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1. 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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2. 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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3. 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

4. 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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5. 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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6. 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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7. The dual nature of blazar fast variability. Space and ground observations of S5 0716+714

Author: Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Carosati, D., Benítez, E., Kurtanidze, S. O., Gupta, A. C., Mirzaqulov, D. O., D'Ammando, F., Larionov, V. M., Pursimo, T., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Baida, G. V., Balmaverde, B., Bonnoli, G., Borman, G. A., Carnerero, M. I., Chen, W. -P., Dhiman, V., Di Maggio, A., Ehgamberdiev, S. A., Hiriart, D., Kimeridze, G. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Lin, C. S., Lopez, J. M., Marchini, A., Matsumoto, K., Mujica, R., Nakamura, M., Nikiforova, A. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Okhmat, D. N., Otero-Santos, J., Rizzi, N., Sakamoto, T., Semkov, E., Sigua, L. A., Stiaccini, L., Troitsky, I. S., Tsai, A. L., Vasilyev, A. A., and Zhovtan, A. V.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Blazar S5 0716+714 is well-known for its short-term variability, down to intra-day time-scales. We here present the 2-min cadence optical light curve obtained by the TESS space telescope in 2019 December - 2020 January and analyse the object fast variability with unprecedented sampling. Supporting observations by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope Collaboration in B, V , R, and I bands allow us to investigate the spectral variability during the TESS pointing. The spectral analysis is further extended in frequency to the UV and X-ray bands with data from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. We develop a new method to unveil the shortest optical variability time-scales. This is based on progressive de-trending of the TESS light curve by means of cubic spline interpolations through the binned fluxes, with decreasing time bins. The de-trended light curves are then analysed with classical tools for time-series analysis (periodogram, auto-correlation and structure functions). The results show that below 3 d there are significant characteristic variability time-scales of about 1.7, 0.5, and 0.2 d. Variability on time-scales < 0.2 d is strongly chromatic and must be ascribed to intrinsic energetic processes involving emitting regions, likely jet sub-structures, with dimension less than about milliparsec. In contrast, flux changes on time-scales > 0.5 d are quasi-achromatic and are probably due to Doppler factor changes of geometric origin., Comment: 17 pages, 18 figures, accepted by MNRAS
Published: 2020
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8. 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

9. The Great Markarian 421 Flare of February 2010: Multiwavelength variability and correlation studies

Author: Abeysekara, A. U., Benbow, W., Bird, R., Brill, A., Brose, R., Buchovecky, M., Buckley, J. H., Christiansen, J. L., Chromey, A. J., Daniel, M. K., Dumm, J., Falcone, A., Feng, Q., Finley, J. P., Fortson, L., Furniss, A., Galante, N., Gent, A., Gillanders, G. H., Giuri, C., Gueta, O., Hassan, T., Hervet, O., Holder, J., Hughes, G., 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., Moriarty, P., Mukherjee, R., Nelson, T., Nieto, D., Nievas-Rosillo, M., O'Brien, S., Ong, R. A., Otte, A. N., Park, N., Petrashyk, A., Pichel, A., Pohl, M., Prado, R. R., 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., Stevenson, B., Sushch, I., Tyler, J., Vassiliev, V. V., Wakely, S. P., Weinstein, A., Wells, R. M., Wilcox, P., Wilhelm, A., Williams, D. A., Zitzer, B., Acciari, V. A., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Engels, A. Arbet, Baack, D., Babić, A., Banerjee, B., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., González, J. Becerra, Bednarek, W., Bellizzi, L., Bernardini, E., Berti, A., Besenrieder, J., Bhattacharyya, W., Bigongiari, C., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Bonnoli, G., Busetto, G., Carosi, R., Ceribella, G., Chai, Y., 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., Delfino, M., Delgado, J., Di Pierro, F., Espiñera, E. Do Souto, 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., Gasparyan, S., Gaug, M., Godinović, N., Green, D., Guberman, D., Hadasch, D., Hahn, A., Herrera, J., Hoang, J., Hrupec, D., Inoue, S., Ishio, K., Iwamura, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., Lamastra, A., Lelas, D., Leone, F., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., López, M., López-Coto, R., López-Oramas, A., 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., Masuda, S., Mazin, D., Miceli, D., Minev, M., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Molina, E., Moralejo, A., Morcuende, D., 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., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Peñil, P., Peresano, M., Persic, M., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Righi, C., Rugliancich, A., Saha, L., Sahakyan, N., Saito, T., Satalecka, K., Schweizer, T., Sitarek, J., Šnidarić, I., Sobczynska, D., Somero, A., Stamerra, A., Strom, D., Strzys, M., Sun, S., 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., Aller, H. D., Aller, M. F., Carini, M. T., Horan, D., Jordan, B., Jorstad, Svetlana G., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Lähteenmäki, A., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Madejski, G., Marscher, Alan P., Max-Moerbeck, W., Moody, J. Ward, Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Raiteri, C. M., Readhead, A. C. S., Richards, J. L., Sadun, Alberto C., Sakamoto, T., Sigua, L. A., Smith, P. S., Talvikki, H., Tammi, J., Tornikoski, M., Troitsky, I. S., and Villata, M.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We report on variability and correlation studies using multiwavelength observations of the blazar Mrk 421 during the month of February, 2010 when an extraordinary flare reaching a level of $\sim$27~Crab Units above 1~TeV was measured in very-high-energy (VHE) $\gamma$-rays with the VERITAS observatory. This is the highest flux state for Mrk 421 ever observed in VHE $\gamma$-rays. Data are analyzed from a coordinated campaign across multiple instruments including VHE $\gamma$-ray (VERITAS, MAGIC), high-energy (HE) $\gamma$-ray (Fermi-LAT), X-ray (Swift}, RXTE, MAXI), optical (including the GASP-WEBT collaboration and polarization data) and radio (Mets\"ahovi, OVRO, UMRAO). Light curves are produced spanning multiple days before and after the peak of the VHE flare, including over several flare `decline' epochs. The main flare statistics allow 2-minute time bins to be constructed in both the VHE and optical bands enabling a cross-correlation analysis that shows evidence for an optical lag of $\sim$25-55 minutes, the first time-lagged correlation between these bands reported on such short timescales. Limits on the Doppler factor ($\delta \gtrsim 33$) and the size of the emission region ($ \delta^{-1}R_B \lesssim 3.8\times 10^{13}\,\,\mbox{cm}$) are obtained from the fast variability observed by VERITAS during the main flare. Analysis of 10-minute-binned VHE and X-ray data over the decline epochs shows an extraordinary range of behavior in the flux-flux relationship: from linear to quadratic to lack of correlation to anti-correlation. Taken together, these detailed observations of an unprecedented flare seen in Mrk 421 are difficult to explain by the classic single-zone synchrotron self-Compton model., Comment: 41 pages including 3 appendices, 13 figures; version accepted to Astrophysical Journal
Published: 2020
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10. 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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11. 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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12. Optical Variability of the TeV Blazar 1ES 0806+524 on Diverse Timescales

