. J., Lin, T. T. Y., Maier, G., McArthur, S., Moriarty, P., Mukherjee, R., O'Brien, S., Ong, R. A., Otte, A. N., Park, N., Petrashyk, A., Pichel, A., Pohl, M., Quinn, J., Ragan, K., Reynolds, P. T., Richards, G. T., Roache, E., Rovero, A. C., Rulten, C., Sadeh, I., Santander, M., Sembroski, G. H., Shahinyan, K., Sushch, I., Tyler, J., Wakely, S. P., Weinstein, A., Wells, R. M., Wilcox, P., Wilhel, A., Williams, D. A., Williamson, T. J, Zitzer, B., Perri, M., Verrecchia, F., Leto, C., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Jorstad, S. G., Larionov, V. M., Blinov, D. A., Grishina, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, E. G., Nikiforova, A. A., Morozova, D. A., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Kurtanidze, O. M., Nikolashvili, M. G., Kurtanidze, S. O., Kimeridze, G. N., Chigladze, R. A., Strigachev, A., Sadun, A. C., Moody, J. W., Chen, W. P., Lin, H. C., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Arévalo, M. J., Carnerero, M. I., González-Morales, P. A., Manilla-Robles, A., Jermak, H., Steele, I., Mundel, C., Benítez, E., Hiriart, D., Smith, P. S., Max-Moerbeck, W., Readhead, A. C. S., Richards, J. L., Hovatta, T., Lähteenmäki, A., Tornikoski, M., Tammi, J., Georganopoulos, M., and Baring, M. G.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: A multiwavelength campaign was organized to take place between March and July of 2012. Excellent temporal coverage was obtained with more than 25 instruments, including the MAGIC, FACT and VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes, the instruments on board the Swift and Fermi spacecraft, and the telescopes operated by the GASP-WEBT collaboration. Mrk 501 showed a very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray flux above 0.2 TeV of $\sim$0.5 times the Crab Nebula flux (CU) for most of the campaign. The highest activity occurred on 2012 June 9, when the VHE flux was $\sim$3 CU, and the peak of the high-energy spectral component was found to be at $\sim$2 TeV. This study reports very hard X-ray spectra, and the hardest VHE spectra measured to date for Mrk 501. The fractional variability was found to increase with energy, with the highest variability occurring at VHE, and a significant correlation between the X-ray and VHE bands. The unprecedentedly hard X-ray and VHE spectra measured imply that their low- and high-energy components peaked above 5 keV and 0.5 TeV, respectively, during a large fraction of the observing campaign, and hence that Mrk 501 behaved like an extreme high-frequency- peaked blazar (EHBL) throughout the 2012 observing season. This suggests that being an EHBL may not be a permanent characteristic of a blazar, but rather a state which may change over time. The one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenario can successfully describe the segments of the SED where most energy is emitted, with a significant correlation between the electron energy density and the VHE gamma-ray activity, suggesting that most of the variability may be explained by the injection of high-energy electrons. The one-zone SSC scenario used reproduces the behaviour seen between the measured X-ray and VHE gamma-ray fluxes, and predicts that the correlation becomes stronger with increasing energy of the X-rays., Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Corresponding authors: Gareth Hughes (gareth.hughes@cfa.harvard.edu), David Paneque (dpaneque@mppmu.mpg.de), Amit Shukla (amit.shukla@astro.uni-wuerzburg.de)
Published: 2018
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27. Multi-wavelength characterization of the blazar S5~0716+714 during an unprecedented outburst phase

Author: MAGIC Collaboration, Ahnen, M. L., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Arcaro, C., Baack, D., Babić, A., Banerjee, B., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bernardini, E., Berse, R. Ch., Berti, A., Bhattacharyya, W., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Carosi, R., Carosi, A., Ceribella, G., Chatterjee, A., Colak, S. M., Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., Cumani, P., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Di Pierro, F., Domínguez, A., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Elsaesser, D., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Fernández-Barral, A., Fidalgo, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Fruck, C., Galindo, D., Gallozzi, S., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Gaug, M., Giammaria, P., Godinović, N., Gora, D., Guberman, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Hassan, T., Hayashida, M., Herrera, J., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Ishio, K., Konno, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Kuveždić, D., Lelas, D., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López, M., Maggio, C., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Masuda, S., Mazin, D., Mielke, K., Minev, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Moreno, V., Moretti, E., Nagayoshi, T., Neustroev, V., Niedzwiecki, A., Rosillo, M. Nievas, Nigro, C., Nilsson, K., Ninci, D., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nogués, L., Paiano, S., Palacio, J., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pedaletti, G., Peresano, M., Persic, M., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Garcia, J. R., Reichardt, I., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Rugliancich, A., Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Schweizer, T., Sitarek, J., Šnidarić, I., Sobczynska, D., Stamerra, A., Strzys, M., Surić, T., Takahashi, M., Takalo, L., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Teshima, M., Torres-Albà, N., Treves, A., Tsujimoto, S., Vanzo, G., Acosta, M. Vazquez, Vovk, I., Ward, J. E., Will, M., Zarić, D., Collaboration, Fermi-LAT, Bastieri, D., Gasparrini, D., Lott, B., Rani, B., Thompson, D. J., Collaborators, MWL, Agudo, I., Angelakis, E., Borman, G. A., Casadio, C., Grishina, T. S., Gurwell, M., Hovatta, T., Itoh, R., Järvelä, E., Jermak, H., Jorstad, S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kraus, A., Krichbaum, T. P., Kuin, N. P. M., Lähteenmäki, A., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, L. V., Lien, A. Y., Madejski, G., Marscher, A., Myserlis, I., Max-Moerbeck, W., Molina, S. N., Morozova, D. A., Nalewajko, K., Pearson, T. J., Ramakrishnan, V., Readhead, A. C. S., Reeves, R. A., Savchenko, S. S., Steele, I. A., Tornikoski, M., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I., Vasilyev, A. A., and Zensus, J. Anton
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: The BL Lac object S5~0716+714, a highly variable blazar, underwent an impressive outburst in January 2015 (Phase A), followed by minor activity in February (Phase B). The MAGIC observations were triggered by the optical flux observed in Phase A, corresponding to the brightest ever reported state of the source in the R-band. The comprehensive dataset collected is investigated in order to shed light on the mechanism of the broadband emission. Multi-wavelength light curves have been studied together with the broadband Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs). The data set collected spans from radio, optical photometry and polarimetry, X-ray, high-energy (HE, 0.1 GeV < E < 100 GeV) with \textit{Fermi}-LAT to the very-high-energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) with MAGIC. The flaring state of Phase A was detected in all the energy bands, providing for the first time a multi-wavelength sample of simultaneous data from the radio band to the VHE. In the constructed SED the \textit{Swift}-XRT+\textit{NuSTAR} data constrain the transition between the synchrotron and inverse Compton components very accurately, while the second peak is constrained from 0.1~GeV to 600~GeV by \textit{Fermi}+MAGIC data. The broadband SED cannot be described with a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model as it severely underestimates the optical flux in order to reproduce the X-ray to $\gamma$-ray data. Instead we use a two-zone model. The EVPA shows an unprecedented fast rotation. An estimation of the redshift of the source by combined HE and VHE data provides a value of $z = 0.31 \pm 0.02_{stats} \pm 0.05_{sys}$, confirming the literature value. The data show the VHE emission originating in the entrance and exit of a superluminal knot in and out a recollimation shock in the inner jet. A shock-shock interaction in the jet seems responsible for the observed flares and EVPA swing. This scenario is also consistent with the SED modelling.
Published: 2018
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28. Exploring the connection between parsec-scale jet activity and broadband outbursts in 3C 279

Author: Rani, B., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Agudo, I., Sokolovsky, K. V., Larionov, V. M., Smith, P., Mosunova, D. A., Borman, G. A., Grishina, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Mokrushina, A. A., Morozova, D. A., Savchenko, S. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Thum, C., Molina, S. N., and Casadio, C.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We use a combination of high-resolution very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) radio and multi-wavelength flux density and polarization observations to constrain the physics of the dissipation mechanism powering the broadband flares in 3C 279 during an episode of extreme flaring activity in 2013-2014. Six bright flares superimposed on a long-term outburst are detected at $\gamma$-ray energies. Four of the flares have optical and radio counterparts. The two modes of flaring activity (faster flares sitting on top of a long term outburst) present at radio, optical, $\gamma$-ray frequencies are missing in X-rays. X-ray counterparts are only observed for two flares. The first three flares are accompanied by ejection of a new VLBI component (NC2) suggesting the 43 GHz VLBI core as the site of energy dissipation. Another new component, NC3, is ejected after the last three flares, which suggests that the emission is produced upstream from the core (closer to the black hole). The study therefore indicates multiple sites of energy dissipation in the source. An anti-correlation is detected between the optical percentage polarization (PP) and optical/$\gamma$-ray flux variations, while the PP has a positive correlation with optical/$\gamma$-rays spectral indices. Given that the mean polarization is inversely proportional to the number of cells in the emission region, the PP vs. optical/$\gamma$-ray anti-correlation could be due to more active cells during the outburst than at other times. In addition to the turbulent component, our analysis suggests the presence of a combined turbulent and ordered magnetic field, with the ordered component transverse to the jet axis., Comment: ApJ (in press), 14 pages, 19 figures
Published: 2018
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29. The Bright $\gamma$-ray Flare of 3C 279 in June 2015: AGILE Detection and Multifrequency Follow-up Observations

Author: Pittori, C., Lucarelli, F., Verrecchia, F., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Vittorini, V., Tavani, M., Puccetti, S., Perri, M., Donnarumma, I., Vercellone, S., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Bachev, R., Benitez, E., Borman, G. A., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Chen, W. P., Ehgamberdiev, Sh. A., Goded, A., Grishina, T. S., Hiriart, D., Hsiao, H. Y., Jorstad, S. G., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, L. V., Marscher, A. P., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Morozova, D. A., Nilsson, K., Samal, M. R., Sigua, L. A., Spassov, B., Strigachev, A., Takalo, L. O., Antonelli, L. A., Bulgarelli, A., Cattaneo, P., Colafrancesco, S., Giommi, P., Longo, F., Morselli, A., and Paoletti, F.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We report the AGILE detection and the results of the multifrequency follow-up observations of a bright $\gamma$-ray flare of the blazar 3C 279 in June 2015. We use AGILE-GRID and Fermi-LAT $\gamma$-ray data, together with Swift-XRT, Swift-UVOT, and ground-based GASP-WEBT optical observations, including polarization information, to study the source variability and the overall spectral energy distribution during the $\gamma$-ray flare. The $\gamma$-ray flaring data, compared with as yet unpublished simultaneous optical data which allow to set constraints on the big blue bump disk luminosity, show very high Compton dominance values of $\sim 100$, with a ratio of $\gamma$-ray to optical emission rising by a factor of three in a few hours. The multi-wavelength behavior of the source during the flare challenges one-zone leptonic theoretical models. The new observations during the June 2015 flare are also compared with already published data and non-simultaneous historical 3C 279 archival data., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures,5 Tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ
Published: 2018
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30. The detection of the blazar S4 0954+65 at very-high-energy with the MAGIC telescopes during an exceptionally high optical state

