685 research outputs found
Constraining the limiting brightness temperature and Doppler factors for the largest sample of radio bright blazars
Relativistic effects dominate the emission of blazar jets complicating our
understanding of their intrinsic properties. Although many methods have been
proposed to account for them, the variability Doppler factor method has been
shown to describe the blazar populations best. We use a Bayesian hierarchical
code called {\it Magnetron} to model the light curves of 1029 sources observed
by the Owens Valley Radio Observatory's 40-m telescope as a series of flares
with an exponential rise and decay, and estimate their variability brightness
temperature. Our analysis allows us to place the most stringent constraints on
the equipartition brightness temperature i.e., the maximum achieved intrinsic
brightness temperature in beamed sources which we found to be . Using our findings we estimated the
variability Doppler factor for the largest sample of blazars increasing the
number of available estimates in the literature by almost an order of
magnitude. Our results clearly show that -ray loud sources have faster
and higher amplitude flares than -ray quiet sources. As a consequence
they show higher variability brightness temperatures and thus are more
relativistically beamed, with all of the above suggesting a strong connection
between the radio flaring properties of the jet and -ray emission.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in AP
High-energy gamma-ray observations of the accreting black hole V404 Cygni during its June 2015 outburst
We report on Fermi/Large Area Telescope observations of the accreting black
hole low-mass X-ray binary V404 Cygni during its outburst in June-July 2015.
Detailed analyses reveal a possible excess of -ray emission on 26 June
2015, with a very soft spectrum above MeV, at a position consistent with
the direction of V404 Cyg (within the confidence region and a chance
probability of ). This emission cannot be associated with any
previously-known Fermi source. Its temporal coincidence with the brightest
radio and hard X-ray flare in the lightcurve of V404 Cyg, at the end of the
main active phase of its outburst, strengthens the association with V404 Cyg.
If the -ray emission is associated with V404 Cyg, the simultaneous
detection of keV annihilation emission by INTEGRAL requires that the
high-energy rays originate away from the corona, possibly in a
Blandford-Znajek jet. The data give support to models involving a
magnetically-arrested disk where a bright -ray jet can re-form after
the occurrence of a major transient ejection seen in the radio.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Search for AGN counterparts of unidentified Fermi-LAT sources with optical polarimetry: Demonstration of the technique
The third Fermi-LAT catalog (3FGL) presented the data of the first four years
of observations from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission. There are
3034 sources, 1010 of which still remain unidentified. Identifying and
classifying gamma-ray emitters is of high significance with regard to studying
high-energy astrophysics. We demonstrate that optical polarimetry can be an
advantageous and practical tool in the hunt for counterparts of the
unidentified gamma-ray sources (UGSs). Using data from the RoboPol project, we
validated that a significant fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN)
associated with 3FGL sources can be identified due to their high optical
polarization exceeding that of the field stars. We performed an optical
polarimetric survey within uncertainties of four unidentified 3FGL
sources. We discovered a previously unknown extragalactic object within the
positional uncertainty of 3FGL J0221.2+2518. We obtained its spectrum and
measured a redshift of . Using these measurements and
archival data we demonstrate that this source is a candidate counterpart for
3FGL J0221.2+2518 and most probably is a composite object: a star-forming
galaxy accompanied by AGN. We conclude that polarimetry can be a powerful asset
in the search for AGN candidate counterparts for unidentified Fermi sources.
Future extensive polarimetric surveys at high galactic latitudes (e.g.,
PASIPHAE) will allow the association of a significant fraction of currently
unidentified gamma-ray sources.Comment: accepted to A&
Physical parameters of a relativistic jet at very high redshift: the case of the blazar J1430+4204
Context. The high-redshift (z = 4.72) blazar J1430+4204 produced a major
radio outburst in 2005. Such outbursts are usually associated with the
emergence of a new component in the inner radio jet. Aims. We searched for
possible changes in the radio structure on milli-arcsecond angular scales, to
determine physical parameters that characterise the relativistic jet ejected
from the centre of this source. Methods. We analysed 15-GHz radio
interferometric images obtained with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) before
and after the peak of the outburst. Results. We did not identify any
significant new jet component over a period of 569 days. We estimated the
Doppler factor, the Lorentz factor, and the apparent transverse speed of a
putative jet component using three different methods. The likely small jet
angle to the line of sight and our values of the apparent transverse speed are
consistent with not detecting a new jet feature.Comment: (6 pages, 4 figures) accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
RoboPol: Connection between optical polarization plane rotations and gamma-ray flares in blazars
We use results of our 3 year polarimetric monitoring program to investigate
the previously suggested connection between rotations of the polarization plane
in the optical emission of blazars and their gamma-ray flares in the GeV band.
