Related papers: Variability in Blazars: Clues from PKS 2155-304
The long-term variability of the multiwavelength blazar emission can be interpreted in terms of orientation variations of a helical, inhomogeneous, non-thermally emitting jet, possibly caused by the orbital motion of the parent black hole…
Blazars represent dominant population of the extragalactic $\gamma$-ray sources in the Universe. These sources exhibit some characteristic properties like strong and non-thermal continuum emission over the entire electromagnetic spectrum…
Various quasi-periods for the long-term variability of the radio emission, optical emission, and structural position angle of the inner part of the parsec-scale jet in the blazar 0716+714 have been detected. The relationships between these…
Blazars are jetted active galactic nuclei, with the jet aligned along the observer's line of sight. Their spectral energy distributions are dominated by non-thermal emission, with an underlying thermal component at optical/ultraviolet…
Blazar emission is dominated by non-thermal radiation from a relativistic jet pointing toward us, therefore undergoing Doppler beaming. This is responsible for flux enhancement and contraction of the variability time scales, so that most…
Optical variability of 3C 120 is discussed in the framework of jet precession. Specifically, we assume that the observed long-term periodic variability is produced by the emission from an underlying jet with a time-dependent boosting factor…
The kinetic energy of bulk relativistic plasma ejected from the central engine of blazars is converted into nonthermal particle energy in the comoving frame through a process of sweeping up material from the surrounding medium. The…
Blazars exhibit flares across the electromagnetic spectrum. Many $\gamma$-ray flares are highly correlated with flares detected at optical wavelengths; however, a small subset appears to occur in isolation, with little or no variability…
Densely time sampled multi-frequency flux measurements of the extreme BL Lac object S5 0716+714 over the past three years allow us to study its broad-band variability, and the detailed underlying physics, with emphasis on the location and…
Radio-to-TeV observations of the bright nearby (z=0.034) blazar Markarian 501 (Mrk 501), performed from December 2012 to April 2018, are used to study the emission mechanisms in its relativistic jet. We examined the multi-wavelength…
Three uninterrupted, long (lasting respectively 7, 10, and 10 days) ASCA observations of the well-studied TeV-bright blazars Mrk 421, Mrk 501 and PKS 2155-304 all show continuous strong X-ray flaring. Despite the relatively faint intensity…
We present the optical light curve for the gamma-ray blazar PKS 1510-089 with a significant variability of 2.0 mag within about 41 minutes in the R band which is the most violently rapid variability detected in our optical monitoring…
The true nature of the radio emitting material observed to be moving relativistically in quasars and microquasars is still unclear. The microquasar community usually interprets them as distinct clouds of plasma, while the extragalactic…
We present the discovery of fast infrared/X-ray correlated variability in the black-hole transient GX 339-4. The source was observed with sub-second time resolution simultaneously with VLT/ISAAC and RXTE/PCA in August 2008, during its…
Advances in the capabilities of X-ray, gamma-ray and TeV telescopes have brought new information on the physics of relativistic jets, which are responsible for the blazar "phenomenon". In particular the broad band sensitivity of the…
The recent discovery, by the Chandra satellite, that jets of blazars are strong X-ray emitters at large scales (0.1-1 Mpc) bears support to the hypothesis that (also) on these scales the emitting plasma is moving at highly relativistic…
Aims. We aim to investigate the extreme variability properties of the TeV blazar S4 0954+65 using optical photometric and polarisation observations carried out between 2017 and 2023 using three ground-based telescopes. Methods. We examined…
The properties of wave-like helically twisted normal mode structures on steady relativistic jets are summarized. Wave speeds are a function of the wavelength and less than the jet speed. However, normal mode interference can lead to both…
The origin of the gamma-ray emission of the blazar Mrk 421 is still a matter of debate. We used 5.5 years of unbiased observing campaign data, obtained using the FACT telescope and the Fermi LAT detector at TeV and GeV energies, the longest…
Relativistic jets are one of the most powerful manifestations of the release of energy produced around supermassive black holes at the centre of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Their emission is observed across the entire electromagnetic…