Author: MAGIC Collaboration, Ahnen, M. L., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Arcaro, C., Baack, D., Babić, A., Banerjee, B., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., Bednarek, W., Bernardini, E., Berse, R. Ch., Berti, A., Bhattacharyya, W., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Carosi, R., Carosi, A., Ceribella, G., Chatterjee, A., Colak, S. M., Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., Cumani, P., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Di Pierro, F., Domínguez, A., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Elsaesser, D., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Fernández-Barral, A., Fidalgo, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Fruck, C., Galindo, D., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Gaug, M., Giammaria, P., Godinović, N., Gora, D., Guberman, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Hassan, T., Hayashida, M., Herrera, J., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Ishio, K., Konno, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., dić, D. Kuvež, Lelas, D., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López, M., Maggio, C., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Masuda, S., Mazin, D., Mielke, K., Minev, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Moreno, V., Moretti, E., Nagayoshi, T., Neustroev, V., Niedzwiecki, A., Rosillo, M. Nievas, Nigro, C., Nilsson, K., Ninci, D., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nogués, L., Paiano, S., Palacio, J., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Pedaletti, G., Peresano, M., Persic, M., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Garcia, J. R., Reichardt, I., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Rugliancich, A., Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Schweizer, T., Sitarek, J., Šnidarić, I., Sobczynska, D., Stamerra, A., Strzys, M., Surić, T., Takahashi, M., Takalo, L., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Teshima, M., Torres-Albà, N., Treves, A., Tsujimoto, S., Vanzo, G., Acosta, M. Vazquez, Vovk, I., Ward, J. E., Will, M., Zarić, D., González, J. Becerra, Tanaka, Y., Ojha, R., Finke, J., Lähteenmäki, A., Järvelä, E., Tornikoski, M., Ramakrishnan, V., Hovatta, T., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Larionov, V. M., Borman, G. A., Grishina, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, L. V., Morozova, D. A., Savchenko, S. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Vasilyev, A. A., Agudo, I., Molina, S. N., Casadio, C., Gurwell, M., Carnerero, M. I., Protasio, C., and Pulido, J. A Acosta
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: The very-high-energy (VHE, $\gtrsim 100$ GeV) $\gamma$-ray MAGIC observations of the blazar S4 0954+65, were triggered by an exceptionally high flux state of emission in the optical. This blazar has a disputed redshift of z=0.368 or z$\geqslant$0.45 and an uncertain classification among blazar subclasses. The exceptional source state described here makes for an excellent opportunity to understand physical processes in the jet of S4 0954+65 and thus contribute to its classification. We investigate the multiwavelength (MWL) light curve and spectral energy distribution (SED) of the S4 0954+65 blazar during an enhanced state in February 2015 and put it in context with possible emission scenarios. We collect photometric data in radio, optical, X-ray, and $\gamma$ ray. We study both the optical polarization and the inner parsec-scale jet behavior with 43 GHz data. Observations with the MAGIC telescopes led to the first detection of S4 0954+65 at VHE. Simultaneous data with Fermi-LAT at high energy $\gamma$ ray\ (HE, 100 MeV < E < 100 GeV) also show a period of increased activity. Imaging at 43 GHz reveals the emergence of a new feature in the radio jet in coincidence with the VHE flare. Simultaneous monitoring of the optical polarization angle reveals a rotation of approximately 100$^\circ$. (...) The broadband spectrum can be modeled with an emission mechanism commonly invoked for flat spectrum radio quasars, i.e. inverse Compton scattering on an external soft photon field from the dust torus, also known as external Compton. The light curve and SED phenomenology is consistent with an interpretation of a blob propagating through a helical structured magnetic field and eventually crossing a standing shock in the jet, a scenario typically applied to flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and low-frequency peaked BL Lac objects (LBL)., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to A&A
Published: 2018
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31. Multi-wavelength temporal and spectral variability of the blazar OJ 287 during and after the December 2015 flare: a major accretion disc contribution

Author: Kushwaha, P., Gupta, A. C., Wiita, P. J., Gaur, H., Pino, E. M. de Gouveia Dal, Bhagwan, J., Kurtanidze, O. M., Larionov, V. M., Damljanovic, G., Uemura, M., Semkov, E., Strigachev, A., Bachev, R., Vince, O., Gu, Minfeng, Zhang, Z., Abe, T., Agarwal, A., Borman, G. A., Fan, J. H., Grishina, T. S., Hirochi, J., Itoh, R., Kawabata, M., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Mishra, A., Morozova, D. A., Nakaoka, T., Nikolashvili, M. G., Savchenko, S. S., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., and Vasilyev, A. A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract: We present a multi-wavelength spectral and temporal analysis of the blazar OJ 287 during its recent activity between December 2015 -- May 2016, showing strong variability in the near-infrared (NIR) to X-ray energies with detection at $\gamma$-ray energies as well. Most of the optical flux variations exhibit strong changes in polarization angle and degree. All the inter-band time lags are consistent with simultaneous emissions. Interestingly, on days with excellent data coverage in the NIR--UV bands, the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) show signatures of bumps in the visible--UV bands, never seen before in this source. The optical bump can be explained as accretion-disk emission associated with the primary black hole of mass $\sim \rm 1.8 \times10^{10} M_{\odot}$ while the little bump feature in the optical-UV appears consistent with line emission. Further, the broadband SEDs extracted during the first flare and during a quiescent period during this span show very different $\gamma$-ray spectra compared to previously observed flare or quiescent spectra. The probable thermal bump in the visible seems to have been clearly present since May 2013, as found by examining all available NIR-optical observations, and favors the binary super-massive black hole model. The simultaneous multi-wavelength variability and relatively weak $\gamma$-ray emission that shows a shift in the SED peak is consistent with $\gamma$-ray emission originating from inverse Compton scattering of photons from the line emission that apparently contributes to the little blue bump., Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, MNRAS in press
Published: 2017
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32. Multiband variability studies and novel broadband SED modeling of Mrk 501 in 2009

Author: Ahnen, M. L., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Antoranz, P., Babic, A., Banerjee, B., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bernardini, E., Berti, A., Biasuzzi, B., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnefoy, S., Bonnoli, G., Borracci, F., Bretz, T., Buson, S., Carosi, A., Chatterjee, A., Clavero, R., Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Wilhelmi, E. de Ona, Di Pierro, F., Doert, M., Domínguez, A., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Glawion, D. Eisenacher, Elsaesser, D., Engelkemeier, M., Ramazani, V. Fallah, Fernández-Barral, A., Fidalgo, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Frantzen, K., Fruck, C., Galindo, D., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Terrats, D. Garrido, Gaug, M., Giammaria, P., Godinović, N., Munoz, A. González, Gora, D., Guberman, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Hanabata, Y., Hayashida, M., Herrera, J., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Hughes, G., Idec, W., Kodani, K., Konno, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., La Barbera, A., Lelas, D., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López, M., López-Coto, R., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Mallot, K., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Marcote, B., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Mazin, D., Menzel, U., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Moretti, E., Nakajima, D., Neustroev, V., Niedzwiecki, A., Rosillo, M. Nievas, Nilsson, K., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nogués, L., Overkemping, A., Paiano, S., Palacio, J., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Paredes-Fortuny, X., Pedaletti, G., Peresano, M., Perri, L., Persic, M., Poutanen, J., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Reichardt, I., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Garcia, J. Rodriguez, Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Schröder, S., Schultz, C., Schweizer, T., Shore, S. N., Sillanpää, A., Sitarek, J., Snidaric, I., Sobczynska, D., Stamerra, A., Steinbring, T., Strzys, M., Surić, T., Takalo, L., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Tescaro, D., Teshima, M., Thaele, J., Torres, D. F., Toyama, T., Treves, A., Vanzo, G., Verguilov, V., Vovk, I., Ward, J. E., Will, M., Wu, M. H., Zanin, R., Abeysekara, A. U., Archambault, S., Archer, A., Benbow, W., Bird, R., Buchovecky, M., Buckley, J. H., Bugaev, V., Connolly, M. P., Cui, W., Dickinson, H. J., Falcone, A., Feng, Q., Finley, J. P., Fleischhack, H., Flinders, A., Fortson, L., Gillanders, G. H., Griffin, S., Grube, J., Hütten, M., Hanna, D., Holder, J., Humensky, T. B., Kaaret, P., Kar, P., Kelley-Hoskins, N., Kertzman, M., Kieda, D., Krause, M., Krennrich, F., Lang, M. J., Maier, G., McCann, A., Moriarty, P., Mukherjee, R., Nieto, D., O'Brien, S., Ong, R. A., Otte, N., Park, N., Perkins, J., Pichel, A., Pohl, M., Popkow, A., Pueschel, E., Quinn, J., Ragan, K., Reynolds, P. T., Richards, G. T., Roache, E., Rovero, A. C., Rulten, C., Sadeh, I., Santander, M., Sembroski, G. H., Shahinyan, K., Telezhinsky, I., Tucci, J. V., Tyler, J., Wakely, S. P., Weinstein, A., Wilcox, P., Wilhelm, A., Williams, D. A., Zitzer, B., Razzaque, S., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Aller, H. D., Aller, M. F., Larionov, V. M., Arkharov, A. A., Blinov, D. A., Efimova, N. V., Grishina, T. S., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, L. V., Larionova, E. G., Morozova, D. A., Troitsky, I. S., Ligustri, R., Calcidese, P., Berdyugin, A., Kurtanidze, O. M., Nikolashvili, M. G., Kimeridze, G. N., Sigua, L. A., Kurtanidze, S. O., Chigladze, R. A., Chen, W. P., Koptelova, E., Sakamoto, T., Sadun, A. C., Moody, J. W., Pace, C., Pearson III, R., Yatsu, Y., Mori, Y., Carraminyana, A., Carrasco, L., de la Fuente, E., Norris, J. P., Smith, P. S., Wehrle, A., Gurwell, M. A., Zook, Alma, Pagani, C., Perri, M., Capalbi, M., Cesarini, A., Krimm, H. A., Kovalev, Y. Y., Kovalev, Yu. A., Ros, E., Pushkarev, A. B., Lister, M. L., Sokolovsky, K. V., Kadler, M., Piner, G., Lähteenmäki, A., Tornikoski, M., Angelakis, E., Krichbaum, T. P., Nestoras, I., Fuhrmann, L, Zensus, J. A., Cassaro, P., Orlati, A., Maccaferri, G., Leto, P., Giroletti, M., Richards, J. L., Max-Moerbeck, W., and Readhead, A. C. S.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We present an extensive study of the BL Lac object Mrk 501 based on a data set collected during the multi-instrument campaign spanning from 2009 March 15 to 2009 August 1 which includes, among other instruments, MAGIC, VERITAS, Whipple 10-m, Fermi-LAT, RXTE, Swift, GASP-WEBT and VLBA. We find an increase in the fractional variability with energy, while no significant interband correlations of flux changes are found in the acquired data set. The higher variability in the very high energy (>100 GeV, VHE) gamma-ray emission and the lack of correlation with the X-ray emission indicate that the highest-energy electrons that are responsible for the VHE gamma-rays do not make a dominant contribution to the ~1 keV emission. Alternatively, there could be a very variable component contributing to the VHE gamma-ray emission in addition to that coming from the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenarios. The space of SSC model parameters is probed following a dedicated grid-scan strategy, allowing for a wide range of models to be tested and offering a study of the degeneracy of model-to-data agreement in the individual model parameters. We find that there is some degeneracy in both the one-zone and the two-zone SSC scenarios that were probed, with several combinations of model parameters yielding a similar model-to-data agreement, and some parameters better constrained than others. The SSC model grid-scan shows that the flaring activity around 2009 May 22 cannot be modeled adequately with a one-zone SSC scenario, while it can be suitably described within a two-independent-zone SSC scenario. The observation of an electric vector polarization angle rotation coincident with the gamma-ray flare from 2009 May 1 resembles those reported previously for low frequency peaked blazars, hence suggesting that there are many similarities in the flaring mechanisms of blazars with different jet properties., Comment: 33 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Corresponding authors: Marlene Doert (marlene.doert@tu-dortmund.de) and David Paneque (dpaneque@mppmu.mpg.de)
Published: 2016
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33. Exceptional outburst of the blazar CTA 102 in 2012: The GASP-WEBT campaign and its extension