Author: Pandey, Ashwani, Gupta, Alok C., Kurtanidze, Sofia O., Wiita, Paul J., Damljanovic, G., Bachev, R., Zhang, Jin, Kurtanidze, O. M., Darriba, A., Chigladze, R. A., Latev, G., Nikolashvili, M. G., Peneva, S., Semkov, E., Strigachev, A., Tiwari, S. N., and Vince, O.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We report the results of our optical (VRI) photometric observations of the TeV blazar 1ES 0806$+$524 on 153 nights during 2011-2019 using seven optical telescopes in Europe and Asia. We investigated the variability of the blazar on intraday as well as on long-term timescales. We examined eighteen intraday light curves for flux and color variations using the most reliable power-enhanced F-test and the nested ANOVA test. Only on one night was a small, but significant, variation found, in both $V$ band and $R$ band light curves. The $V-R$ color index was constant on every one of those nights. Flux density changes of around 80 % were seen over the course of these eight years in multiple bands. We found a weighted mean optical spectral index of 0.639$\pm$0.002 during our monitoring period by fitting a power law ($F_{\nu} \propto \nu^{-\alpha}$) in 23 optical ($VRI$) spectral energy distributions of 1ES 0806$+$524. We discuss different possible mechanisms responsible for blazar variability on diverse timescales., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ
Published: 2020
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13. 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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14. Optical Variability of TeV Blazars on long time-scales

Author: Gaur, Haritma, Gupta, Alok C., Bachev, R., Strigachev, A., Semkov, E., Wiita, P. J., Kurtanidze, O. M., Darriba, A., Damljanovic, G., Chanishvili, R. G., Ibryamov, S., Kurtanidze, S. O., Nikolashvili, M. G., Sigua, L. A., and Vince, O.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We present the results of photometric observations of three TeV blazars, 3C 66A, S5 0954+658 and BL Lacertae, during the period 2013--2017. Our extensive observations were performed in a total of 360 nights which produced $\sim$6820 image frames in BVRI bands. We study flux and spectral variability of these blazars on these lengthy timescales. We also examine the optical Spectral Energy Distributions of these blazars, which are crucial in understanding the emission mechanism of long-term variability in blazars. All three TeV blazars exhibited strong flux variability during our observations. The colour variations are mildly chromatic on long timescales for two of them. The nature of the long-term variability of 3C 66A and S5 0954+658 is consistent with a model of a non-thermal variable component that has a continuous injection of relativistic electrons with power law distributions around 4.3 and 4.6, respectively. However, the long-term flux and colour variability of BL Lac suggests that these can arise from modest changes in velocities or viewing angle toward the emission region, leading to variations in the Doppler boosting of the radiation by a factor ~1.2 over the period of these observations., Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Published: 2019
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15. 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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16. 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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17. 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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18. Flaring radio lanterns along the ridge line: long-term oscillatory motion in the jet of S5 1803+784

Author: Kun, E., Karouzos, M., Gabányi, K. É., Britzen, S., Kurtanidze, O. M., and Gergely, L. Á.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We present a detailed analysis of 30 very long baseline interferometric observations of the BL Lac object S5 1803+784 (z=0.679), obtained between mean observational time 1994.67 and 2012.91 at observational frequency 15 GHz. The long-term behaviour of the jet ridge line reveals the jet experiences an oscillatory motion superposed on its helical jet kinematics on a time-scale of about 6 years. The excess variance of the positional variability indicates the jet components being farther from the VLBI core have larger amplitude in their position variations. The fractional variability amplitude shows slight changes in 3-year bins of the component's position. The temporal variability in the Doppler boosting of the ridge line results in jet regions behaving as flaring "radio lanterns". We offer a qualitative scenario leading to the oscillation of the jet ridge line, that utilizes the orbital motion of the jet emitter black hole due to a binary black hole companion. A correlation analysis implies composite origin of the flux variability of the jet components, emerging due to possibly both the evolving jet-structure and its intrinsic variability., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, accepted to publish in MNRAS
Published: 2018
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19. The ever-surprising blazar OJ 287: multi-wavelength study and appearance of a new component in X-rays

Author: Kushwaha, Pankaj, Gupta, Alok C., Wiita, Paul J., Pal, Main, Gaur, Haritma, Pino, E. M. de Gouveia Dal, Kurtanidze, O. M., Semkov, E., Damljanovic, G., Hu, S. M., Uemura, M., Vince, O., Darriba, A., Gu, M. F., Bachev, R., Chen, Xu, Itoh, R., Kawabata, M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Nakaoka, T., Nikolashvili, M. G., Sigua, L. A., Strigachev, A., and Zhang, Z.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract: We present a multi-wavelength spectral and temporal investigation of OJ 287 emission during its strong optical-to-X-ray activity between July 2016 - July 2017. The daily $\gamma$-ray fluxes from \emph{Fermi}-LAT are consistent with no variability. The strong optical-to-X-ray variability is accompanied by a change in power-law spectral index of the X-ray spectrum from $< 2$ to $>2$, with variations often associated with changes in optical polarization properties. Cross-correlations between optical-to-X-ray emission during four continuous segments show simultaneous optical-ultraviolet (UV) variations while the X-ray and UV/optical are simultaneous only during the middle two segments. In the first segment, the results suggest X-rays lag the optical/UV, while in the last segment X-rays lead by $\sim$ 5-6 days. The last segment also shows a systematic trend with variations appearing first at higher energies followed by lower energy ones. The LAT spectrum before the VHE activity is similar to preceding quiescent state spectrum while it hardens during VHE activity period and is consistent with the extrapolated VHE spectrum during the latter. Overall, the broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs) during high activity periods are a combination of a typical OJ 287 SED and an HBL SED, and can be explained in a two-zone leptonic model, with the second zone located at parsec scales, beyond the broad line region, being responsible for the HBL-like spectrum. The change of polarization properties from systematic to chaotic and back to systematic, before, during and after the VHE activity, suggest dynamic roles for magnetic fields and turbulence., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, MNRAS accepted version
Published: 2018
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20. 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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21. Characterizing optical variability of OJ 287 in 2016 - 2017

Author: Gupta, Alok C., Gaur, Haritma, Wiita, Paul J., Pandey, A., Kushwaha, P., Hu, S. M., Kurtanidze, O. M., Semkov, E., Damljanovic, G., Goyal, A., Uemura, M., Darriba, A., Chen, Xu, Vince, O., Gu, M. F., Zhang, Z., Bachev, R., Chanishvili, R., Itoh, R., Kawabata, M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Nakaoka, T., Nikolashvili, M. G., Stawarz, L., and Strigachev, A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We report on a recent multi-band optical photometric and polarimetric observational campaign of the blazar OJ 287 which was carried out during September 2016 -- December 2017. We employed nine telescopes in Bulgaria, China, Georgia, Japan, Serbia, Spain and the United States. We collected over 1800 photometric image frames in BVRI bands and over 100 polarimetric measurements over ~175 nights. In 11 nights with many quasi-simultaneous multi-band (V, R, I) observations, we did not detect any genuine intraday variability in flux or color. On longer timescales, multiple flaring events were seen. Large changes in color with respect to time and in a color--magnitude diagram were seen, and while only a weak systematic variability trend was noticed in color with respect to time, the color--magnitude diagram shows a bluer-when-brighter trend. Large changes in the degree of polarization, and substantial swings in the polarization angle were detected. The fractional Stokes parameters of the polarization showed a systematic trend with time in the beginning of these observations, followed by chaotic changes and then an apparently systematic variation at the end. These polarization changes coincide with the detection and duration of the source at very high energies as seen by VERITAS. The spectral index shows a systematic variation with time and V-band magnitude. We briefly discuss possible physical mechanisms that could explain the observed flux, color, polarization, and spectral variability., Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables; Accepted for Publication to AJ
Published: 2018
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22. 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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23. Radio and optical intra-day variability observations of five blazars

