Dissecting the long-term emission behaviour of the BL Lac object Mrk 421

We report on long-term multiwavelength monitoring of blazar Mrk 421 by the GLAST-AGILE Support Program of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (GASP-WEBT) collaboration and Steward Observatory, and by the Swift and Fermi satellites. We study the source behaviour in the period 2007-2015, characterized by...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Carnerero, M. I., Raiteri, C. M., Villata, M., Acosta-Pulido, J. A., Larionov, Valeri M., Smith, P. S., D'Ammando, Filippo, Agudo, Iván, Arévalo, M. J., Bachev, R., Barnes, J., Boeva, S., Bozhilov, V., Carosati, D., Casadio, Carolina, Chen, W. P., Damljanovic, G., Eswaraiah, E., Forné, E., Gantchev, G., Gómez Fernández, José L., González-Morales, P. A., Griñón-Marín, A. B., Grishina, T. S., Holden, M., Ibryamov, S., Joner, M. D., Jordan, B., Jorstad, Svetlana G., Joshi, M., Kopatskaya, Evgenia N., Koptelova, E., Kurtanidze, O. M., Kurtanidze, S. O., Larionova, Elena G., Larionova, Liyudmila V., Latev, G., Lázaro, C., Ligustri, R., Lin, H. C., Marscher, Alan P., Martínez-Lombilla, C., McBreen, B., Mihov, B., Molina, Sol, Moody, J.W., Morozova, D.A., Nikolashvili, M.G., Nilsson, Kari, Pastor Yabar, A., Pinna, F., Protasio, C., Redondo-Lorenzo, F.J., Rodríguez-Coira, G., Ros, J.A.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/167459
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/167459
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:BL Lacertae objects: general
BL Lacertae objects: individual: Mrk 421
Galaxies: active
Galaxies: jets
Descripción
Sumario:We report on long-term multiwavelength monitoring of blazar Mrk 421 by the GLAST-AGILE Support Program of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (GASP-WEBT) collaboration and Steward Observatory, and by the Swift and Fermi satellites. We study the source behaviour in the period 2007-2015, characterized by several extreme flares. The ratio between the optical, X-ray and γ-ray fluxes is very variable. The γ-ray flux variations show a fair correlation with the optical ones starting from 2012. We analyse spectropolarimetric data and find wavelength-dependence of the polarization degree (P), which is compatible with the presence of the host galaxy, and no wavelength dependence of the electric vector polarization angle (EVPA). Optical polarimetry shows a lack of simple correlation between P and flux and wide rotations of the EVPA. We build broad-band spectral energy distributions with simultaneous near-infrared and optical data from the GASP-WEBT and ultraviolet and X-ray data from the Swift satellite. They show strong variability in both flux and X-ray spectral shape and suggest a shift of the synchrotron peak up to a factor of ~50 in frequency. The interpretation of the flux and spectral variability is compatible with jet models including at least two emitting regions that can change their orientation with respect to the line of sight.© 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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