Author: Larionov, V. M., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Agudo, I., Smith, P. S., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Arévalo, M. J., Arkharov, A. A., Bachev, R., Blinov, D. A., Borisov, G., Borman, G. A., Bozhilov, V., Bueno, A., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Casadio, C., Chen, W. P., Clemens, D. P., Di Paola, A., Ehgamberdiev, Sh. A., Gómez, J. L., González-Morales, P. A, Griñón-Marín, A., Grishina, T. S., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Ibryamov, S., Itoh, R., Kopatskaya, E. N., Koptelova, E., Lázaro, C., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Manilla-Robles, A., Metodieva, Y., Milanova, Yu. V., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Molina, S. N., Morozova, D. A., Nazarov, S. V., Ovcharov, E., Peneva, S., Ros, J. A., Sadun, A. C., Savchenko, S. S., Semkov, E., Sergeev, S. G., Strigachev, A., Troitskaya, Yu. V., and Troitsky, I. S.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: After several years of quiescence, the blazar CTA 102 underwent an exceptional outburst in 2012 September-October. The flare was tracked from gamma-ray to near-infrared frequencies, including Fermi and Swift data as well as photometric and polarimetric data from several observatories. An intensive GASP-WEBT collaboration campaign in optical and NIR bands, with an addition of previously unpublished archival data and extension through fall 2015, allows comparison of this outburst with the previous activity period of this blazar in 2004-2005. We find remarkable similarity between the optical and gamma-ray behaviour of CTA 102 during the outburst, with a time lag between the two light curves of ~1 hour, indicative of co-spatiality of the optical and gamma-ray emission regions. The relation between the gamma-ray and optical fluxes is consistent with the SSC mechanism, with a quadratic dependence of the SSC gamma-ray flux on the synchrotron optical flux evident in the post-outburst stage. However, the gamma-ray/optical relationship is linear during the outburst; we attribute this to changes in the Doppler factor. A strong harder-when-brighter spectral dependence is seen both the in gamma-ray and optical non-thermal emission. This hardening can be explained by convexity of the UV-NIR spectrum that moves to higher frequencies owing to an increased Doppler shift as the viewing angle decreases during the outburst stage. The overall pattern of Stokes parameter variations agrees with a model of a radiating blob or shock wave that moves along a helical path down the jet., Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, accepted in MNRAS
Published: 2016
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34. Long-term multi-wavelength variability and correlation study of Markarian 421 from 2007 to 2009

Author: MAGIC Collaboration, Ahnen, M. L., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Antoranz, P., Babic, A., Banerjee, B., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bernardini, E., Biasuzzi, B., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnefoy, S., Bonnoli, G., Borracci, F., Bretz, T., Buson, S., Carosi, A., Chatterjee, A., Clavero, R., Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Wilhelmi, E. de Oña, Di Pierro, F., Domínguez, A., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Glawion, D. Eisenacher, Elsaesser, D., Fernández-Barral, A., Fidalgo, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Frantzen, K., Fruck, C., Galindo, D., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Terrats, D. Garrido, Gaug, M., Giammaria, P., Godinović, N., Muñoz, A. González, Gora, D., Guberman, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Hanabata, Y., Hayashida, M., Herrera, J., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Hughes, G., Idec, W., Kodani, K., Konno, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., La Barbera, A., Lelas, D., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López, M., López-Coto, R., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Mallot, K., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Marcote, B., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Mazin, D., Menzel, U., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Moretti, E., Nakajima, D., Neustroev, V., Niedzwiecki, A., Rosillo, M. Nievas, Nilsson, K., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nogués, L., Orito, R., Overkemping, A., Paiano, S., Palacio, J., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Paredes-Fortuny, X., Pedaletti, G., Perri, L., Persic, M., Poutanen, J., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Garcia, J. Rodriguez, Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Schultz, C., Schweizer, T., Shore, S. N., Sillanpää, A., Sitarek, J., Snidaric, I., Sobczynska, D., Stamerra, A., Steinbring, T., Strzys, M., Takalo, L., Takami, H., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Tescaro, D., Teshima, M., Thaele, J., Torres, D. F., Toyama, T., Treves, A., Verguilov, V., Vovk, I., Ward, J. E., Will, M., Wu, M. H., Zanin, R., Blinov, D. A., Chen, W. P., Efimova, N. V., Forné, E., Grishina, T. S., Hovatta, T., Jordan, B., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Koptelova, E., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Lähteenmaäki, A., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Ligustri, R., Lin, H. C., McBreen, B., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Raiteri, C. M., Ros, J. A., Sadun, A. C., Sigua, L. A., Tornikoski, M., Troitsky, I. S., and Villata, M.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We study the multi-band variability and correlations of the TeV blazar Mrk 421 on year time scales, which can bring additional insight on the processes responsible for its broadband emission. We observed Mrk 421 in the very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray range with the Cherenkov telescope MAGIC-I from March 2007 to June 2009 for a total of 96 hours of effective time after quality cuts. The VHE flux variability is quantified with several methods, including the Bayesian Block algorithm, which is applied to data from Cherenkov telescopes for the first time. The 2.3 year long MAGIC light curve is complemented with data from the Swift/BAT and RXTE/ASM satellites and the KVA, GASP-WEBT, OVRO, and Mets\"ahovi telescopes from February 2007 to July 2009, allowing for an excellent characterisation of the multi-band variability and correlations over year time scales. Mrk 421 was found in different gamma-ray emission states during the 2.3 year long observation period. Flares and different levels of variability in the gamma-ray light curve could be identified with the Bayesian Block algorithm. The same behaviour of a quiet and active emission was found in the X-ray light curves measured by Swift/BAT and the RXTE/ASM, with a direct correlation in time. The behaviour of the optical light curve of GASP-WEBT and the radio light curves by OVRO and Mets\"ahovi are different as they show no coincident features with the higher energetic light curves and a less variable emission. The fractional variability is overall increasing with energy. The comparable variability in the X-ray and VHE bands and their direct correlation during both high- and low-activity periods spanning many months show that the electron populations radiating the X-ray and gamma-ray photons are either the same, as expected in the Synchrotron-Self-Compton mechanism, or at least strongly correlated, as expected in electromagnetic cascades., Comment: Corresponding authors: Ann-Kristin Overkemping (ann-kristin.overkemping@tu-dortmund.de), Marina Manganaro (manganaro@iac.es), Diego Tescaro (diego.tescaro@gmail.com), To be published in Astronomy&Astrophysics (A&A), 12 pages, 9 figures
Published: 2016
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35. Polarization angle swings in blazars: The case of 3C 279

