Optical R-band variability of seven X-ray-selected BL Lacertae objects

This paper presents the results of optical CCD photometry in the Cousins R band for seven X-ray-selected BL Lacertae objects. Observations have been performed with the 70-cm meniscus telescope of Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory, Georgia. The data obtained provide important information on sources that have been rarely observed in the optical band. The targets show clear long-term variability with time-scales of 1.5–5 yr. The maximum amplitudes are slightly greater than 1 mag. 1ES 0323+022, 0502+675 and 0806+524 show clear non-periodical behaviour. 1ES 1028+511 changes quasi-periodically but further monitoring for periodicity confirmation and period derivation is needed. Overall brightness variation is maximal for 1ES 0647+250 with  Δ R = 1.29  mag. Two-peak maxima, indicating the existence of reverse shocks in blazar jets, are observed for 1ES 0502+675, 0647+250, 0806+524 and 1517+656. The targets do not show intra-night variability. Day-to-day changes with amplitudes of 0.1–0.32 mag coincide mainly with short-term bursts. The latter are seen at faint (quiet) stages as during flaring activities. This fact leads to the suggestion that both hot-spot and shock-in-jet models explaining the origin of short-term bursts should be reasonable.     

Variable synchrotron emission from BL Lacertae objects. II. Optical and X-ray flares in HBL source 1ES 1959+650

This paper presents the results of the optical R band and 1.5–12 keV band X-ray monitoring of the high-energy peaked BL Lacertae source 1ES 1959+650 performed during 2002–2007 with the 70 cm Meniscus Telescope of Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory (Georgia) and the All-Sky Monitor on board the Rossi X-ray Time Explorer, respectively. The observed long- and short-term outbursts are fitted with the lightcurves obtained by means of the modeling of synchrotron flares that are assumed to be the result of a propagation of the relativistic shock waves through the jet of 1ES 1959+650, pointed to the observer. Different values of the input parameters (shock velocity, particles’ spectral index, sizes of emission region, minimum and maximum Lorentz factors of the particles etc.) are used in order to fit the simulated lightcurves whose constructed by means of observational data. This investigation shows that both shock velocity and physical conditions in the jet of 1ES 1959+650 should be variable from flare to flare. The shocks are found to be mildly relativistic with the apparent speeds β=0.46–0.85, expressed in the units of c. Spectral index of the particle energy distribution varied from 2.10 to 2.17 for the long-term flares while it is higher in the case of short-term outbursts: s=2.32–2.45 that is suggested to be a result of the deceleration of shock front during its passage through the shell situated downstream the Mach disc. The average strength of a turbulent magnetic field ranged from 0.025 gauss to 0.04 gauss for different long-term flares while the values of 0.07–0.14 gauss were adopted for the different short-term outbursts. The lengths of variable jet area found to be of 0.13–0.47 pc with the transverse extents of (0.5–1.0)×10¹⁷ cm in the case of long-term flares. The same characteristics for short-term outbursts were (2.74–5.5)×10¹⁶ cm and (0.2–04)×10¹⁷ cm, respectively. We conclude that both shock velocity and properties of pre-shocked plasma were not the same in 1ES 1959+650 for the different flaring epochs.     

Detection of exceptional X-ray spectral variability in the TeV BL Lac 1ES 2344+514

We present the results of six BeppoSAX observations of 1ES 2344+514, five of which were taken within one week. 1ES 2344+514, one of the few known TeV BL Lac objects, was detected by the BeppoSAX Narrow Field Instruments (NFI) in the range 0.1 and ≈50 keV. During the first five closely spaced observations 1ES 2344+514 showed large-amplitude luminosity variability, associated with spectacular spectral changes: in particular, the last observation found the source to be several times fainter, with a much steeper X-ray spectrum . The energy-dependent shape of the light curve and the spectral changes both imply a large frequency shift (by a factor of 30 or more) of the peak of synchrotron emission. At maximum flux the peak was located at, or above, 10 keV, making 1ES 2344+514 the second blazar (after Mrk 501) to have a synchrotron peak in the hard X-ray band. The frequency shift, and the corresponding increase in luminosity, might be caused by the onset of a second synchrotron component extending from the soft to the hard X-ray band where most of the power is emitted. Rapid variability on a time-scale of approximately 5000 s has also been detected when the source was brightest.     

