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Register a new userFive-year Monitorings of TeV Blazars with ASCA and RXTE
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We study the temporal/spectral variability of two extragalactic TeV sources, Mrk 421 and Mrk 501, based on 5-year observations with the ASCA and RXTE satellites. We found that the peak of the synchrotron emission exists just in the X-ray band and its position shifted from lower to higher energy when the source became brighter. Relationship between the peak energy and peak luminosity showed quite different behavior in the two sources; Mrk 421 showed very little change in the peak position (0.5-2 keV), while Mrk 501 revealed the largest shift ever observed in blazars (1-100 keV). We analyze these X-ray data with the flux changes in TeV band, which are obtained from 35 truly simultateneous observations. Very different spectral evolution of both objects indicates some differences in the electron acceleration mechanism at work during the flares. We argue that the flux variability of Mrk 421 is associated with an increase in the number of electrons, while the flare of Mrk 501 is mostly due to the large changes in maximum energy of electrons. We also discuss the characteristic temporal variability of TeV sources, and implications for the X-ray emitting site in the relativistic jet.
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We have examined 40 NuSTAR light curves (LCs) of five TeV emitting high synchrotron peaked blazars: 1ES 0229+200, Mrk 421, Mrk 501, 1ES 1959+650 and PKS 2155-304. Four of the blazars showed intraday variability in the NuSTAR energy range of 3-79 keV. Using an auto correlation function analysis we searched for intraday variability timescales in these LCs and found indications of several between 2.5 and 32.8 ks in eight LCs of Mrk 421, a timescale around 8.0 ks for one LC of Mrk 501, and timescales of 29.6 ks and 57.4 ks in two LCs of PKS 2155-304. The other two blazars LCs do not show any evidence for intraday variability timescales shorter than the lengths of those observations, however, the data was both sparser and noisier, for them. We found positive correlations with zero lag between soft (3-10 keV) and hard (10-79 keV) bands for most of the LCs, indicating that their emissions originate from the same electron population. We examined spectral variability using a hardness ratio analysis and noticed a general harder-when-brighter behavior. The 22 LCs of Mrk 421 observed between July 2012 and April 2013 show that this source was in a quiescent state for an extended period of time and then underwent an unprecedented double peaked outburst while monitored on a daily basis during 10 - 16 April 2013. We briefly discuss models capable of explaining these blazar emissions.
We present detailed spectral and temporal characteristics both in the hard X-ray (>10 keV) and soft X-ray (<10 keV) domains, obtained using data from INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton, ASCA and RXTE. The INTEGRAL time-averaged total spectrum shows a power-law like shape with photon index Gamma = 0.93 +/- 0.06. 4U 0142+61 is detected up to 229 keV and the flux between 20 keV and 229 keV is (15.01 +/- 0.82) x 10^(-11) erg/cm^2/s. Using simultaneously collected data with the spectrometer SPI of INTEGRAL the combined total spectrum yields the first evidence for a spectral break with a peak energy of 228 +65/-41 keV. There is no evidence for significant long-term time variability of the total emission. Pulsed emission is measured with ISGRI up to 160 keV. The 20-160 keV profile shows a broad double-peaked pulse with a 6.2 sigma detection significance. The total pulsed spectrum can be described with a very hard power-law shape with a photon index Gamma = 0.40 +/- 0.15. We performed phase-resolved spectroscopy over the total high-energy band (2.8-300 keV) and identify at least three genuinely different pulse components with different spectra. The high level of consistency between the detailed results from the four missions is indicative for a remarkable stable geometry underlying the emission scenario.
Results from recent multiwavelength observations of blazars are reviewed, with particular emphasis on those involving the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). I discuss blazars spectral energy distributions, their correlated variability at various energies, and the insights they offer on the physical processes in the jet. New results on Mrk 501, PKS 2155--304, and PKS 2005--489 are highlighted.
We present simultaneous observations by EUVE, ASCA, and RXTE of the type~1 Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548. These data indicate that variations in the EUV emission (at $sim 0.2 $keV) appear to lead similar modulations in higher energy ($ga 1 $keV) X-rays by $sim$10--30 ks. This is contrary to popular models which attribute the correlated variability of the EUV, UV and optical emission in type~1 Seyferts to reprocessing of higher energy radiation. This behavior instead suggests that the variability of the optical through EUV emission is an important driver for the variability of the harder X-rays which are likely produced by thermal Comptonization. We also investigate the spectral characteristics of the fluorescent iron K$alpha$ line and Compton reflection emission. In contrast to prior measurements of these spectral features, we find that the iron K$alpha$ line has a relatively small equivalent width ($W_{Kalpha} sim 100 $eV) and that the reflection component is consistent with a covering factor which is significantly less than unity ($Omega/2pi sim 0.4$--0.5). Notably, although the 2--10 keV X-ray flux varies by $sim pm 25$% and the derived reflection fraction appears to be constant throughout our observations, the flux in the Fe~K$alpha$ line is also constant. This behavior is difficult to reconcile in the context of standard Compton reflection models.
The recently completed High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory has been taking data with a partial array for more than one year and is now operating with >95% duty cycle in its full configuration. With an instantaneous field of view of 2 sr, two-thirds of the sky is surveyed every day at gamma-ray energies between approximately 100 GeV and 100 TeV. Any source location in the field of view can be monitored each day, with an exposure of up to $sim$ 6 hours. These unprecedented observational capabilities allow us to continuously scan the highly variable extra-galactic gamma-ray sky. By monitoring the flaring behavior of Active Galactic Nuclei we aim to significantly increase the observational data base for characterizing particle acceleration mechanisms in these sources and for studying cosmological properties like the extra-galactic background light. In this work we present first studies of data taken between June 2013 and July 2014 with a partial array configuration. Flux light curves, binned in week-long intervals, for the TeV-emitting blazars Markarian 421 and 501 are discussed with respect to indications of flaring states and we highlight coincident multi-wavelength observations. Results for both sources show indications of gamma-ray flare observations and demonstrate that a water Cherenkov detector can monitor TeV-scale variability of extra-galactic sources on weekly time scales. The analysis methods presented here can provide daily flux measurements with a minimum time interval of one transit and will be applied to new data from the completed HAWC array for monitoring of blazars and other transients.
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