Author: Kiehlmann, S., Savolainen, T., Jorstad, S. G., Sokolovsky, K. V., Schinzel, F. K., Marscher, A. P., Larionov, V. M., Agudo, I., Akitaya, H., Benítez, E., Berdyugin, A., Blinov, D. A., Bochkarev, N. G., Borman, G. A., Burenkov, A. N., Casadio, C., Doroshenko, V. T., Efimova, N. V., Fukazawa, Y., Gómez, J. L., Grishina, T. S., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Heidt, J., Hiriart, D., Itoh, R., Joshi, M., Kawabata, K. S., Kimeridze, G. N., Kopatskaya, E. N., Korobtsev, I. V., Krajci, T., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Lindfors, E., López, J. M., McHardy, I. M., Molina, S. N., Moritani, Y., Morozova, D. A., Nazarov, S. V., Nikolashvili, M. G., Nilsson, K., Pulatova, N. G., Reinthal, R., Sadun, A., Sasada, M., Savchenko, S. S., Sergeev, S. G., Sigua, L. A., Smith, P. S., Sorcia, M., Spiridonova, O. I., Takaki, K., Takalo, L. O., Taylor, B., Troitsky, I. S., Uemura, M., Ugolkova, L. S., Ui, T., Yoshida, M., Zensus, J. A., and Zhdanova, V. E.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: Over the past few years, several occasions of large, continuous rotations of the electric vector position angle (EVPA) of linearly polarized optical emission from blazars have been reported. These events are often coincident with high energy gamma-ray flares and they have attracted considerable attention, as they could allow one to probe the magnetic field structure in the gamma-ray emitting region of the jet. The flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C279 is one of the most prominent examples showing this behaviour. Our goal is to study the observed EVPA rotations and to distinguish between a stochastic and a deterministic origin of the polarization variability. We have combined multiple data sets of R-band photometry and optical polarimetry measurements of 3C279, yielding exceptionally well-sampled flux density and polarization curves that cover a period of 2008-2012. Several large EVPA rotations are identified in the data. We introduce a quantitative measure for the EVPA curve smoothness, which is then used to test a set of simple random walk polarization variability models against the data. 3C279 shows different polarization variation characteristics during an optical low-flux state and a flaring state. The polarization variation during the flaring state, especially the smooth approx. 360 degrees rotation of the EVPA in mid-2011, is not consistent with the tested stochastic processes. We conclude that during the two different optical flux states, two different processes govern the polarization variation, possibly a stochastic process during the low-brightness state and a deterministic process during the flaring activity., Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables
Published: 2016
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36. Multiwavelength Study of Quiescent States of Mrk 421 with Unprecedented Hard X-Ray Coverage Provided by NuSTAR in 2013

Author: Baloković, M., Paneque, D., Madejski, G., Furniss, A., Chiang, J., team, the NuSTAR, Ajello, M., Alexander, D. M., Barret, D., Blandford, R., Boggs, S. E., Christensen, F. E., Craig, W. W., Forster, K., Giommi, P., Grefenstette, B. W., Hailey, C. J., Harrison, F. A., Hornstrup, A., Kitaguchi, T., Koglin, J. E., Madsen, K. K., Mao, P. H., Miyasaka, H., Mori, K., Perri, M., Pivovaroff, M. J., Puccetti, S., Rana, V., Stern, D., Tagliaferri, G., Urry, C. M., Westergaard, N. J., Zhang, W. W., Zoglauer, A., collaboration, the VERITAS, Archambault, S., Archer, A. A., Barnacka, A., Benbow, W., Bird, R., Buckley, J., Bugaev, V., Cerruti, M., Chen, X., Ciupik, L., Connolly, M. P., Cui, W., Dickinson, H. J., Dumm, J., Eisch, J. D., Falcone, A., Feng, Q., Finley, J. P., Fleischhack, H., Fortson, L., Griffin, S., Griffiths, S. T., Grube, J., Gyuk, G., Huetten, M., Haakansson, N., Holder, J., Humensky, T. B., Johnson, C. A., Kaaret, P., Kertzman, M., Khassen, Y., Kieda, D., Krause, M., Krennrich, F., Lang, M. J., Maier, G., McArthur, S., Meagher, K., Moriarty, P., Nelson, T., Nieto, D., Ong, R. A., Park, N., Pohl, M., Popkow, A., Pueschel, E., Reynolds, P. T., Richards, G. T., Roache, E., Santander, M., Sembroski, G. H., Shahinyan, K., Smith, A. W., Staszak, D., Telezhinsky, I., Todd, N. W., Tucci, J. V., Tyler, J., Vincent, S., Weinstein, A., Wilhelm, A., Williams, D. A., Zitzer, B., collaboration, the MAGIC, Ahnen, M. L., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Antoranz, P., Babic, A., Banerjee, B., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bernardini, E., Biasuzzi, B., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnefoy, S., Bonnoli, G., Borracci, F., Bretz, T., Carmona, E., Carosi, A., Chatterjee, A., Clavero, R., Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., de Angelis, A., De Lotto, B., Wilhelmi, E. D. de Oña, Mendez, C. Delgado, Di Pierro, F., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Elsaesser, D., Fernández-Barral, A., Fidalgo, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Frantzen, K., Fruck, C., Galindo, D., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Terrats, D. Garrido, Gaug, M., Giammaria, P., Eisenacher, D., Godinović, N., Muñoz, A. González, Guberman, D., Hahn, A., Hanabata, Y., Hayashida, M., Herrera, J., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Hughes, G., Idec, W., Kodani, K., Konno, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., La Barbera, A., Lelas, D., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López, M., López-Coto, R., López-Oramas, A., Lorenz, E., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Mallot, K., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Marcote, B., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Mazin, D., Menzel, U., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Moretti, E., Nakajima, D., Neustroev, V., Niedzwiecki, A., Nievas-Rosillo, M., Nilsson, K., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Orito, R., Overkemping, A., Paiano, S., Palacio, S., Palatiello, M., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Paredes-Fortuny, X., Persic, M., Poutanen, J., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Garcia, J. Rodriguez, Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Scapin, V., Schultz, C., Schweizer, T., Shore, S. N., Sillanpää, A., Sitarek, J., Snidaric, I., Sobczynska, D., Stamerra, A., Steinbring, T., Strzys, M., Takalo, L. O., Takami, H., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Tescaro, D., Teshima, M., Thaele, J., Torres, D. F., Toyama, T., Treves, A., Verguilov, V., Vovk, I., Ward, J. E., Will, M., Wu, M. H., Zanin, R., collaborators, external, Perkins, J., Verrecchia, F., Leto, C., Böttcher, M., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Bachev, R., Berdyugin, A., Blinov, D. A., Carnerero, M. I., Chen, W. P., Chinchilla, P., Damljanovic, G., Eswaraiah, C., Grishina, T. S., Ibryamov, S., Jordan, B., Jorstad, S. G., Joshi, M., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Larionov, V. M., Latev, G., Lin, H. C., Marscher, A. P., Mokrushina, A. A., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Semkov, E., Strigachev, A., Troitskaya, Yu. V., Troitsky, I. S., Vince, O., Barnes, J., Güver, T., Moody, J. W., Sadun, A. C., Sun, S., Hovatta, T., Richards, J. L., Max-Moerbeck, W., Readhead, A. C., Lähteenmäki, A., Tornikoski, M., Tammi, J., Ramakrishnan, V., Reinthal, R., Angelakis, E., Fuhrmann, L., Myserlis, I., Karamanavis, V., Sievers, A., Ungerechts, H., and Zensus, J. A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We present coordinated multiwavelength observations of the bright, nearby BL Lac object Mrk 421 taken in 2013 January-March, involving GASP-WEBT, Swift, NuSTAR, Fermi-LAT, MAGIC, VERITAS, and other collaborations and instruments, providing data from radio to very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray bands. NuSTAR yielded previously unattainable sensitivity in the 3-79 keV range, revealing that the spectrum softens when the source is dimmer until the X-ray spectral shape saturates into a steep power law with a photon index of approximately 3, with no evidence for an exponential cutoff or additional hard components up to about 80 keV. For the first time, we observed both the synchrotron and the inverse-Compton peaks of the spectral energy distribution (SED) simultaneously shifted to frequencies below the typical quiescent state by an order of magnitude. The fractional variability as a function of photon energy shows a double-bump structure which relates to the two bumps of the broadband SED. In each bump, the variability increases with energy which, in the framework of the synchrotron self-Compton model, implies that the electrons with higher energies are more variable. The measured multi-band variability, the significant X-ray-to-VHE correlation down to some of the lowest fluxes ever observed in both bands, the lack of correlation between optical/UV and X-ray flux, the low degree of polarization and its significant (random) variations, the short estimated electron cooling time, and the significantly longer variability timescale observed in the NuSTAR light curves point toward in-situ electron acceleration, and suggest that there are multiple compact regions contributing to the broadband emission of Mrk 421 during low-activity states., Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ
Published: 2015
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37. Multiwavelength observations of Mrk 501 in 2008

