Related papers: Variability in Blazars: Clues from PKS 2155-304
We discuss the implications of rapid (few-minute) variability in the TeV flux of blazars, which has been observed recently with the HESS and MAGIC telescopes. The variability timescales seen in PKS 2155-304 and Mrk 501 are much shorter than…
Recent Cherenkov observations of BL Lac objects showed that the TeV flux of PKS 2155-304 changed by a factor 2 in just 3-5 minutes. This fast variability can be accounted for if the emitting region is moving with a bulk Lorentz factor…
The fast TeV variability of the blazars Mrk 501 and PKS 2155--304 implies a compact emitting region that moves with a bulk Lorentz factor of Gamma_{em}~100 toward the observer. The Lorentz factor is clearly in excess of the jet Lorentz…
Context: The $\gamma$-ray blazar PKS 2155-304 has attracted considerable attention because of its extreme TeV variability characteristics during an exceptional flaring period in 2006. Among the observed key findings are (i) a minimum…
Blazars show variability on timescales ranging from minutes to years, the former being comparable to and in some cases even shorter than the light-crossing time of the central black hole. The observed gamma-ray lightcurves can be described…
Blazars, a subclass of active galactic nuclei (AGN), are known to be bright $\gamma$-ray sources, frequently exhibiting active (flaring) periods. The blazar PKS~2155-304 is a high synchrotron-peaked BL Lac object located at redshift…
We reviewed X-ray flux and spectral variability properties studied to date by various X-ray satellites for Mrk 421 and PKS 2155-304, which are TeV emitting blazars. Mrk 421 and PKS 2155-304 are the most X-ray luminous blazars in the…
We propose a new model for the description of ultra-short flares from TeV blazars by compact magnetized condensations (blobs), produced when red giant stars cross the jet close to the central black hole. Our study includes a simple…
We study the production of VHE emission in blazars as a superposition of a steady component from a baryonic jet and a time- dependent contribution from an inner e-e+ beam launched by the black hole. Both primary relativistic electrons and…
We present theoretical modelling for the very rapid TeV variability of PKS 2155--304 observed recently by the H.E.S.S. experiment. To explain the light-curve, where at least five flaring events were well observed, we assume five independent…
We have studied the rapid X-ray variability of three extragalactic TeV gamma-ray sources; Mrk 421, Mrk 501 and PKS 2155-304. Analyzing the X-ray light curves obtained from ASCA and/or RXTE observations between 1993 and 1998, we have…
Recent observations in the TeV band challenge the simplest models developed to describe the overall emission of blazars and radiogalaxies. In particular, the observation of variable TeV emission from M87 and the fast variability shown by…
The extremely rapid burst of TeV photons from Mkn 421 (15 May 1996) can be reconciled with the standard properties of a relativistic gamma-ray emitting jet (bulk Lorentz factor $\approx$ 10; size $\10^{17}$ cm) if one assumes that the…
Rapid variability of the TeV emission in several blazars implies a central black hole mass $M_{BH}<10^8M_\odot$, appreciably smaller than the values estimated from the $M_{BH}-L_{bulg}$ relation, and Doppler factors for the $\gamma$-ray…
Recent Cerenkov observations of the two BL Lac objects PKS 2155-304 and Mkn 501 revealed TeV flux variability by a factor ~2 in just 3-5 minutes. Even accounting for the effects of relativistic beaming, such short timescales are challenging…
Recently observed minute timescale variability of blazar emission at TeV energies has imposed severe constraints on jet models and TeV emission mechanisms. We focus on a robust jet instability to explain this variability. As a consequence…
Blazars are a subclass of radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), where the jet is aligned close to the line of sight. Blazars emission is dominated by non-thermal processes, where Doppler boosted radiation originates from a relativistic…
The recent long look X-ray observations of TeV blazars have revealed many important new features concerning their time variability. In this paper, we suggest a physical interpretation for those features based on the framework of the…
With their emission mainly coming from a relativistic jet pointing towards us, blazars are fundamental sources to study extragalactic jets and their central engines, consisting of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) fed by accretion discs.…
The jet of the radio galaxy M87 is misaligned, resulting in a Doppler factor delta~1 for emission of plasma moving parallel to the jet. This makes the observed fast TeV flares on timescales of t_v~5R_g/c harder to understand as emission…