Is very high energy emission from the BL Lac 1ES 0806+524 centrifugally driven?

We investigate the role of centrifugal acceleration of electrons in producing the very high energy (VHE) radiation from the BL Lac object 1ES 0806+524, recently detected by VERITAS. The efficiency of the inverse Compton scattering (ICS) of the accretion disk thermal photons against rotationally accelerated electrons is examined. By studying the dynamics of centrifugally induced outflows and by taking into account a cooling process due to the ICS, we estimate the maximum attainable Lorentz factors of particles and derive corresponding energetic characteristics of the emission. Examining physically reasonable parameters, by considering the narrow interval of inclination angles (0.7–0.95°) of magnetic field lines with respect to the rotation axis, it is shown that the centrifugally accelerated electrons may lead to the observational pattern of the VHE emission, if the density of electrons is in a certain interval.     

CCD photometry of five X-ray selected BL Lacertae objects

We present the results of the monitoring of a sample of 5 HBLs in the B, V and R bands during 2003–2008. All sources in our monitoring project show significant rapid optical variations, except 1ES 1959+650, however; for 1ES 1959+650, the gamma-ray variability on a timescale of ～7 hours has been observed by Holder et al. (Astrophys. J. 583:L9, 2003). Using these variability timescales, we estimate the black hole masses for each source with the Kerr black hole theory.     

Search for Rapid Optical Variability in Three Gamma-Ray Loud Blazars

I present the search for V, R, I rapid optical variability of three gamma-ray loud blazars, 3C 454.3, 1ES 1959+650, 1ES 2344+514, performed at the Loiano telescope. The source 3C 454.3 was observed during the decline of the May 2005 outburst. 3C 454.3 and 1ES 2344$+$514 showed rapid variability in one band at least. The data in this work and archival data support the correlation between the occurrence of rapid variability and the flux variation suggested by Howard et~al., AJ 127, 17 (2004). PACS 98.54.Cm, 95.75.De     

Timing and spectral properties of the X-ray emission from the blazar 1ES 1426+428

Most of the extragalactic sources from which very-high-energy (VHE, E > 10¹¹ eV) gamma-ray fluxes have been detected belong to the category of high-energy peaked BL Lacertae objects (HBLs)—the sources in which the synchrotron radiation peaks in the UV or X-ray band. They often have higher X-ray luminosities than the VHE gamma-ray energy output, which makes them the most valuable objects for studying the characteristic spectral and temporal variations in the region of the synchrotron peak of the spectral energy distribution. The blazar 1ES 1426+428 belonging to this category is a target of many multiwavelength studies, both orbital and ground-based ones. The properties of its X-ray emission have also been investigated using RXTE/PCA, XMM-Newton, and SWIFT observations. Archival PCA/RXTE data with a total exposure time in 2002 and 2004 of ≈120^h and the most recent available background and calibration files have been used. The extracted light curves of 1ES 1426+428 in the 2.9–24 keV energy band have shown an intense flaring activity on various time scales. Analysis of the observational data has also confirmed the spectral hardening with increasing X-ray intensity typical of blazars. The flaring state of the object is also characterized by a flat spectrum, which steepens with decreasing flux. The previously detected evidence of a spectral hysteresis in a separate flare has also been confirmed. Observations of 1ES 1426+428 with the SWIFT/XRT telescope and the EPIC instrument onboard XMM-Newton have revealed several intermediate-intensity flares in the 1.5–12 keV energy band with flux variations reaching a factor of 2, while analysis of the light curves has revealed a correlation between two components of the X-ray emission from the object.     

Photometric variability of four coronally active stars

We present photometric observations of four stars that are optical counterparts of soft X-ray/EUV sources, namely 1ES 0829+15.9, 1ES0920-13.6, 2RE J1 10159+223509 and 1ES 1737+61.2. We have discovered periodic variability in two of the stars, viz., MCC 527 (1ES 0829+15.9; Period = 0 ^d .828 ± 0.0047) and HD 81032 (1ES 0920-13.6; Period = ∼ 57.02 ± 0.560 days). HD 95559 (2RE J1 10159+223509) is found to show a period of 3 ^d . HD 160934 (1ES1737+61.2) also shows photometric variability but needs to be monitored further for finding its period. These stars most likely belong to the class of chromospherically active stars.     