Author: Liu, X., Yang, P. P., Liu, J., Liu, B. R., Hu, S. M., Kurtanidze, O. M., Zola, S., Kraus, A., Krichbaum, T. P., Su, R. Z., Gazeas, K., Sadakane, K., Nilson, K., Reichart, D. E., Kidger, M., Matsumoto, K., Okano, S., Siwak, M., Webb, J. R., Pursimo, T., Garcia, F., Nogues, R. Naves, Erdem, A., Alicavus, F., Balonek, T., and Jorstad, S. G.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract: We carried out a pilot campaign of radio and optical band intra-day variability (IDV) observations of five blazars (3C66A, S5 0716+714, OJ287, B0925+504, and BL Lacertae) on December 18--21, 2015 by using the radio telescope in Effelsberg (Germany) and several optical telescopes in Asia, Europe, and America. After calibration, the light curves from both 5 GHz radio band and the optical R band were obtained, although the data were not smoothly sampled over the sampling period of about four days. We tentatively analyse the amplitudes and time scales of the variabilities, and any possible periodicity. The blazars vary significantly in the radio (except 3C66A and BL Lacertae with only marginal variations) and optical bands on intra- and inter-day time scales, and the source B0925+504 exhibits a strong quasi-periodic radio variability. No significant correlation between the radio- and optical-band variability appears in the five sources, which we attribute to the radio IDV being dominated by interstellar scintillation whereas the optical variability comes from the source itself. However, the radio- and optical-band variations appear to be weakly correlated in some sources and should be investigated based on well-sampled data from future observations., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted by MNRAS
Published: 2017
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24. The Variability and Period Analysis for the BL Lac AO 0235+164

Author: Fan, J. H., Kurtanidze, O., Liu, Y., Liu, X., Yang, J. H., Richter, G. M., Nikolashvili, M. G., Kurtanidze, S. O., Wang, H. T., Sasada, M., Zhou, A. Y., Lin, C., Yuan, Y. H., Zhang, Y. T., and Constantin, D.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Variability is one of the extreme observational properties of BL Lacertae objects. AO 0235+164 is a well studied BL Lac through the whole electro-magnetic wavebands. In the present work, we show its optical R band photometric observations carried out during the period of Nov, 2006 to Dec. 2012 using the Ap6E CCD camera attached to the primary focus of the $\rm 70-cm$ meniscus telescope at Abastumani Observatory, Georgia. It shows a large variation of $\Delta R$ = 4.88 mag (14.19 - 19.07 mag) and a short time scale of $\Delta T_v$ = 73.5 min during our monitoring period. During the period of Dec. 2006 to Nov. 2009, we made radio observations of the source using the 25-m radio telescope at Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory. When a discrete correlation function (DCF) is adopted to the optical and radio observations, we found that the optical variation leads the radio variation by 23.2$\pm$12.9 days., Comment: Accepted by ApJ
Published: 2017
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25. 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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26. Multiband optical variability of the blazar OJ 287 during its outbursts in 2015 -- 2016

Author: Gupta, Alok C., Agarwal, A., Mishra, A., Gaur, H., Wiita, P. J., Gu, M. F., Kurtanidze, O. M., Damljanovic, G., Uemura, M., Semkov, E., Strigachev, A., Bachev, R., Vince, O., Zhang, Z., Villarroel, B., Kushwaha, P., Pandey, A., Abe, T., Chanishvili, R., Chigladze, R. A., Fan, J. H., Hirochi, J., Itoh, R., Kanda, Y., Kawabata, M., Kimeridze, G. N., Kurtanidze, S. O., Latev, G., Dimitrova, R. V. Muñoz, Nakaoka, T., Nikolashvili, M. G., Shiki, K., Sigua, L. A., and Spassov, B.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: We present recent optical photometric observations of the blazar OJ 287 taken during September 2015 -- May 2016. Our intense observations of the blazar started in November 2015 and continued until May 2016 and included detection of the large optical outburst in December 2016 that was predicted using the binary black hole model for OJ 287. For our observing campaign, we used a total of 9 ground based optical telescopes of which one is in Japan, one is in India, three are in Bulgaria, one is in Serbia, one is in Georgia, and two are in the USA. These observations were carried out in 102 nights with a total of ~ 1000 image frames in BVRI bands, though the majority were in the R band. We detected a second comparably strong flare in March 2016. In addition, we investigated multi-band flux variations, colour variations, and spectral changes in the blazar on diverse timescales as they are useful in understanding the emission mechanisms. We briefly discuss the possible physical mechanisms most likely responsible for the observed flux, colour and spectral variability., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables; Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Published: 2016
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27. Multifrequency Photo-polarimetric WEBT Observation Campaign on the Blazar S5 0716+714: Source Microvariability and Search for Characteristic Timescales

Author: Bhatta, G., Stawarz, Ł., Ostrowski, M., Markowitz, A., Akitaya, H., Arkharov, A. A., Bachev, R., Benítez, E., Borman, G. A., Carosati, D., Cason, A. D., Chanishvili, R., Damljanovic, G., Dhalla, S., Frasca, A., Hiriart, D., Hu, S-M., Itoh, R., Jableka, D., Jorstad, S., Jovanovic, M. D., Kawabata, K. S., Klimanov, S. A., Kurtanidze, O., Larionov, V. M., Laurence, D., Leto, G., Marscher, A. P., Moody, J. W., Moritani, Y., Ohlert, J. M., Di Paola, A., Raiteri, C. M., Rizzi, N., Sadun, A. C., Sasada, M., Sergeev, S., Strigachev, A., Takaki, K., Troitsky, I. S., Ui, T., Villata, M., Vince, O., Webb, J. R., Yoshida, M., and Zola, S.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Here we report on the results of the WEBT photo-polarimetric campaign targeting the blazar S5~0716+71, organized in March 2014 to monitor the source simultaneously in BVRI and near IR filters. The campaign resulted in an unprecedented dataset spanning $\sim 110$\,h of nearly continuous, multi-band observations, including two sets of densely sampled polarimetric data mainly in R filter. During the campaign, the source displayed pronounced variability with peak-to-peak variations of about $30\%$ and "bluer-when-brighter" spectral evolution, consisting of a day-timescale modulation with superimposed hourlong microflares characterized by $\sim 0.1$\,mag flux changes. We performed an in-depth search for quasi-periodicities in the source light curve; hints for the presence of oscillations on timescales of $\sim 3$\,h and $\sim 5$\,h do not represent highly significant departures from a pure red-noise power spectrum. We observed that, at a certain configuration of the optical polarization angle relative to the positional angle of the innermost radio jet in the source, changes in the polarization degree led the total flux variability by about 2\,h; meanwhile, when the relative configuration of the polarization and jet angles altered, no such lag could be noted. The microflaring events, when analyzed as separate pulse emission components, were found to be characterized by a very high polarization degree ($> 30\%$) and polarization angles which differed substantially from the polarization angle of the underlying background component, or from the radio jet positional angle. We discuss the results in the general context of blazar emission and energy dissipation models., Comment: 16 pages, 17 Figures; ApJ accepted
Published: 2016
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28. 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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29. 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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30. 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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31. First NuSTAR Observations of Mrk 501 within a Radio to TeV Multi-Instrument Campaign