The homogeneous set of 40 rotation events in 24 sources detected by {\em
RoboPol} is analysed together with the gamma-ray data provided by {\em
Fermi}-LAT. We confirm that polarization plane rotations are indeed related to
the closest gamma-ray flares in blazars and the time lags between these events
are consistent with zero. Amplitudes of the rotations are anticorrelated with
amplitudes of the gamma-ray flares. This is presumably caused by higher
relativistic boosting (higher Doppler factors) in blazars that exhibit smaller
amplitude polarization plane rotations. Moreover, the time scales of rotations
and flares are marginally correlated.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures, accepted to MNRA
RoboPol: First season rotations of optical polarization plane in blazars
We present first results on polarization swings in optical emission of
blazars obtained by RoboPol, a monitoring program of an unbiased sample of
gamma-ray bright blazars specially designed for effective detection of such
events. A possible connection of polarization swing events with periods of high
activity in gamma rays is investigated using the dataset obtained during the
first season of operation. It was found that the brightest gamma-ray flares
tend to be located closer in time to rotation events, which may be an
indication of two separate mechanisms responsible for the rotations. Blazars
with detected rotations have significantly larger amplitude and faster
variations of polarization angle in optical than blazars without rotations. Our
simulations show that the full set of observed rotations is not a likely
outcome (probability ) of a random walk of the
polarization vector simulated by a multicell model. Furthermore, it is highly
unlikely () that none of our rotations is physically
connected with an increase in gamma-ray activity.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure
Optical polarization reveals colliding stellar stream shocks in a tidal disruption event
Supermassive black holes have been known to disrupt passing stars producing
outbursts called Tidal Disruption Events offering a unique view on the early
stages of accretion disk and jet formation. The advent of large scale optical
time-domain surveys has significantly increased the number of known events and
challenged our understanding of their dynamics and emission processes. Here, we
present the linear polarization curve of the most polarized tidal disruption
without any indication of contribution from a jet to the emission. Our
observations demonstrate that optical TDE emission can be powered by tidal
stream shocks.Comment: 36 pages, 7 figures, author's version of the paper accepted in
Scienc
Reconciling inverse-Compton Doppler factors with variability Doppler factors in blazar jets
Context. Blazar population models have shown that the inverse-Compton and variability Doppler factor estimates yield consistent results at the population level for flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs). The two methods, however, are inconsistent when compared on a source-by-source basis.Aims. In this work, we attempt to understand the source of the discrepancy by tracing the potential sources of systematic and statistical error for the inverse-Compton Doppler factors. By eliminating these sources of error, we provide stronger constrains on the value of the Doppler factor in blazar jets.Methods. We re-estimate the inverse-Compton Doppler factor for 11 sources that meet certain criteria for their synchrotron peak frequency and the availability of Doppler factor estimates in the literature. We compare these estimates with the average of two di ff erent estimates of the variability Doppler factor obtained using various datasets and methodologies to identify any discrepancies and, in each case, trace their sources in the methodology or assumptions adopted.Results. We identify three significant sources of error for the inverse-Compton Doppler factors: a) contamination of the X-ray flux by non-synchrotron self-Compton emission; b) radio observations at frequencies other than the synchrotron turnover frequency; c) non-simultaneity between radio and X-ray observations. We discuss key aspects in the correct application of the inverse-Compton method in light of these potential errors. We are able to constrain the Doppler factor of 3C 273, 3C 345, 3C 454.3, PKS 1510-089, and PKS 1633 + 382 e ff ectively, since all available estimates from both methods converge to the same values for these five sources
Magnetic field at a jet base: extreme Faraday rotation in 3C 273 revealed by ALMA
Aims. We studied the polarization behavior of the quasar 3C 273 over the 1 mm wavelength band at ALMA with a total bandwidth of 7.5 GHz across 223-243 GHz at 0.8 '' resolution, corresponding to 2.1 kpc at the distance of 3C 273. With these observations we were able to probe the optically thin polarized emission close to the jet base, and constrain the magnetic field structure.Methods. We computed the Faraday rotation measure using simple linear fitting and Faraday rotation measure synthesis. In addition, we modeled the broadband behavior of the fractional Stokes Q and U parameters (qu-fitting). The systematic uncertainties in the polarization observations at ALMA were assessed through Monte Carlo simulations.Results. We find the unresolved core of 3C 273 to be 1.8% linearly polarized. We detect a very high rotation measure (RM) of (5.0 +/- 0.3) x 10(5) rad m(-2) over the 1 mm band when assuming a single polarized component and an external RM screen. This results in a rotation of >40 degrees of the intrinsic electric vector position angle, which is significantly higher than typically assumed for millimeter wavelengths. The polarization fraction increases as a function of wavelength, which according to our qu-fitting could be due to multiple polarized components of different Faraday depth within our beam or to internal Faraday rotation. With our limited wavelength coverage we cannot distinguish between the cases, and additional multi-frequency and high angular resolution observations are needed to determine the location and structure of the magnetic field of the Faraday active region. Comparing our RM estimate with values obtained at lower frequencies, the RM increases as a function of observing frequency, following a power law with an index of 2.0 +/- 0.2, consistent with a sheath surrounding a conically expanding jet. We also detect similar to 0.2% circular polarization, although further observations are needed to confirm this result
- …