Author: MAGIC Collaboration, Aleksić, J., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Antoranz, P., Babic, A., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Berger, K., Bernardini, E., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bock, R. K., Bonnefoy, S., Bonnoli, G., Borracci, F., Bretz, T., Carmona, E., Carosi, A., Fidalgo, D. Carreto, Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Caneva, G., De Lotto, B., Mendez, C. Delgado, Doert, M., Domínguez, A., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Eisenacher, D., Elsaesser, D., Farina, E., Ferenc, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Frantzen, K., Fruck, C., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Terrats, D. Garrido, Gaug, M., Giavitto, G., Godinović, N., Muñoz, A. González, Gozzini, S. R., Hadamek, A., Hadasch, D., Herrero, A., Hildebrand, D., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Idec, W., Kadenius, V., Kellermann, H., Knoetig, M. L., Krause, J., Kushida, J., La Barbera, A., Lelas, D., Lewandowska, N., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., López, M., López-Coto, R., López-Oramas, A., Lorenz, E., Lozano, I., Makariev, M., Mallot, K., Maneva, G., Mankuzhiyil, N., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Marcote, B., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Mazin, D., Menzel, U., Meucci, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Munar-Adrover, P., Nakajima, D., Niedzwiecki, A., Nilsson, K., Nowak, N., Orito, R., Overkemping, A., Paiano, S., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Paredes-Fortuny, X., Partini, S., Persic, M., Prada, F., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Preziuso, S., Puljak, I., Reinthal, R., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Garcia, J. Rodriguez, Rügamer, S., Saggion, A., Saito, T., Saito, K., Salvati, M., Satalecka, K., Scalzotto, V., Scapin, V., Schultz, C., Schweizer, T., Shore, S. N., Sillanpää, A., Sitarek, J., Snidaric, I., Sobczynska, D., Spanier, F., Stamatescu, V., Stamerra, A., Steinbring, T., Storz, J., Sun, S., Surić, T., Takalo, L., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Tescaro, D., Teshima, M., Thaele, J., Tibolla, O., Torres, D. F., Toyama, T., Treves, A., Uellenbeck, M., Vogler, P., Wagner, R. M., Zandanel, F., Zanin, R., Collaboration, VERITAS, Behera, B., Beilicke, M., Benbow, W., Bird, R., Bouvier, A., Bugaev, V., Cerruti, M., Chen, X., Ciupik, L., Collins-Hughes, E., Cui, W., Duke, C., Dumm, J., Falcone, A., Federici, S., Feng, Q., Finley, J. P., Fortson, L., Furniss, A., Galante, N., Gillanders, G. H., Griffin, S., Griffiths, S. T., Grube, J., Gyuk, G., Hanna, D., Holder, J., Johnson, C. A., Kaaret, P., Kertzman, M., Kieda, D., Krawczynski, H., Lang, M. J., Madhavan, A. S, Maier, G., Majumdar, P., Meagher, K., Moriarty, P., Mukherjee, R., Nieto, D., de Bhróithe, A. O'Faoláin, Ong, R. A., Otte, A. N., Pichel, A., Pohl, M., Popkow, A., Prokoph, H., Quinn, J., Rajotte, J., Ratliff, G., Reyes, L. C., Reynolds, P. T., Richards, G. T., Roache, E., Sembroski, G. H., Shahinyan, K., Sheidaei, F., Smith, A. W., Staszak, D., Telezhinsky, I., Theiling, M., Tyler, J., Varlotta, A., Vincent, S., Wakely, S. P., Weekes, T. C., Welsing, R., Williams, D. A., Zajczyk, A., Zitzer, B., Collaborators, External, Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Ajello, M., Perri, M., Aller, H. D., Aller, M. F., Larionov, V. M., Efimova, N. V., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Chen, W. P., Koptelova, E., Hsiao, H. Y., Kurtanidze, O. M., Nikolashvili, M. G., Kimeridze, G. N., Jordan, B., Leto, P., Buemi, C. S., Trigilio, C., Umana, G., Lahtenmaki, A., Nieppola, E., Tornikoski, M., Sainio, J., Giroletti, M., Cesarini, A., Fuhrmann, L., Kovalev, Yu. A., and Kovalev, Y. Y.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Mrk 501 is one of the brightest blazars at TeV energies and has been extensively studied since its first VHE detection in 1996. Our goal is to characterize in detail the source gamma-ray emission, together with the radio-to-X-ray emission, during the non-flaring (low) activity, which is less often studied than the occasional flaring (high) activity. We organized a multiwavelength (MW) campaign on Mrk 501 between March and May 2008. This multi-instrument effort included the most sensitive VHE gamma-ray instruments in the northern hemisphere, namely the imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes MAGIC and VERITAS, as well as Swift, RXTE, the F-GAMMA, GASP-WEBT, and other collaborations and instruments. Mrk 501 was found to be in a low state of activity during the campaign, with a VHE flux in the range of 10%-20% of the Crab nebula flux. Nevertheless, significant flux variations were detected with various instruments, with a trend of increasing variability with energy. The broadband spectral energy distribution during the two different emission states of the campaign can be adequately described within the homogeneous one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model, with the (slightly) higher state described by an increase in the electron number density. This agrees with previous studies of the broadband emission of this source during flaring and non-flaring states. We report for the first time a tentative X-ray-to-VHE correlation during a low VHE activity. Although marginally significant, this positive correlation between X-ray and VHE, which has been reported many times during flaring activity, suggests that the mechanisms that dominate the X-ray/VHE emission during non-flaring-activity are not substantially different from those that are responsible for the emission during flaring activity., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A
Published: 2014
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38. The Outburst of the Blazar S40954+658 in March-April 2011

Author: Morozova, D. A., Larionov, V. M., Troitsky, I. S., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Gómez, J. L., Blinov, D. A., Efimova, N. V., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Hagen-Thorn, E. I., Joshi, M., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, L. V., Larionova, E. G., Lähteenmäki, A., Tammi, J., Rastorgueva-Foi, E., McHardy, I., Tornikoski, M., Agudo, I., Casadio, C., Molina, S. N., Volvach, A. E., and Volvach, L. N.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract: We present the results of optical (R band) photometric and polarimetric monitoring and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) imaging of the blazar S4 0954+658, along with Fermi and gamma;-ray data during a multi-waveband outburst in 2011 March-April. After a faint state with a brightness level R ~17.6 mag registered in the first half of January 2011, the optical brightness of the source started to rise and reached ~14.8 mag during the middle of March, showing flare-like behavior. The most spectacular case of intranight variability was observed during the night of 2011 March 9, when the blazar brightened by ~0.7 mag within ~7 hours. During the rise of the flux the position angle of optical polarization rotated smoothly over more than 300$\deg$. At the same time, within 1$\sigma$ uncertainty a new superluminal knot appeared with an apparent speed of 19.0$\pm$0.3 c. We have very strong evidence for association of this knot with the multi-waveband outburst in 2011 March-April. We also analyze the multi-frequency behavior of S4 0954+658 during a number of minor outbursts from August 2008 to April 2012. We find some evidence of connections between at least two more superluminal ejecta and near-simultaneous optical flares., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal
Published: 2014
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39. Recent outburst of the young star V1180 Cas

Author: Antoniucci, S., Arkharov, A. A., Di Paola, A., Giannini, T., Harutyunyan, A., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionov, V. M, Causi, G. Li, Lorenzetti, D., Morozova, D., Nisini, B., and Vitali, F.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Abstract: We report on the ongoing outburst of the young variable V1180 Cas, which is known to display characteristics in common with EXor eruptive variables. We present results that support the scenario of an accretion-driven nature of the brightness variations of the object and provide the first evidence of jet structures around the source. We monitored the recent flux variations of the target in the Rc, J, H, and K bands. New optical and near-IR spectra taken during the current high state of V1180 Cas are presented, in conjunction with H2 narrow-band imaging of the source. Observed near-IR colour variations are analogous to those observed in EXors and consistent with excess emission originating from an accretion event. The spectra show numerous emission lines, which indicates accretion, ejection of matter, and an active disc. Using optical and near-IR emission features we derive a mass accretion rate of ~3 E-8 Msun/yr, which is an order of magnitude lower than previous estimates. In addition, a mass loss rate of ~4 E-9 and ~4 E-10 Msun/yr are estimated from atomic forbidden lines and H2, respectively. Our H2 imaging reveals two bright knots of emission around the source and the nearby optically invisible star V1180 Cas B, clearly indicative of mass-loss phenomena. Higher resolution observations of the detected jet will help to clarify whether V1180 Cas is the driving source and to determine the relation between the observed knots., Comment: Accepted as Letter in A&A; 4 pages, 3 figures
Published: 2014
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40. Multifrequency Studies of the Peculiar Quasar 4C +21.35 During the 2010 Flaring Activity

Author: Ackermann, M., Ajello, M., Allafort, A., Antolini, E., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bellazzini, R., Bissaldi, E., Bonamente, E., Bregeon, J., Brigida, M., Bruel, P., Buehler, R., Buson, S., Caliandro, G. A., Cameron, R. A., Caraveo, P. A., Cavazzuti, E., Cecchi, C., Chaves, R. C. G., Chekhtman, A., Chiang, J., Chiaro, G., Ciprini, S., Claus, R., Cohen-Tanugi, J., Conrad, J., Cutini, S., D'Ammando, F., de Palma, F., Dermer, C. D., Silva, E. do Couto e, Donato, D., Drell, P. S., Favuzzi, C., Finke, J., Focke, W. B., Franckowiak, A., Fukazawa, Y., Fusco, P., Gargano, F., Gasparrini, D., Gehrels, N., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Giroletti, M., Godfrey, G., Grenier, I. A., Guiriec, S., Hayashida, M., Hewitt, J. W., Horan, D., Hughes, R. E., Iafrate, G., Johnson, A. S., Knodlseder, J., Kuss, M., Lande, J., Larsson, S., Latronico, L., Longo, F., Loparco, F., Lovellette, M. N., Lubrano, P., Mayer, M., Mazziotta, M. N., McEnery, J. E., Michelson, P. F., Mizuno, T., Monzani, M. E., Morselli, A., Moskalenko, I. V., Murgia, S., Nemmen, R., Nuss, E., Ohsugi, T., Orienti, M., Orlando, E., Perkins, J. S., Pesce-Rollins, M., Piron, F., Pivato, G., Porter, T. A., Rainò, S., Razzano, M., Reimer, A., Reimer, O., Sanchez, D. A., Schulz, A., Sgrò, C., Siskind, E. J., Spandre, G., Spinelli, P., Stawarz, L., Takahashi, H., Takahashi, T., Thayer, J. G., Thayer, J. B., Thompson, D. J., Tinivella, M., Torres, D. F., Tosti, G., Troja, E., Usher, T. L., Vandenbroucke, J., Vasileiou, V., Vianello, G., Vitale, V., Werner, M., Winer, B. L., Wood, D. L., Wood, K. S., Aleksic, J., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Antoranz, P., Babic, A., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., Gonzalez, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Berger, K., Bernardini, E., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bock, R. K., Bonnefoy, S., Bonnoli, G., Borracci, F., Bretz, T., Carmona, E., Carosi, A., Fidalgo, D. Carreto, Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Caneva, G., De Lotto, B., Mendez, C. Delgado, Doert, M., Dominguez, A., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Eisenacher, D., Elsaesser, D., Farina, E., Ferenc, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Frantzen, K., Fruck, C., Lopez, R. J. Garcia, Garczarczyk, M., Terrats, D. Garrido, Gaug, M., Giavitto, G., Godinovic, N., Munoz, A. Gonzalez, Gozzini, S. R., Hadasch, D., Herrero, A., Hildebrand, D., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Idec, W., Kadenius, V., Kellermann, H., Knoetig, M. L., Kodani, K., Konno, Y., Krause, J., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., La Barbera, A., Lelas, D., Lewandowska, N., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Lopez, M., Lopez-Coto, R., Lopez-Oramas, A., Lorenz, E., Lozano, I., Makariev, M., Mallot, K., Maneva, G., Mankuzhiyil, N., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Marcote, B., Mariotti, M., Martinez, M., Mazin, D., Menzel, U., Meucci, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Munar-Adrover, P., Nakajima, D., Niedzwiecki, A., Nishijima, K., Nilsson, K., Nowak, N., Orito, R., Overkemping, A., Paiano, S., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Paredes-Fortuny, X., Partini, S., Persic, M., Prada, F., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Preziuso, S., Puljak, I., Reinthal, R., Rhode, W., Ribo, M., Rico, J., Garcia, J. Rodriguez, Rugamer, S., Saggion, A., Saito, T., Saito, K., Salvati, M., Satalecka, K., Scalzotto, V., Scapin, V., Schultz, C., Schweizer, T., Shore, S. N., Sillanpaa, A., Sitarek, J., Snidaric, I., Sobczynska, D., Spanier, F., Stamatescu, V., Stamerra, A., Steinbring, T., Storz, J., Sun, S., Suric, T., Takalo, L., Takami, H., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzic, T., Tescaro, D., Teshima, M., Thaele, J., Tibolla, O., Toyama, T., Treves, A., Vogler, P., Wagner, R. M., Zandanel, F., Zanin, R., Aller, M. F., Angelakis, E., Blinov, D. A., Djorgovski, S. G., Drake, A. J., Efimova, N. V., Gurwell, M. A., Homan, D. C., Jordan, B., Kopatskaya, E. N., Kovalev, Y. Y., Kurtanidze, O. M., Lahteenmaki, A., Larionov, V. M., Lister, M. L., Nieppola, E., Nikolashvili, M. G., Ros, E., Savolainen, T., Sigua, L. A., and Tornikoski, M.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract: The discovery of rapidly variable Very High Energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from 4C +21.35 (PKS 1222+216) by MAGIC on 2010 June 17, triggered by the high activity detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) in high energy (HE; E > 100 MeV) gamma-rays, poses intriguing questions on the location of the gamma-ray emitting region in this flat spectrum radio quasar. We present multifrequency data of 4C +21.35 collected from centimeter to VHE during 2010 to investigate the properties of this source and discuss a possible emission model. The first hint of detection at VHE was observed by MAGIC on 2010 May 3, soon after a gamma-ray flare detected by Fermi-LAT that peaked on April 29. The same emission mechanism may therefore be responsible for both the HE and VHE emission during the 2010 flaring episodes. Two optical peaks were detected on 2010 April 20 and June 30, close in time but not simultaneous with the two gamma-ray peaks, while no clear connection was observed between the X-ray an gamma-ray emission. An increasing flux density was observed in radio and mm bands from the beginning of 2009, in accordance with the increasing gamma-ray activity observed by Fermi-LAT, and peaking on 2011 January 27 in the mm regime (230 GHz). We model the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 4C +21.35 for the two periods of the VHE detection and a quiescent state, using a one-zone model with the emission coming from a very compact region outside the broad line region. The three SEDs can be fit with a combination of synchrotron self-Compton and external Compton emission of seed photons from a dust torus, changing only the electron distribution parameters between the epochs. The fit of the optical/UV part of the spectrum for 2010 April 29 seems to favor an inner disk radius of <6 gravitational radii, as one would expect from a prograde-rotating Kerr black hole., Comment: 46 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables. The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 786, Issue 2, article id. 157, 17 pp. Contact Authors: Filippo D'Ammando, Justin Finke, Davide Donato, Josefa Becerra Gonzalez, Tomislav Terzic. Figure 1 updated
Published: 2014
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41. MAGIC gamma-ray and multifrequency observations of flat spectrum radio quasar PKS 1510-089 in early 2012

