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Register a new userA search for spectral hysteresis and energy-dependent time lags from X-ray and TeV gamma-ray observations of Mrk 421
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Blazars are variable emitters across all wavelengths over a wide range of timescales, from months down to minutes. It is therefore essential to observe blazars simultaneously at different wavelengths, especially in the X-ray and gamma-ray bands, where the broadband spectral energy distributions usually peak. In this work, we report on three target-of-opportunity (ToO) observations of Mrk 421, one of the brightest TeV blazars, triggered by a strong flaring event at TeV energies in 2014. These observations feature long, continuous, and simultaneous exposures with XMM-Newton (covering X-ray and optical/ultraviolet bands) and VERITAS (covering TeV gamma-ray band), along with contemporaneous observations from other gamma-ray facilities (MAGIC and Fermi-LAT) and a number of radio and optical facilities. Although neither rapid flares nor significant X-ray/TeV correlation are detected, these observations reveal subtle changes in the X-ray spectrum of the source over the course of a few days. We search the simultaneous X-ray and TeV data for spectral hysteresis patterns and time delays, which could provide insight into the emission mechanisms and the source properties (e.g. the radius of the emitting region, the strength of the magnetic field, and related timescales). The observed broadband spectra are consistent with a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model. We find that the power spectral density distribution at $gtrsim 4times 10^{-4}$ Hz from the X-ray data can be described by a power-law model with an index value between 1.2 and 1.8, and do not find evidence for a steepening of the power spectral index (often associated with a characteristic length scale) compared to the previously reported values at lower frequencies.
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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 northern and southern hemispheres, respectively. Blazars show flux and spectral variabilities in the complete electromagnetic spectrum on diverse timescales ranging from a few minutes to hours, days, weeks, months and even several years. The flux and spectral variability on different timescales can be used to constrain the size of the emitting region, estimate the super massive black hole mass, find the dominant emission mechanism in the close vicinity of the super massive black hole, search for quasi-periodic oscillations in time series data and~several other physical parameters of blazars. Flux and spectral variability is also a dominant tool to explain jet as well as disk emission from blazars at different epochs of observations.
We present results from daily monitoring of gamma rays in the energy range $sim0.5$ to $sim100$ TeV with the first 17 months of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory. Its wide field of view of 2 steradians and duty cycle of $>95$% are unique features compared to other TeV observatories that allow us to observe every source that transits over HAWC for up to $sim6$ hours each sidereal day. This regular sampling yields unprecedented light curves from unbiased measurements that are independent of seasons or weather conditions. For the Crab Nebula as a reference source we find no variability in the TeV band. Our main focus is the study of the TeV blazars Markarian (Mrk) 421 and Mrk 501. A spectral fit for Mrk 421 yields a power law index $Gamma=2.21 pm0.14_{mathrm{stat}}pm0.20_{mathrm{sys}}$ and an exponential cut-off $E_0=5.4 pm 1.1_{mathrm{stat}}pm 1.0_{mathrm{sys}}$ TeV. For Mrk 501, we find an index $Gamma=1.60pm 0.30_{mathrm{stat}} pm 0.20_{mathrm{sys}}$ and exponential cut-off $E_0=5.7pm 1.6_{mathrm{stat}} pm 1.0_{mathrm{sys}}$ TeV. The light curves for both sources show clear variability and a Bayesian analysis is applied to identify changes between flux states. The highest per-transit fluxes observed from Mrk 421 exceed the Crab Nebula flux by a factor of approximately five. For Mrk 501, several transits show fluxes in excess of three times the Crab Nebula flux. In a comparison to lower energy gamma-ray and X-ray monitoring data with comparable sampling we cannot identify clear counterparts for the most significant flaring features observed by HAWC.
The archetypical very-high-energy gamma-ray blazar Mrk 421 was monitored for more than 3 years with the Gas Slit Camera onboard Monitor of All Sky X-ray Image (MAXI), and its longterm X-ray variability was investigated. The MAXI lightcurve in the 3 -- 10 keV range was transformed to the periodogram in the frequency range $f = 1 times 10^{-8}$ -- $2 times 10^{-6}$ Hz. The artifacts on the periodogram, resulting from data gaps in the observed lightcurve, were extensively simulated for variations with a power-law like Power Spectrum Density (PSD). By comparing the observed and simulated periodograms, the PSD index was evaluated as $alpha = 1.60 pm 0.25$. This index is smaller than that obtained in the higher frequency range ($f > 1 times 10^{-5}$ Hz), namely, $alpha = 2.14 pm 0.06$ in the 1998 ASCA observation of the object. The MAXI data impose a lower limit on the PSD break at $f_{rm b} = 5 times 10^{-6}$ Hz, consistent with the break of $f_{rm b} = 9.5 times 10^{-6}$ Hz, suggested from the ASCA data. The low frequency PSD index of Mrk 421 derived with MAXI falls well within the range of the typical value among nearby Seyfert galaxies ($alpha = 1$ -- $2$). The physical implications from these results are briefly discussed.
We present X-ray flux and spectral analyses of the three pointed Suzaku observations of the TeV high synchrotron peak blazar Mrk 421 taken throughout its complete operational duration. The observation taken on 5 May 2008 is, at 364.6 kiloseconds (i.e., 101.3 hours), the longest and most evenly sampled continuous observation of this source, or any blazar, in the X-ray energy 0.8 - 60 keV until now. We found large amplitude intra-day variability in all soft and hard bands in all the light curves. The discrete correction function analysis of the light curves in soft and hard bands peaks on zero lag, showing that the emission in hard and soft bands are cospatial and emitted from the same population of leptons. The hardness ratio plots imply that the source is more variable in the harder bands compared to the softer bands. The source is harder-when-brighter, following the general behavior of high synchrotron peak blazars. Power spectral densities of all three light curves are red noise dominated, with a range of power spectra slopes. If one assumes that the emission originates very close to the central super massive black hole, a crude estimate for its mass, of ~ 4 * 10^{8} M_{odot}, can be made; but if the variability is due to perturbations arising there that are advected into the jet and are thus Doppler boosted, substantially higher masses are consistent with the quickest seen variations. We briefly discuss the possible physical mechanisms most likely responsible for the observed flux and spectral variability.
We present an extensive study of 72 archival Chandra light curves of the high-frequency-peaked type blazar Mrk 421, the first strong extragalactic object to be detected at TeV energies. Between 2000 and 2015 Mrk 421 often displayed intraday variability in the 0.3-10.0 keV energy range, as quantified through fractional variability amplitudes that range up to 21.3 per cent. A variability duty cycle of ~84 per cent is present in these data. Variability timescales, with values ranging from 5.5 to 30.5 ks, appear to be present in seven of these observations. Discrete correlation function analyses show positive correlations between the soft (0.3-2.0 keV) and hard (2.0-10.0 keV) X-ray energy bands with zero time lags, indicating that very similar electron populations are responsible for the emission of all the X-rays observed by Chandra. The hardness ratios of this X-ray emission indicate a general harder-when-brighter trend in the spectral behaviour of Mrk 421. Spectral index-flux plots provide model independent indications of the spectral evolution of the source and information on the X-ray emission mechanisms. Brief discussions of theoretical models that are consistent with these observations are given.
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