Distinguishing radiation mechanisms and particle populations in blazar jets through long-term multiband monitoring with RINGO3 and Fermi

We present the results of seven years of multicolour photometric monitoring of a sample of 31 \gamma-ray bright blazars using the RINGO3 polarimeter on the Liverpool Telescope from 2013–2020. We explore the relationships between simultaneous observations of flux in three optical wavebands along with...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: McCall, Callum, Jermak, Helen, Steele, Iain A., Agudo, Iván, Barres de Almeida, Ulisses, Hovatta, Talvikki, Lamb, Gavin P., Lindfors, Elina, Mundell, Carole
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/371405
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/371405
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Galaxies: active
BL Lacertae objects: general
Galaxies: jets
Galaxies: photometry
Quasars: general
Descripción
Sumario:We present the results of seven years of multicolour photometric monitoring of a sample of 31 \gamma-ray bright blazars using the RINGO3 polarimeter on the Liverpool Telescope from 2013–2020. We explore the relationships between simultaneous observations of flux in three optical wavebands along with Fermi\gamma-ray data in order to explore the radiation mechanisms and particle populations in blazar jets. We find significant correlations between optical and \gamma-ray flux with no detectable time lag, suggesting leptonic emission processes in the jets of these sources. Furthermore, we find the spectral behaviour against optical and \gamma-ray flux for many sources is best fit logarithmically. This is suggestive of a transition between bluer-/redder-when-brighter into stable-when-brighter behaviour during high activity states; a behaviour that might be missed in poorly sampled data, resulting in apparent linear relationships. ©2024 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.