A search for electron cyclotron maser emission from compact binaries

Unipolar induction (UI) is a fundamental physical process, which occurs when a conducting body transverses a magnetic field. It has been suggested that UI is operating in RX J0806+15 and RX J1914+24, which are believed to be ultracompact binaries with orbital periods of 5.4 and 9.6 min, respectively. The UI model predicts that those two sources may be electron cyclotron maser sources at radio wavelengths. Other systems in which UI has been predicted to occur are short period extrasolar terrestrial planets with conducting cores. If UI is present, circularly polarized radio emission is predicted to be emitted. We have searched for this predicted radio emission from short period binaries using the Very Large Array (VLA) and Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). In one epoch, we find evidence for a radio source, coincident in position with the optical position of RX J0806+15. Although we cannot completely exclude that this is a chance alignment between the position of RX J0806+15 and an artefact in the data reduction process, the fact that it was detected at a significance level of 5.8σ and found to be transient suggests that it is more likely that RX J0806+15 is a transient radio source. We find an upper limit on the degree of circular polarization to be ∼50 per cent. The inferred brightness temperature exceeds 10¹⁸ K, which is too high for any known incoherent process, but is consistent with maser emission and UI being the driving mechanism. We did not detect radio emission from ES Cet, RX J1914+24 or Gliese 876.     

Fast optical variability of SS 433

We study the variability of the optical flux from the peculiar Galactic source SS 433 based on observations with the Russian-Turkish 1.5-m telescope. We describe in detail the technique of highquality photometric measurements with a time resolution of 0.3–1 s using an ordinary CCD. Through test observations of nonvariable stars, we show that atmospheric turbulence introduces no significant distortions into the light curves. Therefore, such data are well suited for studying the aperiodic variability of various objects.     

Radio emission from AXP and XDINS

The result of the search for, and the observations of radio emission from two groups of isolated neutron stars: AXP 1E 2259+586 and XDINS 1RXS J1308.6+212708 and 1RXS J214303.7+065419 are reported. The observations were carried out on two sensitive transit radio telescopes at a few frequencies in the range 42–112 MHz. The flux densities, mean pulse profiles, as well as, the estimation of the dispersion measures, distances and integrated radio luminosities of all objects are presented. Comparison with X-ray data shows large differences in the mean pulse widths and luminosities.      

Observations of the rapid variability of the two BL Lac type objects J2005+77 and J2022+76 with the RATAN-600

We report here the results of observations of two BL Lacertae-type objects, J2005+77 and J2022+76, using the RATAN-600 at frequencies 11.2, 7.7, and 4.8 GHz. We found variations of radio emission on timescales of one day and we are the first to discover a variability of this type for J2022+76.We compare our observations with long-term multifrequency radio observations of the same sources performed on RATAN-600 within the framework of other observational programs. We analyze the behaviour of variability of the two sources and provide arguments in favour of the preferred emission generation mechanisms for the objects studied.     

Properties of Stream Interactions at One AU During 1995 – 2004

A stream interaction region (SIR) forms when a fast solar stream overtakes a slow stream, leading to structure that evolves as an SIR moves away from the Sun. Based on Wind (1995 – 2004) and ACE (1998 – 2004) in situ observations, we have conducted a comprehensive survey of SIRs at one AU, including a separate assessment of the longer-lasting corotating interaction regions (CIRs) that recur on more than one solar rotation. In all there are 196 CIRs, accounting for about 54% of the 365 SIRs. The largest proportion of CIRs to SIRs (64%) appears in 1999, and the smallest proportion (49%) is in 2002. Over the ten years, the annual number of SIR events varies little, from 32 up to 45. On average, the occurrence rate of shocks at SIRs at one AU is about 24%. Seventy percent of the SIRs with shocks have only forward shocks, more than twice the percentage of SIRs with only reverse shocks. This preponderance of forward shocks is consistent with the deflections of forward and reverse shocks relative to the ecliptic plane. In order to help address the effect of SIRs and CIRs on geomagnetic activity, we determine the solar-cycle variation of the event duration, scale size, the change in velocity from slow stream to fast stream, and the solar-cycle variation of the maximum magnetic field, peak total perpendicular pressure, and other properties. These statistics also provide a baseline for future studies at other heliocentric distances and for validating heliospheric models. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Spectral observations of blue stellar objects from FBS in the zone δ = +43°

