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Fractional Variability—A Tool to Study Blazar Variability

Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-197348
  • Active Galactic Nuclei emit radiation over the whole electromagnetic spectrum up to TeV energies. Blazars are one subtype with their jets pointing towards the observer. One of their typical features is extreme variability on timescales, from minutes to years. The fractional variability is an often used parameter for investigating the degree of variability of a light curve. Different detection methods and sensitivities of the instruments result in differently binned data and light curves with gaps. As they can influence the physicsActive Galactic Nuclei emit radiation over the whole electromagnetic spectrum up to TeV energies. Blazars are one subtype with their jets pointing towards the observer. One of their typical features is extreme variability on timescales, from minutes to years. The fractional variability is an often used parameter for investigating the degree of variability of a light curve. Different detection methods and sensitivities of the instruments result in differently binned data and light curves with gaps. As they can influence the physics interpretation of the broadband variability, the effects of these differences on the fractional variability need to be studied. In this paper, we study the systematic effects of completeness in time coverage and the sampling rate. Using public data from instruments monitoring blazars in various energy ranges, we study the variability of the bright TeV blazars Mrk 421 and Mrk 501 over the electromagnetic spectrum, taking into account the systematic effects, and compare our findings with previous results. Especially in the TeV range, the fractional variability is higher than in previous studies, which can be explained by the much longer (seven years compared to few weeks) and more complete data sample.show moreshow less

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Author: Bernd Schleicher, Axel Arbet-Engels, Dominik Baack, Matteo Balbo, Adrian Biland, Michael Blank, Thomas Bretz, Kai Bruegge, Michael Bulinski, Jens Buss, Manuel Doerr, Daniela Dorner, Dominik Elsaesser, Sergej Grischagin, Dorothee Hildebrand, Lena Linhoff, Karl Mannheim, Sebastian Achim Mueller, Dominik Neise, Andrii Neronov, Maximilian Noethe, Aleksander Paravac, Wolfgang Rhode, Florian Schulz, Kevin Sedlaczek, Amit Shukla, Vitalii Sliusar, Elan Willert, Roland Walter
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-197348
Document Type:Journal article
Faculties:Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie / Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik
Language:English
Parent Title (English):Galaxies
ISSN:2075-4434
Year of Completion:2019
Volume:7
Issue:2
Article Number:62
Source:Galaxies 2019, 7(2), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies7020062
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies7020062
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 53 Physik / 530 Physik
Tag:active galactic nuclei; blazars; fractional variability; variability
Release Date:2020/12/10
Date of first Publication:2019/05/30
Licence (German):License LogoCC BY: Creative-Commons-Lizenz: Namensnennung 4.0 International