Author: MAGIC Collaboration, Aleksić, J., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Antoranz, P., Babic, A., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bernardini, E., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnefoy, S., Bonnoli, G., Borracci, F., Bretz, T., Carmona, E., Carosi, A., Carreto-Fidalgo, D., Colin, P., Colombo, E., Contreras, J. L., Cortina, J., Covino, S., Da Vela, P., Dazzi, F., De Angelis, A., De Caneva, G., De Lotto, B., Mendez, C. Delgado, Doert, M., Domínguez, A., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Eisenacher, D., Elsaesser, D., Farina, E., Ferenc, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Frantzen, K., Fruck, C., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Terrats, D. Garrido, Gaug, M., Godinović, N., Muñoz, A. González, Gozzini, S. R., Hadasch, D., Hayashida, M., Herrera, J., Herrero, A., Hildebrand, D., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Idec, W., Kadenius, V., Kellermann, H., Kodani, K., Konno, Y., Krause, J., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., La Barbera, A., Lelas, D., Lewandowska, N., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., López, M., López-Coto, R., López-Oramas, A., Lorenz, E., Lozano, I., Makariev, M., Mallot, K., Maneva, G., Mankuzhiyil, N., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Marcote, B., Mariotti, M., Martínez, M., Mazin, D., Menzel, U., Meucci, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Munar-Adrover, P., Nakajima, D., Niedzwiecki, A., Nilsson, K., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Nowak, N., Orito, R., Overkemping, A., Paiano, S., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Paredes-Fortuny, X., Partini, S., Persic, M., Prada, F., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Preziuso, S., Puljak, I., Reinthal, R., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Garcia, J. Rodriguez, Rügamer, S., Saggion, A., Saito, T., Saito, K., Satalecka, K., Scalzotto, V., Scapin, V., Schultz, C., Schweizer, T., Shore, S. N., Sillanpää, A., Sitarek, J., Snidaric, I., Sobczynska, D., Spanier, F., Stamatescu, V., Stamerra, A., Steinbring, T., Storz, J., Strzys, M., Sun, S., Surić, T., Takalo, L., Takami, H., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzić, T., Tescaro, D., Teshima, M., Thaele, J., Tibolla, O., Torres, D. F., Toyama, T., Treves, A., Uellenbeck, M., Vogler, P., Wagner, R. M., Zandanel, F., Zanin, R., Lucarelli, F., Pittori, C., Vercellone, S., Verrecchia, F., Buson, S., D'Ammando, F., Stawarz, L., Giroletti, M., Orienti, M., Mundell, C., Steele, I., Zarpudin, B., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Sandrinelli, A., Lähteenäki, A., Tammi, J., Tornikoski, M., Hovatta, T., Readhead, A. C. S., Max-Moerbeck, W., Richards, J. L., Jorstad, S., Marscher, A., Gurwell, M. A., Larionov, V. M., Blinov, D. A., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, L. V., Larionova, E. G., Morozova, D. A., Troitsky, I. S., Mokrushina, A. A., Pavlova, Yu. V., Chen, W. P., Lin, H. C., Panwar, N., Agudo, I., Casadio, C., Gómez, J. L., Molina, S. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Nikolashvili, M. G., Kurtanidze, S. O., Chigladze, R. A., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Carnerero, M. I., Manilla-Robles, A., Ovcharov, E., Bozhilov, V., Metodieva, I., Aller, M. F., Aller, H. D., Fuhrmann, L., Angelakis, E., Nestoras, I., Krichbaum, T. P., Zensus, J. A., Ungerechts, H., Sievers, A., and Riquelme, D.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Among more than fifty blazars detected in very high energy (VHE, E>100GeV) gamma-rays, only three belong to the subclass of Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs). MAGIC observed FSRQ PKS 1510-089 in February-April 2012 during a high activity state in the high energy (HE, E>100 MeV) gamma-ray band observed by AGILE and Fermi. MAGIC observations result in the detection of a source with significance of 6.0 sigma. In agreement with the previous VHE observations of the source, we find no statistically significant variability during the MAGIC observations in daily, weekly or monthly time scales. The other two known VHE FSRQs have shown daily scale to sub-hour variability. We study the multifrequency behaviour of the source at the epoch of MAGIC observation, collecting quasi-simultaneous data at radio and optical (GASP-WEBT and F-Gamma collaborations, REM, Steward, Perkins, Liverpool, OVRO and VLBA telescopes), X-ray (Swift satellite) and HE gamma-ray frequencies. The gamma-ray SED combining AGILE, Fermi and MAGIC data joins smoothly and shows no hint of a break. The multifrequency light curves suggest a common origin for the millimeter radio and HE gamma-ray emission and the HE gamma-ray flaring starts when the new component is ejected from the 43GHz VLBA core. The quasi-simultaneous multifrequency SED is modelled with a one-zone inverse Compton model. We study two different origins of the seed photons for the inverse Compton scattering, namely the infra-red torus and a slow sheath surrounding the jet around the VLBA core. Both models fit the data well. However, the fast HE gamma-ray variability requires that within the modelled large emitting region, there must exist more compact regions. We suggest that these observed signatures would be most naturally explained by a turbulent plasma flowing at a relativistic speed down the jet and crossing a standing conical shock., Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures, A&A in press
Published: 2014
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42. Analyzing polarization swings in 3C 279

Author: Kiehlmann, S., Savolainen, T., Jorstad, S. G., Sokolovsky, K. V., Schinzel, F. K., Agudo, I., Arkharov, A. A., Benitez, E., Berdyugin, A., Blinov, D. A., Bochkarev, N. G., Borman, G. A., Burenkov, A. N., Casadio, C., Doroshenko, V. T., Efimova, N. V., Fukazawa, Y., Gomez, J. L., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Heidt, J., Hiriart, D., Itoh, R., Joshi, M., Kimeridze, G. N., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Korobtsev, I. V., Kovalev, Y. Y., Krajci, T., Kurtanidze, O., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Lindfors, E., Lopez, J. M., Marscher, A. P., McHardy, I. M., Molina, S. N., Morozova, D. A., Nazarov, S. V., Nikolashvili, M. G., Nilsson, K., Pulatova, N. G., Reinthal, R., Sadun, A., Sergeev, S. G., Sigua, L. A., Sorcia, M., Spiridonova, O. I., Takalo, L. O., Taylor, B., Troitsky, I. S., Ugolkova, L. S., Zensus, J. A., and Zhdanova, V. E.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: Quasar 3C 279 is known to exhibit episodes of optical polarization angle rotation. We present new, well-sampled optical polarization data for 3C 279 and introduce a method to distinguish between random and deterministic electric vector position angle (EVPA) variations. We observe EVPA rotations in both directions with different amplitudes and find that the EVPA variation shows characteristics of both random and deterministic cases. Our analysis indicates that the EVPA variation is likely dominated by a random process in the low brightness state of the jet and by a deterministic process in the flaring state., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables, proceeding to appear on EPJ Web of Conferences "The Innermost Regions of Relativistic Jets and their Magnetic Fields (Granada, Spain,10-14 June 2013)"
Published: 2013
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43. The Outburst of the Blazar S5 0716+71 in 2011 October: Shock in a Helical Jet

Author: Larionov, V. M., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Morozova, D. A., Blinov, D. A., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionova, L. V., Larionova, E. G., and Troitsky, I. S.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: We present the results of optical (R band) photometric and polarimetric monitoring and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) imaging of the blazar S5 0716+714 along with Fermi gamma-ray data during a multi-waveband outburst in 2011 October. We analyze total and polarized intensity images of the blazar obtained with the VLBA at 43 GHz during and after the outburst. Monotonic rotation of the linear polarization vector at a rate of >50 degrees per night coincided with a sharp maximum in gamma-ray and optical flux. At the same time, within the uncertainties, a new superluminal knot appeared, with an apparent speed of ~21c. The general multi-frequency behavior of the outburst can be explained within the framework of a shock wave propagating along a helical path in the blazar's jet., Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; minor corrections in the Acknowledgments
Published: 2013
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44. Variability of the blazar 4C 38.41 (B3 1633+382) from GHz frequencies to GeV energies