Author: Furniss, A., Noda, K., Boggs, S., Chiang, J., Christensen, F., Craig, W., Giommi, P ., Hailey, C., Harisson, F., Madejski, G., Nalewajko, K., Perri, M., Stern, D., Urry, M., Verrecchia, F., Zhang, W., Ahnen, M. L., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L. A., Antoranz, P., Babic, A., Banerjee, B., Bangale, P., de Almeida, U. Barres, Barrio, J. A., Gonzalez, 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 Caneva, G., De Lotto, B., Wilhelmi, E. de Ona, Mendez, C. Delgado, Di Pierro, F., Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Glawion, D. Eisenacher, Elsaesser, D., Fernandez-Barral, A., Fidalgo, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Frantzen, K., Fruck, C., Galindo, D., Lopez, R. J. Garcia, Garczarczyk, M., Terrats, D. Garrido, Gaug, M., Giammaria, P., Godinovic, N., Munoz, A. Gonzalez, Guberman, D., Hanabata, Y., Hayashida, M., Herrera, J., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Hughes, G., Idec, W., Kellermann, H., Kodani, K., Konno, Y., Kubo, H., Kushida, J., La Barbera, A., Lelas, D., Lewandowska, N., Lindfors, E., Lombardi, S., Longo, F., Lopez, M., Lopez-Coto, R., Lopez-Oramas, A., Lorenz, E., Majumdar, P., Makariev, M., Mallot, K., Maneva, G., Manganaro, M., Mannheim, K., Maraschi, L., Marcote, B., Mariotti, M., Martinez, M., Mazin, D., Menzel, U., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Nakajima, D., Neustroev, V., Niedzwiecki, A., Rosillo, M. Nievas, Nilsson, K., Nishijima, K., Orito, R., Overkemping, A., Paiano, S., Palacio, J., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Paredes-Fortuny, X., Persic, M., Poutanen, J., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Reinthal, R., Rhode, W., Ribo, M., Rico, J., Garcia, J. Rodriguez, Saito, T., Saito, K., Satalecka, K., Scapin, V., Schultz, C., Schweizer, T., Shore, S. N., Sillanpaa, A., Sitarek, J., Snidaric, I., Sobczynska, D., Stamerra, A., Steinbring, T., Strzys, M., Takalo, L., Takami, H., Tavecchio, F., Temnikov, P., Terzic, T., Tescaro, D., Teshima, M., Thaele, J., Torres, D. F., Toyama, T., Treves, A., Verguilov, V., Vovk, I., Will, M., Zanin, R., Archer, A., Benbow, W., Bird, R., Biteau, J., Bugaev, V., Cardenzana, J. 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., Fortin, P., Fortson, L., Gerard, L., Gillanders, G. H., Griffin, S., Griffiths, S. T., Grube, J., Gyuk, G., Haakansson, N., Holder, J., Humensky, T. B., Johnson, C. A., Kaaret, P., Kertzman, M., Kieda, D., Krause, M., Krennrich, F., Lang, M. J., Lin, T. T. Y., Maier, G., McArthur, S., McCann, A., Meagher, K., Moriarty, P., Mukherjee, R., Nieto, D., de Bhroithe, A. O'Faolain, Ong, R. A., Park, N., Petry, D., Pohl, M., Popkow, A., Ragan, K., Ratliff, G., Reyes, L. C., Reynolds, P. T., Richards, G. T., Roache, E., Santander, M., Sembroski, G. H., Shahinyan, K., Staszak, D., Telezhinsky, I., Tucci, J. V., Tyler, J., Vassiliev, V. V., Wakely, S. P., Weiner, O. M., Weinstein, A., Wilhelm, A., Williams, D. A., Zitzer, B., Fuhrmann, O. Vince L., Angelakis, E., Karamanavis, V., Myserlis, I., Krichbaum, T. P., Zensus, J. A., Ungerechts, H., Sievers, A., Bachev, R., Bottcher, M., Chen, W. P., Damljanovic, G., Eswaraiah, C., Guver, T., Hovatta, T., Hughes, Z., Ibryamov, S. . I., Joner, M. D., Jordan, B., Jorstad, S. G., Joshi, M., Kataoka, J., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Lahteenmaki, A., Latev, G., Lin, H. C., Larionov, V. M., Mokrushina, A. A., Morozova, D. A., Nikolashvili, M. G., Raiteri, C. M., Ramakrishnan, V., Readhead, A. C. R., Sadun, A. C., Sigua, L. A., Semkov, E. H., Strigachev, A., Tammi, J., Tornikoski, M., Troitsky, Y. V. Troitskaya I. S., and Villata, M.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We report on simultaneous broadband observations of the TeV-emitting blazar Markarian 501 between 1 April and 10 August 2013, including the first detailed characterization of the synchrotron peak with Swift and NuSTAR. During the campaign, the nearby BL Lac object was observed in both a quiescent and an elevated state. The broadband campaign includes observations with NuSTAR, MAGIC, VERITAS, the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT), Swift X-ray Telescope and UV Optical Telescope, various ground-based optical instruments, including the GASP-WEBT program, as well as radio observations by OVRO, Mets\"ahovi and the F-Gamma consortium. Some of the MAGIC observations were affected by a sand layer from the Saharan desert, and had to be corrected using event-by-event corrections derived with a LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) facility. This is the first time that LIDAR information is used to produce a physics result with Cherenkov Telescope data taken during adverse atmospheric conditions, and hence sets a precedent for the current and future ground-based gamma-ray instruments. The NuSTAR instrument provides unprecedented sensitivity in hard X-rays, showing the source to display a spectral energy distribution between 3 and 79 keV consistent with a log-parabolic spectrum and hard X-ray variability on hour timescales. None (of the four extended NuSTAR observations) shows evidence of the onset of inverse-Compton emission at hard X-ray energies. We apply a single-zone equilibrium synchrotron self-Compton model to five simultaneous broadband spectral energy distributions. We find that the synchrotron self-Compton model can reproduce the observed broadband states through a decrease in the magnetic field strength coinciding with an increase in the luminosity and hardness of the relativistic leptons responsible for the high-energy emission., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ
Published: 2015
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32. Optical and Radio Variability of BL Lacertae

