PoS - Proceedings of Science
Volume 444 - 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023) - Gamma-ray Astronomy (GA)
Profound optical flares from the relativistic jets of active galactic nuclei
D. Gora*, G. Bhatta, S. Zola, M. Drozdz, D. Reichart, J. Haislip, V. Kouprianov, K. Matsumoto, E. Sonbas, D. Caton, U. Pajdosz-Śmierciak, A. Simon, J. Provencal and G. Stachowski
Full text: pdf
Pre-published on: August 14, 2023
Published on: September 27, 2024
Abstract
Intense outbursts in blazars are among the most extreme phenomena seen in extragalactic objects.
Studying these events can offer important information about the energetic physical processes
taking place within the innermost regions of blazars, which are beyond the resolution of current
instruments. This work presents some of the largest and most rapid flares detected in the optical
band from the sources 3C 279, OJ 49, S4 0954+658, Ton 599, and PG 1553+113, which are mostly
TeV blazars. The source flux increased by nearly ten times within a few weeks, indicating the
violent nature of these events. Such energetic events might originate from magnetohydrodynamical
instabilities near the base of the jets, triggered by processes modulated by the magnetic field of the
accretion disc. We explain the emergence of flares owing to the injection of high-energy particles
by the shock wave passing along the relativistic jets. Alternatively, the flares may have also arisen
due to geometrical effects related to the jets. We discuss both source-intrinsic and source-extrinsic
scenarios as possible explanations for the observed large amplitude flux changes.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/1.444.0966
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