Author: Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Smith, P. S., Larionov, V. M., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Aller, M. F., D'Ammando, F., Gurwell, M. A., Jorstad, S. G., Joshi, M., Kurtanidze, O. M., Lähteenmäki, A., Mirzaqulov, D. O., Agudo, I., Aller, H. D., Arévalo, M. J., Arkharov, A. A., Bach, U., Benítez, E., Berdyugin, A., Blinov, D. A., Blumenthal, K., Buemi, C. S., Bueno, A., Carleton, T. M., Carnerero, M. I., Carosati, D., Casadio, C., Chen, W. P., Di Paola, A., Dolci, M., Efimova, N. V., Ehgamberdiev, Sh. A., Gómez, J. L., Gonzále, A. I., Hagen-Thorn, V. A., Heidt, J., Hiriart, D., Holikov, Sh., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Koptelova, E., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., León-Tavares, J., Leto, P., Lin, H. C., Lindfors, E., Marscher, A. P., McHardy, I. M., Molina, S. N., Morozova, D. A., Mujica, R., Nikolashvili, M. G., Nilsson, K., Ovcharov, E. P., Panwar, N., Pasanen, M., Puerto-Gimenez, I., Reinthal, R., Richter, G. M., Ros, J. A., Sakamoto, T., Schwartz, R. D., Sillanpää, A., Smith, N., Takalo, L. O., Tammi, J., Taylor, B., Thum, C., Tornikoski, M., Trigilio, C., Troitsky, I. S., Umana, G., Valcheva, A. T., and Wehrle, A. E.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: The quasar-type blazar 4C 38.41 (B3 1633+382) experienced a large outburst in 2011, which was detected throughout the entire electromagnetic spectrum. We present the results of low-energy multifrequency monitoring by the GASP project of the WEBT consortium and collaborators, as well as those of spectropolarimetric/spectrophotometric monitoring at the Steward Observatory. We also analyse high-energy observations of the Swift and Fermi satellites. In the optical-UV band, several results indicate that there is a contribution from a QSO-like emission component, in addition to both variable and polarised jet emission. The unpolarised emission component is likely thermal radiation from the accretion disc that dilutes the jet polarisation. We estimate its brightness to be R(QSO) ~ 17.85 - 18 and derive the intrinsic jet polarisation degree. We find no clear correlation between the optical and radio light curves, while the correlation between the optical and \gamma-ray flux apparently fades in time, likely because of an increasing optical to \gamma-ray flux ratio. As suggested for other blazars, the long-term variability of 4C 38.41 can be interpreted in terms of an inhomogeneous bent jet, where different emitting regions can change their alignment with respect to the line of sight, leading to variations in the Doppler factor \delta. Under the hypothesis that in the period 2008-2011 all the \gamma-ray and optical variability on a one-week timescale were due to changes in \delta, this would range between ~ 7 and ~ 21. If the variability were caused by changes in the viewing angle \theta\ only, then \theta\ would go from ~ 2.6 degr to ~ 5 degr. Variations in the viewing angle would also account for the dependence of the polarisation degree on the source brightness in the framework of a shock-in-jet model., Comment: 19 pages, 23 figures, in press for Astronomy and Astrophysics
Published: 2012
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45. Multi-wavelength observations of blazar AO 0235+164 in the 2008-2009 flaring state

Author: Ackermann, M., Ajello, M., Ballet, J., Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bellazzini, R., Blandford, R. D., Bloom, E. D., Bonamente, E., Borgland, A. W., Bottacini, E., Bregeon, J., Brigida, M., Bruel, P., Buehler, R., Buson, S., Caliandro, G. A., Cameron, R. A., Caraveo, P. A., Casandjian, J. M., Cavazzuti, E., Cecchi, C., Charles, E., Chekhtman, A., Chiang, J., Ciprini, S., Claus, R., Cohen-Tanugi, J., Cutini, S., D'Ammando, F., de Palma, F., Dermer, C. D., Silva, E. do Couto e, Drell, P. S., Drlica-Wagner, A., Dubois, R., Favuzzi, C., Fegan, S. J., Ferrara, E. C., Focke, W. B., Fortin, P., Fuhrmann, L., Fukazawa, Y., Fusco, P., Gargano, F., Gasparrini, D., Gehrels, N., Germani, S., Giglietto, N., Giommi, P., Giordano, F., Giroletti, M., Glanzman, T., Godfrey, G., Grenier, I. A., Guiriec, S., Hadasch, D., Hayashida, M., Hughes, R. E., Itoh, R., Johannesson, G., Johnson, A. S., Katagiri, H., Kataoka, J., Knodlseder, J., Kuss, M., Lande, J., Larsson, S., Lee, S. -H., Longo, F., Loparco, F., Lott, B., Lovellette, M. N., Lubrano, P., Madejski, G. M., Mazziotta, M. N., McEnery, J. E., Mehault, J., Michelson, P. F., Mitthumsiri, W., Mizuno, T., Monte, C., Monzani, M. E., Morselli, A., Moskalenko, I. V., Murgia, S., Naumann-Godo, M., Nishino, S., Norris, J. P., Nuss, E., Ohsugi, T., Okumura, A., Omodei, N., Orlando, E., Ozaki, M., Paneque, D., Panetta, J. H., Pelassa, V., Pesce-Rollins, M., Pierbattista, M., Piron, F., Pivato, G., Porter, T. A., Raino, S., Rando, R., Rastawicki, D., Razzano, M., Readhead, A., Reimer, A., Reimer, O., Reyes, L. C., Richards, J. L., Sbarra, C., Sgro, C., Siskind, E. J., Spandre, G., Spinelli, P., Szostek, A., Takahashi, H., Tanaka, T., Thayer, J. G., Thayer, J. B., Thompson, D. J., Tinivella, M., Torres, D. F., Tosti, G., Troja, E., Usher, T. L., Vandenbroucke, J., Vasileiou, V., Vianello, G., Vitale, V., Waite, A. P., Winer, B. L., Wood, K. S., Yang, Z., Zimmer, S., Moderski, R., Nalewajko, K., Sikora, M., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Aller, H. D., Aller, M. F., Arkharov, A. A., Benitez, E., Berdyugin, A., Blinov, D. A., Boettcher, M., Calle, O. J. A. Bravo, Buemi, C. S., Carosati, D., Chen, W. P., Diltz, C., Di Paola, A., Dolci, M., Efimova, N. V., Forn\', E., Gurwell, M. A., Heidt, J., Hiriart, D., Jordan, B., Kimeridze, G., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Koptelova, E., Kurtanidze, O. M., Lahteenmaki, A., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Larionov, V. M., Leto, P., Lindfors, E., Lin, H. C., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Nilsson, K., Oksman, M., Roustazadeh, P., Sievers, A., Sigua, L. A., Sillanpaa, A., Takahashi, T., Takalo, L. O., Tornikoski, M., Trigilio, C., Troitsky, I. S., Umana, G., Angelakis, E., Krichbaum, T. P., Nestoras, I., Riquelme, D., Krips, M., Trippe, S., Arai, A., Kawabata, K. S., Sakimoto, K., Sasada, M., Sato, S., Uemura, M., Yamanaka, M., Yoshida, M., Belloni, T., Tagliaferri, G., Bonning, E. W., Isler, J., Urry, C. M., Hoversten, E., Falcone, A., Pagani, C., and Stroh, M.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: The blazar AO 0235+164 (z = 0.94) has been one of the most active objects observed by Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) since its launch in Summer 2008. In addition to the continuous coverage by Fermi, contemporaneous observations were carried out from the radio to {\gamma} -ray bands between 2008 September and 2009 February. In this paper, we summarize the rich multi-wavelength data collected during the campaign (including F-GAMMA, GASP- WEBT, Kanata, OVRO, RXTE, SMARTS, Swift, and other instruments), examine the cross-correlation between the light curves measured in the different energy bands, and interpret the resulting spectral energy distributions in the context of well-known blazar emission models. We find that the {\gamma} -ray activity is well correlated with a series of near-IR/optical flares, accompanied by an increase in the optical polarization degree. On the other hand, the X-ray light curve shows a distinct 20 day high state of unusually soft spectrum, which does not match the extrapolation of the optical/UV synchrotron spectrum. We tentatively interpret this feature as the bulk Compton emission by cold electrons contained in the jet, which requires an accretion disk corona with an effective covering factor of 19% at a distance of 100 Rg . We model the broadband spectra with a leptonic model with external radiation dominated by the infrared emission from the dusty torus., Comment: 48 pages, 8 figures
Published: 2012
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46. The structure and emission model of the relativistic jet in the quasar 3C 279 inferred from radio to high-energy gamma-ray observations in 2008-2010

Author: Hayashida, M., Madejski, G. M., Nalewajko, K., Sikora, M., Wehrle, A. E., Ogle, P., Collmar, W., Larsson, S., Fukazawa, Y., Itoh, R., Chiang, J., Stawarz, L., Blandford, R. D., Richards, J. L., Max-Moerbeck, W., Readhead, A., Buehler, R., Cavazzuti, E., Ciprini, S., Gehrels, N., Reimer, A., Szostek, A., Tanaka, T., Tosti, G., Uchiyama, Y., Kawabata, K. S., Kino, M., Sakimoto, K., Sasada, M., Sato, S., Uemura, M., Yamanaka, M., Greiner, J., Kruehler, T., Rossi, A., Macquart, J. P., Bock, D. C. -J., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Agudo, I., Aller, H. D., Aller, M. F., Arkharov, A. A., Bach, U., Benitez, E., Berdyugin, A., Blinov, D. A., Blumenthal, K., Boettcher, M., Buemi, C. S., Carosati, D., Chen, W. P., Di Paola, A., Dolci, M., Efimova, N. V., Forne, E., Gomez, J. L., Gurwell, M. A., Heidt, J., Hiriart, D., Jordan, B., Jorstad, S. G., Joshi, M., Kimeridze, G., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Koptelova, E., Kurtanidze, O. M., Lahteenmaki, A., Lamerato, A., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Leto, P., Lindfors, E., Marscher, A. P., McHardy, I. M., Molina, S. N., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Nilsson, K., Reinthal, R., Roustazadeh, P., Sakamoto, T., Sigua, L. A., Sillanpaa, A., Takalo, L., Tammi, J., Taylor, B., Tornikoski, M., Trigilio, C., Troitsky, I. S., and Umana, G.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: We present time-resolved broad-band observations of the quasar 3C 279 obtained from multi-wavelength campaigns conducted during the first two years of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission. While investigating the previously reported gamma-ray/optical flare accompanied by a change in optical polarization, we found that the optical emission appears delayed with respect to the gamma-ray emission by about 10 days. X-ray observations reveal a pair of `isolated' flares separated by ~90 days, with only weak gamma-ray/optical counterparts. The spectral structure measured by Spitzer reveals a synchrotron component peaking in the mid-infrared band with a sharp break at the far-infrared band during the gamma-ray flare, while the peak appears in the mm/sub-mm band in the low state. Selected spectral energy distributions are fitted with leptonic models including Comptonization of external radiation produced in a dusty torus or the broad-line region. Adopting the interpretation of the polarization swing involving propagation of the emitting region along a curved trajectory, we can explain the evolution of the broad-band spectra during the gamma-ray flaring event by a shift of its location from ~ 1 pc to ~ 4 pc from the central black hole. On the other hand, if the gamma-ray flare is generated instead at sub-pc distance from the central black hole, the far-infrared break can be explained by synchrotron self-absorption. We also model the low spectral state, dominated by the mm/sub-mm peaking synchrotron component, and suggest that the corresponding inverse-Compton component explains the steady X-ray emission., Comment: 23 pages, 18 figures 5 tables, Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal
Published: 2012
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47. On the nature of the EXor accretion events: an unfrequent manifestation of a common phenomenology ?