Author: Gaur, Haritma, Gupta, Alok C., Bachev, R., Strigachev, A., Semkov, E., Wiita, Paul J., Volvach, A. E., Gu, Minfeng, Agarwal, A., Agudo, I., Aller, M. F., Aller, H. D., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Lahteenmaki, A., Peneva, S., Nikolashvili, M. G., Sigua, L. A., Tornikoski, M., and Volvach, L. N.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We observed the prototype blazar, BL Lacertae, extensively in optical and radio bands during an active phase in the period 2010--2013 when the source showed several prominent outbursts. We searched for possible correlations and time lags between the optical and radio band flux variations using multifrequency data to learn about the mechanisms producing variability. During an active phase of BL Lacertae, we searched for possible correlations and time lags between multifrequency light curves of several optical and radio bands. We tried to estimate any possible variability timescales and inter-band lags in these bands. We performed optical observations in B, V, R and I bands from seven telescopes in Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece and India and obtained radio data at 36.8, 22.2, 14.5, 8 and 4.8 GHz frequencies from three telescopes in Ukraine, Finland and USA. Significant cross-correlations between optical and radio bands are found in our observations with a delay of cm-fluxes with respect to optical ones of ~250 days. The optical and radio light curves do not show any significant timescales of variability. BL Lacertae showed many optical 'mini-flares' on short time-scales. Variations on longer term timescales are mildly chromatic with superposition of many strong optical outbursts. In radio bands, the amplitude of variability is frequency dependent. Flux variations at higher radio frequencies lead the lower frequencies by days or weeks. The optical variations are consistent with being dominated by a geometric scenario where a region of emitting plasma moves along a helical path in a relativistic jet. The frequency dependence of the variability amplitude supports an origin of the observed variations intrinsic to the source., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A
Published: 2015
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33. The 2009 multiwavelength campaign on Mrk 421: Variability and correlation studies

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., noz, A. González Mu\, 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., Longo, F., 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, 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, Archambault, S., Behera, B., Beilicke, M., Benbow, W., Bird, R., Buckley, J. H., Bugaev, V., Cerruti, M., Chen, X., Ciupik, L., Collins-Hughes, E., Cui, W., Dumm, J., Eisch, J. D., Falcone, A., Federici, S., Feng, Q., Finley, J. P., Fleischhack, H., Fortin, P., Fortson, L., Furniss, A., Griffin, S., Griffiths, S. T., Grube, J., Gyuk, G., Hanna, D., Holder, J., Hughes, G., Humensky, T. B., Johnson, C. A., Kaaret, P., Kertzman, M., Khassen, Y., Kieda, D., Krawczynski, H., Krennrich, F., Kumar, S., Lang, M. J., Maier, G., McArthur, S., Meagher, K., Moriarty, P., Mukherjee, R., Ong, R. A., Otte, A. N., Park, N., Pichel, A., Pohl, M., Popkow, A., Prokoph, H., Quinn, J., Ragan, K., Rajotte, J., Reynolds, P. T., Richards, G. T., Roache, E., Rovero, A. C., Sembroski, G. H., Shahinyan, K., Staszak, D., Telezhinsky, I., Theiling, M., Tucci, J. V., Tyler, J., Varlotta, A., Wakely, S. P., Weekes, T. C., Weinstein, A., Welsing, R., Wilhelm, A., Williams, D. A., Zitzer, B., collaborators, External, Villata, M., Raiteri, C., Aller, H. D., Aller, M. F., Chen, W. P., Jordan, B., Koptelova, E., Kurtanidze, O. M., Lähteenmäki, A., McBreen, B., Larionov, V. M., Lin, C. S., Nikolashvili, M. G., Angelakis, E., Capalbi, M., nana, A. Carrami\, Carrasco, L., Cassaro, P., Cesarini, A., Fuhrmann, L., Giroletti, M., Hovatta, T., Krichbaum, T. P., Krimm, H. A., Max-Moerbeck, W., Moody, J. W., Maccaferri, G., Mori, Y., Nestoras, I., Orlati, A., Pace, C., Pearson, R., Perri, M., Readhead, A. C. S., Richards, J. L., Sadun, A. C., Sakamoto, T., Tammi, J., Tornikoski, M., Yatsu, Y., and Zook, A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: We performed a 4.5-month multi-instrument campaign (from radio to VHE gamma rays) on Mrk421 between January 2009 and June 2009, which included VLBA, F-GAMMA, GASP-WEBT, Swift, RXTE, Fermi-LAT, MAGIC, and Whipple, among other instruments and collaborations. Mrk421 was found in its typical (non-flaring) activity state, with a VHE flux of about half that of the Crab Nebula, yet the light curves show significant variability at all wavelengths, the highest variability being in the X-rays. We determined the power spectral densities (PSD) at most wavelengths and found that all PSDs can be described by power-laws without a break, and with indices consistent with pink/red-noise behavior. We observed a harder-when-brighter behavior in the X-ray spectra and measured a positive correlation between VHE and X-ray fluxes with zero time lag. Such characteristics have been reported many times during flaring activity, but here they are reported for the first time in the non-flaring state. We also observed an overall anti-correlation between optical/UV and X-rays extending over the duration of the campaign. The harder-when-brighter behavior in the X-ray spectra and the measured positive X-ray/VHE correlation during the 2009 multi-wavelength campaign suggests that the physical processes dominating the emission during non-flaring states have similarities with those occurring during flaring activity. In particular, this observation supports leptonic scenarios as being responsible for the emission of Mrk421 during non-flaring activity. Such a temporally extended X-ray/VHE correlation is not driven by any single flaring event, and hence is difficult to explain within the standard hadronic scenarios. The highest variability is observed in the X-ray band, which, within the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton scenario, indicates that the electron energy distribution is most variable at the highest energies., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 18 pages, 14 figures (v2 has a small modification in the acknowledgments, and also corrects a typo in the field "author" in the metadata)
Published: 2015
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34. Unprecedented study of the broadband emission of Mrk 421 during flaring activity in March 2010

Author: The 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., Biasuzzi, B., Biland, A., Blanch, O., Boller, A., Bonnefoy, S., Bonnoli, G., Borracci, F., Bretz, T., Carmona, E., Carosi, A., 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., Wilhelmi, E. de Oña, Mendez, C. Delgado, Prester, D. Dominis, Dorner, D., Doro, M., Einecke, S., Eisenacher, D., Elsaesser, D., Fonseca, M. V., Font, L., Frantzen, K., Fruck, C., Galindo, D., López, R. J. García, Garczarczyk, M., Terrats, D. Garrido, Gaug, M., Godinović, N., Muñoz, A. González, Gozzini, S. R., Hadasch, D., Hanabata, Y., Hayashida, M., Herrera, J., Hildebrand, D., Hose, J., Hrupec, D., Hughes, G., 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., 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., Miranda, J. M., Mirzoyan, R., Moralejo, A., Munar-Adrover, P., Nakajima, D., Niedzwiecki, A., Nilsson, K., Nishijima, K., Noda, K., Orito, R., Overkemping, A., Paiano, S., Palatiello, M., Paneque, D., Paoletti, R., Paredes, J. M., Paredes-Fortuny, X., Persic, M., Moroni, P. G. Prada, Prandini, E., Puljak, I., Reinthal, R., Rhode, W., Ribó, M., Rico, J., Garcia, J. Rodriguez, Rügamer, S., Saito, T., Saito, K., Satalecka, K., Scalzotto, V., Scapin, V., Schultz, C., Schweizer, T., Sun, S., Shore, S. N., Sillanpää, A., Sitarek, J., Snidaric, I., Sobczynska, D., Spanier, F., Stamatescu, V., Stamerra, A., Steinbring, T., Steinke, B., Storz, J., Strzys, M., 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., Zanin, R., Collaboration, The VERITAS, Archambault, S., Archer, A., Beilicke, M., Benbow, W., Berger, K., Bird, R., Biteau, J., Buckley, J. H., Bugaev, V., Cerruti, M., Chen, X., Ciupik, L., Collins-Hughes, E., Cui, W., Eisch, J. D., Falcone, A., Feng, Q., Finley, J. P., Fortin, P., Fortson, L., Furniss, A., Galante, N., Gillanders, G. H., Griffin, S., Gyuk, G., Håkansson, N., Holder, J., Johnson, C. A., Kaaret, P., Kar, P., Kertzman, M., Kieda, D., Lang, M. J., McArthur, S., McCann, A., Meagher, K., Millis, J., Moriarty, P., Ong, R. A., Otte, A. N., Perkins, J. S., Pichel, A., Pohl, M., Popkow, A., Prokoph, H., Pueschel, E., Ragan, K., Reyes, L. C., Reynolds, P. T., Richards, G. T., Roache, E., Rovero, A. C., Sembroski, G. H., Shahinyan, K., Staszak, D., Telezhinsky, I., Tucci, J. V., Tyler, J., Varlotta, A., Wakely, S. P., Welsing, R., Wilhelm, A., Williams, D. A., Collaborators, External, Buson, S., Finke, J., Villata, M., Raiteri, C., Aller, H. D., Aller, M. F., Cesarini, A., Chen, W. P., Gurwell, M. A., Jorstad, S. G., Kimeridze, G. N., Koptelova, E., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Lähteenmäki, A., Larionov, V. M., Larionova, E. G., Lin, H. C., McBreen, B., Moody, J. W., Morozova, D. A., Marscher, A. P., Max-Moerbeck, W., Nikolashvili, M. G., Perri, M., Readhead, A. C. S., Richards, J. L., Ros, J. A., Sadun, A. C., Sakamoto, T., Sigua, L. A., Smith, P. S., Tornikoski, M., Troitsky, I. S., Wehrle, A. E., and Jordan, B.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: A flare from the TeV blazar Mrk 421, occurring in March 2010, was observed for 13 consecutive days from radio to very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-rays with MAGIC, VERITAS, Whipple, FermiLAT, MAXI, RXTE, Swift, GASP-WEBT, and several optical and radio telescopes. We model the day-scale SEDs with one-zone and two-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) models, investigate the physical parameters, and evaluate whether the observed broadband SED variability can be associated to variations in the relativistic particle population. Flux variability was remarkable in the X-ray and VHE bands while it was minor or not significant in the other bands. The one-zone SSC model can describe reasonably well the SED of each day for the 13 consecutive days. This flaring activity is also very well described by a two-zone SSC model, where one zone is responsible for the quiescent emission while the other smaller zone, which is spatially separated from the first one, contributes to the daily-variable emission occurring in X-rays and VHE gamma-rays. Both the one-zone SSC and the two-zone SSC models can describe the daily SEDs via the variation of only four or five model parameters, under the hypothesis that the variability is associated mostly to the underlying particle population. This shows that the particle acceleration and cooling mechanism producing the radiating particles could be the main one responsible for the broadband SED variations during the flaring episodes in blazars. The two-zone SSC model provides a better agreement to the observed SED at the narrow peaks of the low- and high-energy bumps during the highest activity, although the reported one-zone SSC model could be further improved by the variation of the parameters related to the emitting region itself ($\delta$, $B$ and $R$), in addition to the parameters related to the particle population., Comment: Published in A&A, 30 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables. Online-data: multi-wavelength light curves (data in Fig. 1) and broadband spectral energy distributions (the data in Figs. 6, and B1-B4) are available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/578/A22. Corresponding authors: David Paneque (dpaneque@mpp.mpg.de), Shangyu Sun (sysun@mpp.mpg.de), Hajime Takami (takami@post.kek.jp)
Published: 2014
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35. 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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36. Future mmVLBI Research with ALMA: A European vision