Author: Lorenzetti, D., Antoniucci, S., Giannini, T., Causi, G. Li, Ventura, P., Arkharov, A. A., Kopatskaya, E. N., Larionov, V. M., Di Paola, A., and Nisini, B.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Abstract: We present the results of a comparison between classical and newly identified EXor based on literature data and aimed at recognizing possible differences or similarities of both categories. Optical and near-IR two-color diagrams, modalities of fluctuations, and derived values of the mass accretion rates are indicative of strong similarities between the two samples. We demonstrate how the difference between the outburst and the quiescence spectral energy distribution of all the EXor can be well fitted with a single blackbody, as if an additional thermal component appears during the outbursting phase. Temperatures of this additional component span between 1000 and 4500 K, while the radii of the emitting regions (assumed to be a uniform disk) span between 0.01 and 0.1 AU, sizes typical of the inner portions of the circumstellar disk. Spots persisting up to 50% of the outburst duration, not exceeding the 10% of the stellar surface, and with temperatures compatible with the EXor mass accretion rates, are able to account for both the appearance of the additional thermal component and the dust sublimation in the inner structures of the disk. We also compare the EXor events with the most significant color and magnitude fluctuations of active T Tauri stars finding that (i} burst accretion phenomena should also be important for this latter class; (ii} EXor events could be more frequent then those accidentally discovered. Remarkable is the case of the source V2493 Cyg, a T Tauri star recently identified as a strong outbursting object: new optical and near-IR photometric and spectroscopic data are presented trying to clarify its EXor or FUor nature., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ
Published: 2012
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48. Optical Outburst of the Gamma-Ray Blazar S4 0954+658 in March-April 2011

Author: Larionov, V. M., Jorstad, S. G., Marscher, A. P., Morozova, D. A., Troitsky, I. S., Blinov, D. A., Kopatskaya, E. N., and Larionova, E. G.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We present optical photopolarimetric observations of the BL Lac object S4 0954+658 obtained with the 70-cm telescope in Crimea, 40-cm telescope in St.Petersburg, and 1.8-m Perkins telescope at Lowell Observatory (Flagstaff, Az). After a faint state with a brightness level R ~17.6 mag registered in the first half of January 2011, the optical brightness of the source started to rise and reached ~14.8 mag during the middle of March, showing flare-like behavior. The most spectacular case of intranight variability was observed during the night of 2011 March 9, when the blazar brightened by ~0.7 mag within ~7 hours. During the rise of the flux the position angle of optical polarization rotated smoothly over more than 200 degrees. S4 0954+658 is a gamma-ray blazar with gamma-ray flux of (5{\pm}3)x10^{-10} phot/cm^2/s according to the Fermi 11-month Catalog Extragalactic Sources. Our analysis of contemporaneous Fermi LAT data does not show any sign of increased gamma-ray activity above the detection threshold except for an elevated flux on 2011 March 5, JD2455626, coincident with the local optical maximum., Comment: 2011 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C110509
Published: 2011

49. Identification of gamma-ray emission from 3C345 and NRAO512

Author: Schinzel, F. K., Sokolovsky, K. V., D'Ammando, F., Burnett, T. H., Max-Moerbeck, W., Cheung, C. C., Fegan, S. J., Casandjian, J. M., Reyes, L. C., Villata, M., Raiteri, C. M., Agudo, I., Calle, O. J. A. Bravo, Carosati, D., Casas, R., Gomez, J. L., Gurwell, M. A., Hsiao, H. Y., Jorstad, S. G., Kimeridze, G., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Koptelova, E., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Larionova, L. V., Marscher, A. P., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Roca-Sogorb, M., Ros, J. A., Sigua, L. A., Spiridonova, O., Troitsky, I. S., Vlasyuk, V. V., Lobanov, A. P., and Zensus, J. A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: For more than 15 years, since the days of the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on board the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO; 1991-2000), it has remained an open question why the prominent blazar 3C 345 was not reliably detected at gamma-ray energies <=20 MeV. Recently a bright gamma-ray source (0FGL J1641.4+3939/1FGL J1642.5+3947), potentially associated with 3C 345, was detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on Fermi. Multiwavelength observations from radio bands to X-rays (mainly GASP-WEBT and Swift) of possible counterparts (3C 345, NRAO 512, B3 1640+396) were combined with 20 months of Fermi-LAT monitoring data (August 2008 - April 2010) to associate and identify the dominating gamma-ray emitting counterpart of 1FGL J1642.5+3947. The source 3C 345 is identified as the main contributor for this gamma-ray emitting region. However, after November 2009 (15 months), a significant excess of photons from the nearby quasar NRAO 512 started to contribute and thereafter was detected with increasing gamma-ray activity, possibly adding flux to 1FGL J1642.5+3947. For the same time period and during the summer of 2010, an increase of radio, optical and X-ray activity of NRAO 512 was observed. No gamma-ray emission from B3 1640+396 was detected., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in A&A
Published: 2011
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50. AGILE detection of extreme gamma-ray activity from the blazar PKS 1510-089 during March 2009. Multifrequency analysis

Author: D'Ammando, F., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Romano, P., Pucella, G., Krimm, H. A., Covino, S., Orienti, M., Giovannini, G., Vercellone, S., Pian, E., Donnarumma, I., Vittorini, V., Tavani, M., Argan, A., Barbiellini, G., Boffelli, F., Bulgarelli, A., Caraveo, P., Cattaneo, P. W., Chen, A. W., Cocco, V., Costa, E., Del Monte, E., De Paris, G., Di Cocco, G., Evangelista, Y., Feroci, M., Ferrari, A., Fiorini, M., Froysland, T., Frutti, M., Fuschino, F., Galli, M., Gianotti, F., Giuliani, A., Labanti, C., Lapshov, I., Lazzarotto, F., Lipari, P., Longo, F., Marisaldi, M., Mereghetti, S., Morselli, A., Pacciani, L., Pellizzoni, A., Perotti, F., Piano, G., Picozza, P., Pilia, M., Porrovecchio, G., Prest, M., Rapisarda, M., Rappoldi, A., Rubini, A., Sabatini, S., Soffitta, P., Striani, E., Trifoglio, M., Trois, A., Vallazza, E., Zambra, A., Zanello, D., Agudo, I., Aller, H. D., Aller, M. F., Arkharov, A. A., Bach, U., Benitez, E., Berdyugin, A., Blinov, D. A., Buemi, C. S., Chen, W. P., Di Paola, A., Dolci, M., Forne, E., Fuhrmann, L., Gomez, J. L., Gurwell, M. A., Jordan, B., Jorstad, S. G., Heidt, J., Hiriart, D., Hovatta, T., Hsiao, H. Y., Kimeridze, G., Konstantinova, T. S., Kopatskaya, E. N., Koptelova, E., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionov, V. M., Lahteenmaki, A., Leto, P., Lindfors, E., Marscher, A. P., McBreen, B., McHardy, I. M., Morozova, D. A., Nilsson, K., Pasanen, M., Roca-Sogorb, M., Sillanpaa, A., Takalo, L. O., Tornikoski, M., Trigilio, C., Troitsky, I. S., Umana, G., Antonelli, L. A., Colafrancesco, S., Pittori, C., Santolamazza, P., Verrecchia, F., Giommi, P., and Salotti, L.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We report on the extreme gamma-ray activity from the FSRQ PKS 1510-089 observed by AGILE in March 2009. In the same period a radio-to-optical monitoring of the source was provided by the GASP-WEBT and REM. Moreover, several Swift ToO observations were triggered, adding important information on the source behaviour from optical/UV to hard X-rays. We paid particular attention to the calibration of the Swift/UVOT data to make it suitable to the blazars spectra. Simultaneous observations from radio to gamma rays allowed us to study in detail the correlation among the emission variability at different frequencies and to investigate the mechanisms at work. In the period 9-30 March 2009, AGILE detected an average gamma-ray flux of (311+/-21)x10^-8 ph cm^-2 s^-1 for E>100 MeV, and a peak level of (702+/-131)x10^-8 ph cm^-2 s^-1 on daily integration. The gamma-ray activity occurred during a period of increasing activity from near-IR to UV, with a flaring episode detected on 26-27 March 2009, suggesting that a single mechanism is responsible for the flux enhancement observed from near-IR to UV. By contrast, Swift/XRT observations seem to show no clear correlation of the X-ray fluxes with the optical and gamma-ray ones. However, the X-ray observations show a harder photon index (1.3-1.6) with respect to most FSRQs and a hint of harder-when-brighter behaviour, indicating the possible presence of a second emission component at soft X-ray energies. Moreover, the broad band spectrum from radio-to-UV confirmed the evidence of thermal features in the optical/UV spectrum of PKS 1510-089 also during high gamma-ray state. On the other hand, during 25-26 March 2009 a flat spectrum in the optical/UV energy band was observed, suggesting an important contribution of the synchrotron emission in this part of the spectrum during the brightest gamma-ray flare, therefore a significant shift of the synchrotron peak., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Published: 2011
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