Author: Tilanus, R. P. J., Krichbaum, T. P., Zensus, J. A., Baudry, A., Bremer, M., Falcke, H., Giovannini, G., Laing, R., van Langevelde, H. J., Vlemmings, W., Abraham, Z., Afonso, J., Agudo, I., Alberdi, A., Alcolea, J., Altamirano, D., Asadi, S., Assaf, K., Augusto, P., Baczko, A-K., Boeck, M., Boller, T., Bondi, M., Boone, F., Bourda, G., Brajsa, R., Brand, J., Britzen, S., Bujarrabal, V., Cales, S., Casadio, C., Casasola, V., Castangia, P., Cernicharo, J., Charlot, P., Chemin, L., Clenet, Y., Colomer, F., Combes, F., Cordes, J., Coriat, M., Cross, N., D'Ammando, F., Dallacasa, D., Desmurs, J-F., Eatough, R., Eckart, A., Eisenacher, D., Etoka, S., Felix, M., Fender, R., Ferreira, M., Freeland, E., Frey, S., Fromm, C., Fuhrmann, L., Gabanyi, K., Galvan-Madrid, R., Giroletti, M., Goddi, C., Gomez, J., Gourgoulhon, E., Gray, M., di Gregorio, I., Greimel, R., Grosso, N., Guirado, J., Hada, K., Hanslmeier, A., Henkel, C., Herpin, F., Hess, P., Hodgson, J., Horns, D., Humphreys, E., Kramer, B. Hutawarakorn, Ilyushin, V., Impellizzeri, V., Ivanov, V., Julião, M., Kadler, M., Kerins, E., Klaassen, P., Klooster, K. van 't, Kording, E., Kozlov, M., Kramer, M., Kreikenbohm, A., Kurtanidze, O., Lazio, J., Leite, A., Leitzinger, M., Lepine, J., Levshakov, S., Lico, R., Lindqvist, M., Liuzzo, E., Lobanov, A., Lucas, P., Mannheim, K., Marcaide, J., Markoff, S., Martí-Vidal, I., Martins, C., Masetti, N., Massardi, M., Menten, K., Messias, H., Migliari, S., Mignano, A., Miller-Jones, J., Minniti, D., Molaro, P., Molina, S., Monteiro, A., Moscadelli, L., Mueller, C., Müller, A., Muller, S., Niederhofer, F., Odert, P., Olofsson, H., Orienti, M., Paladino, R., Panessa, F., Paragi, Z., Paumard, T., Pedrosa, P., Pérez-Torres, M., Perrin, G., Perucho, M., Porquet, D., Prandoni, I., Ransom, S., Reimers, D., Rejkuba, M., Rezzolla, L., Richards, A., Ros, E., Roy, A., Rushton, A., Savolainen, T., Schulz, R., Silva, M., Sivakoff, G., Soria-Ruiz, R., Soria, R., Spaans, M., Spencer, R., Stappers, B., Surcis, G., Tarchi, A., Temmer, M., Thompson, M., Torrelles, J., Truestedt, J., Tudose, V., Venturi, T., Verbiest, J., Vieira, J., Vielzeuf, P., Vincent, F., Wex, N., Wiik, K., Wiklind, T., Wilms, J., Zackrisson, E., and Zechlin, H.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Abstract: Very long baseline interferometry at millimetre/submillimetre wavelengths (mmVLBI) offers the highest achievable spatial resolution at any wavelength in astronomy. The anticipated inclusion of ALMA as a phased array into a global VLBI network will bring unprecedented sensitivity and a transformational leap in capabilities for mmVLBI. Building on years of pioneering efforts in the US and Europe the ongoing ALMA Phasing Project (APP), a US-led international collaboration with MPIfR-led European contributions, is expected to deliver a beamformer and VLBI capability to ALMA by the end of 2014 (APP: Fish et al. 2013, arXiv:1309.3519). This report focuses on the future use of mmVLBI by the international users community from a European viewpoint. Firstly, it highlights the intense science interest in Europe in future mmVLBI observations as compiled from the responses to a general call to the European community for future research projects. A wide range of research is presented that includes, amongst others: - Imaging the event horizon of the black hole at the centre of the Galaxy - Testing the theory of General Relativity an/or searching for alternative theories - Studying the origin of AGN jets and jet formation - Cosmological evolution of galaxies and BHs, AGN feedback - Masers in the Milky Way (in stars and star-forming regions) - Extragalactic emission lines and astro-chemistry - Redshifted absorption lines in distant galaxies and study of the ISM and circumnuclear gas - Pulsars, neutron stars, X-ray binaries - Testing cosmology - Testing fundamental physical constants, Comment: Replaced figures 2 and 3: corrected position SRT. Corrected minor typo in 5.1
Published: 2014

37. 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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38. 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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39. 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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40. The 72-Hour WEBT Microvariability Observation of Blazar S5 0716+714 in 2009

Author: Bhatta, G., Webb, J. R., Hollingsworth, H., Dhalla, S., Khanuja, A., Bachev, R., Blinov, D. A., Bottcher, M., Calle, O. J. A. Bravo, Calcidese, P., Capezzali, D., Carosati, D., Chigladze, R., Collins, A., Coloma, J. M., Efimov, Y., Gupta, A. C., Hu, S-M., Kurtanidze, O., Lamerato, A., Larionov, V. M., Lee, C. -U., Lindfors, E., Murphy, B., Nilsson, K., Ohlert, J. M., Oksanen, A., Paakkonen, P., Pollock, J. T., Rani, B., Reinthal, R., Rodriguez, D., Ros, J. A., Roustazadeh, P., Sagar, R., Sanchez, A., Shastri, P., Sillanpaa, A., Strigachev, A., Takalo, L., Vennes, S., Villata, M., Villforth, C., Wu, J., and Zhou, X.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Context. The international whole earth blazar telescope (WEBT) consortium planned and carried out three days of intensive micro-variability observations of S5 0716+714 from February 22, 2009 to February 25, 2009. This object was chosen due to its bright apparent magnitude range, its high declination, and its very large duty cycle for micro-variations. Aims. We report here on the long continuous optical micro-variability light curve of 0716+714 obtained during the multi-site observing campaign during which the Blazar showed almost constant variability over a 0.5 magnitude range. The resulting light curve is presented here for the first time. Observations from participating observatories were corrected for instrumental differences and combined to construct the overall smoothed light curve. Methods. Thirty-six observatories in sixteen countries participated in this continuous monitoring program and twenty of them submitted data for compilation into a continuous light curve. The light curve was analyzed using several techniques including Fourier transform, Wavelet and noise analysis techniques. Those results led us to model the light curve by attributing the variations to a series of synchrotron pulses. Results. We have interpreted the observed microvariations in this extended light curve in terms of a new model consisting of individual stochastic pulses due to cells in a turbulent jet which are energized by a passing shock and cool by means of synchrotron emission. We obtained an excellent fit to the 72-hour light curve with the synchrotron pulse model.
Published: 2013
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41. Long-Term Multiwavelength Studies of High-Redshift Blazar 0836+710

Author: Akyuz, A., Thompson, D. J., Donato, D., Perkins, J. S., Fuhrmann, L., Angelakis, E., Zensus, J. A., Larsson, S., Sokolovsky, K., and Kurtanidze, O.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Aims. The observation of gamma -ray flares from blazar 0836+710 in 2011, following a period of quiescence, offered an opportunity to study correlated activity at different wavelengths for a high-redshift (z=2.218) active galactic nucleus. Methods. Optical and radio monitoring, plus Fermi-LAT gamma-ray monitoring provided 2008-2012 coverage, while Swift offered auxiliary optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray information. Other contemporaneous observations were used to construct a broad-band spectral energy distribution. Results. There is evidence of correlation but not a measurable lag between the optical and gamma-ray flaring emission. On the contrary, there is no clear correlation between radio and gamma-ray activity, indicating radio emission regions that are unrelated to the parts of the jet that produce the gamma-rays. The gamma-ray energy spectrum is unusual in showing a change of shape from a power law to a curved spectrum when going from the quiescent state to the active state., Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A
Published: 2013
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42. Multiwavelength Intraday Variability of the BL Lac S5 0716+714

Author: Gupta, Alok C., Krichbaum, T. P., Wiita, P. J., Rani, B., Sokolovsky, K. V., Mohan, P., Mangalam, A., Marchili, N., Fuhrmann, L., Agudo, I., Bach, U., Bachev, R., Böttcher, M., Gabanyi, K. E., Gaur, H., Hawkins, K., Kimeridze, G. N., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Lee, C. -U., Liu, X., McBreen, B., Nesci, R., Nestoras, G., Nikolashvili, M. G., Ohlert, J. M., Palma, N., Peneva, S., Pursimo, T., Semkov, E., Strigachev, A., Webb, J. R., Wiesemeyer, H., and Zensus, J. A.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: We report results from a 1 week multi-wavelength campaign to monitor the BL Lac object S5 0716+714 (on December 9-16, 2009). In the radio bands the source shows rapid (~ (0.5-1.5) day) intra-day variability with peak amplitudes of up to ~ 10 %. The variability at 2.8 cm leads by about 1 day the variability at 6 cm and 11 cm. This time lag and more rapid variations suggests an intrinsic contribution to the source's intraday variability at 2.8 cm, while at 6 cm and 11 cm interstellar scintillation (ISS) seems to predominate. Large and quasi-sinusoidal variations of ~ 0.8 mag were detected in the V, R and I-bands. The X-ray data (0.2-10 keV) do not reveal significant variability on a 4 day time scale, favoring reprocessed inverse-Compton over synchrotron radiation in this band. The characteristic variability time scales in radio and optical bands are similar. A quasi-periodic variation (QPO) of 0.9 - 1.1 days in the optical data may be present, but if so it is marginal and limited to 2.2 cycles. Cross-correlations between radio and optical are discussed. The lack of a strong radio-optical correlation indicates different physical causes of variability (ISS at long radio wavelengths, source intrinsic origin in the optical), and is consistent with a high jet opacity and a compact synchrotron component peaking at ~= 100 GHz in an ongoing very prominent flux density outburst. For the campaign period, we construct a quasi-simultaneous spectral energy distribution (SED), including gamma-ray data from the FERMI satellite. We obtain lower limits for the relativistic Doppler-boosting of delta >= 12-26, which for a BL\,Lac type object, is remarkably high., Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, table 2; Accepted for Publication in MNRAS
Published: 2012
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43. 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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44. 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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45. 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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46. Flaring Activity from 0836+710 (4C +71.07): What Can We Learn With Limited Multiwavelength Coverage?

Author: Akyuz, A., Thompson, D. J., Donato, D., Fuhrmann, L., Sokolovsky, K., and Kurtanidze, O.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: After a long period of quiescence in \gamma-rays, blazar 0836+710 (4C +71.07) flared in the Spring of 2011. We found only limited multiwavelength coverage of the source. An indication of correlated optical / \gamma-ray variability is not surprising for a Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar (FSRQ) like this one. Radio observations at high frequencies, however, had seen a flare in 2010, well offset from possible \gamma-ray activity. The 2011 \gamma-ray activity comes during a period of rising radio emission, a pattern that has been seen since the EGRET era., Comment: 5 pages,2 figures, proceedings of 'Fermi & Jansky:Our Evolving Understanding of AGN'
Published: 2012

47. 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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48. The long-lasting activity of 3C 454.3. GASP-WEBT and satellite observations in 2008-2010

Author: Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Aller, M. F., Gurwell, M. A., Kurtanidze, O. M., Lähteenmäki, A., Larionov, V. M., Romano, P., and Vercellone, S.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract: We present multiwavelength observations of 3C 454.3 from April 2008 to March 2010. The radio to optical data are mostly from the GASP-WEBT, UV and X-ray data from Swift, and gamma-ray data from the AGILE and Fermi satellites. We improved the calibration of optical-UV data from the UVOT and OM instruments and estimated the Lyalpha flux to disentangle the contributions from different components in this spectral region. The observations reveal prominent variability above 8 GHz. In the optical-UV band, the variability amplitude decreases with increasing frequency due to a steadier radiation from both a broad line region and an accretion disc. The optical flux reaches nearly the same levels in the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 observing seasons; the mm one shows similar behaviour, whereas the gamma and X-ray flux levels rise in the second period. Two prominent gamma-ray flares in mid 2008 and late 2009 show a double-peaked structure, with a variable gamma/optical flux ratio. The X-ray flux variations seem to follow the gamma-ray and optical ones by about 0.5 and 1 d, respectively. We interpret the multifrequency behaviour in terms of an inhomogeneous curved jet, where synchrotron radiation of increasing wavelength is produced in progressively outer and wider jet regions, which can change their orientation in time. In particular, we assume that the long-term variability is due to this geometrical effect. By combining the optical and mm light curves to fit the gamma and X-ray ones, we find that the gamma (X-ray) emission may be explained by inverse-Comptonisation of synchrotron optical (IR) photons by their parent relativistic electrons (SSC process). A slight, variable misalignment between the synchrotron and Comptonisation zones would explain the increased gamma and X-ray flux levels in 2009-2010, as well as the change in the gamma/optical flux ratio during the outbursts peaks., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&A
Published: 2011
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49. The brightest gamma-ray flaring blazar in the sky: AGILE and multi-wavelength observations of 3C 454.3 during November 2010

Author: Vercellone, S., Striani, E., Vittorini, V., Donnarumma, I., Pacciani, L., Pucella, G., Tavani, M., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Romano, P., Fiocchi, M., Bazzano, A., Bianchin, V., Ferrigno, C., Maraschi, L., Pian, E., Türler, M., Ubertini, P., Bulgarelli, A., Chen, A. W., Giuliani, A., Longo, F., Barbiellini, G., Cardillo, M., Cattaneo, P. W., Del Monte, E., Evangelista, Y., Feroci, M., Ferrari, A., Fuschino, F., Gianotti, F., Giusti, M., Lazzarotto, F., Pellizzoni, A., Piano, G., Pilia, M., Rapisarda, M., Rappoldi, A., Sabatini, S., Soffitta, P., Trifoglio, M., Trois, A., Giommi, P., Lucarelli, F., Pittori, C., Santolamazza, P., Verrecchia, F., Agudo, I., Aller, H. D., Aller, M. F., Arkharov, A. A., Bach, U., Berdyugin, A., Borman, G. A., Chigladze, R., Efimov, Yu. S., Efimova, N. V., Gómez, J. L., Gurwell, M. A., McHardy, I. M., Joshi, M., Kimeridze, G. N., Krajci, T., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionov, V. M., Lindfors, E., Molina, S. N., Morozova, D. A., Nazarov, S. V., Nikolashvili, M. G., Nilsson, K., Pasanen, M., Reinthal, R., Ros, J. A., Sadun, A. C., Sakamoto, T., Sallum, S., Sergeev, S. G., Schwartz, R. D., Sigua, L. A., Sillanpää, A., Sokolovsky, K. V., Strelnitski, V., Takalo, L., Taylor, B., and Walker, G.
Subjects: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Abstract: Since 2005, the blazar 3C 454.3 has shown remarkable flaring activity at all frequencies, and during the last four years it has exhibited more than one gamma-ray flare per year, becoming the most active gamma-ray blazar in the sky. We present for the first time the multi-wavelength AGILE, SWIFT, INTEGRAL, and GASP-WEBT data collected in order to explain the extraordinary gamma-ray flare of 3C 454.3 which occurred in November 2010. On 2010 November 20 (MJD 55520), 3C 454.3 reached a peak flux (E>100 MeV) of F_gamma(p) = (6.8+-1.0)E-5 ph/cm2/s on a time scale of about 12 hours, more than a factor of 6 higher than the flux of the brightest steady gamma-ray source, the Vela pulsar, and more than a factor of 3 brighter than its previous super-flare on 2009 December 2-3. The multi-wavelength data make a thorough study of the present event possible: the comparison with the previous outbursts indicates a close similarity to the one that occurred in 2009. By comparing the broadband emission before, during, and after the gamma-ray flare, we find that the radio, optical and X-ray emission varies within a factor 2-3, whereas the gamma-ray flux by a factor of 10. This remarkable behavior is modeled by an external Compton component driven by a substantial local enhancement of soft seed photons., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. 18 Pages, 4 Figures, 1 Table
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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