Results of spectral observations of blue stellar objects from the FBS are presented for the purpose of classifying them, discovering new interesting objects, and studying the FBS sample as a whole. 99 FBS objects in the band with central declination δ = +43° were observed on the 2.6-m telescope at the Byurakan Observatory in 1987–1991 and have been digitized using a professional scanner and processed by MIDAS in a way similar to CCD spectra. 12 objects were also observed with the BAO-2.6 and OHP-1.93 telescopes using modern techniques during 1997–2000; some were repeated observations for confirming or correcting the classifications. A new planetary nebula, 7 white dwarfs, 78 hot subdwarfs, 9 HBB stars, and 6 stars in classes F-G were discovered. Proper motions in the range 57–84 mas/year were obtained for three stars (DA, DAB, and sdB). Three stars (a white dwarf and two subdwarfs) are identified with x-ray sources. The spectra of the 30 most interesting objects are given. __________ Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 391–405 (August 2006).     

耀变体光学波段的微光变及能谱变化

耀变体在多个波段的微光变和能谱变化多年来是中外天文观测研究的热点课题.耀变体的微光变于20世纪60年代被发现,20世纪80年代以来发现很多源的微光变具有不同的特性,目前对其物理机制的认识和理论、模型的研究还处于发展阶段.该文总结了7个目前观测最多的耀变体(3C 66A,3C 279,3C 454.3,AO 0235+164,BL Lac,OJ 287,S5 0716+714)在光学波段的微光变和能谱变化的观测历史和最新进展,并对其理论模型作了简单介绍.     

Analysis of λ = 6 cm VLBI polarization observations of a complete sample of northern BL Lacertae objects

The results of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) total intensity ( I ) and linear polarization ( P ) observations at     are presented for 10 radio bright BL Lacertae objects. These images complete first-epoch polarization observations for the 1-Jy sample of northern BL Lacertae objects defined by Kühr & Schmidt. Estimates of superluminal speeds are presented for several sources, bringing the total number of sources in the sample for which such estimates are available to 16. Second-epoch observations currently being reduced should yield speed estimates for VLBI features in essentially all the sources in the sample. The jet magnetic fields of these BL Lacertae objects are usually transverse to the local jet direction, but a sizeable minority (about 30 per cent) have VLBI jet components with longitudinal magnetic fields. This may suggest that the conditions in the VLBI jets of BL Lacertae objects are favourable for the formation of relativistic shocks; alternatively, it may be that the toroidal component of the intrinsic jet magnetic field is characteristically dominant in these sources.     

Progress in spectral studies of the FBS blue stellar objects

Spectral observations of 10 FBS blue stellar objects (BSO) with the OHP 1.93-m and BAO 2.6.m telescopes are reported, and overall progress in all the spectral observations and classifications of FBS BSO over 1987–2000 and in the classification of these objects based on all the accessible sources-- in all, 753 out of 1103 objects-- is discussed. Representative slit spectra for the major types of objects are presented and compared with digitized low dispersion spectra from the DFBS. The nature of the FBS objects is examined in terms of advances in the spectral studies. Two-color diagrams are constructed from the SDSS data and are used to find the regions occupied by the various types for further identification of objects of unknown type. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 85–97 (February 2009).     

High energy neutrinos from the TeV Blazar 1ES 1959 + 650

The AMANDA neutrino telescope has recently reported the detection of high-energy neutrinos spatially and temporally coincident with the flaring of the TeV blazar 1ES 1959 + 650. If high-energy neutrinos are in fact generated by this blazar, it would be the first strong evidence for the hadronic acceleration of cosmic rays. At present, the statistical significance of this observation cannot be reliably assessed, however. In this letter, we investigate whether circumstances exist where the source can produce the flux implied by the coincident events. We show that if the TeV gamma-ray emission observed from 1ES 1959 + 650 or other nearby TeV blazars is the result of accelerated protons interacting with nucleons, it is reasonable that AMANDA could detect several events during a flaring period. Such rates require that the spectral index of the source be rather high (for instance 2.8 for 1ES 1959 + 650) and that the Lorentz factor of the jet be fairly small (Γ  1).     

Observations of AGNs using PACT

We report our observations on 4 AGNs viz, Mkn 421, Mkn 501, 1ES1426+428 and ON231 belonging to a sub-class called blazars. The observations were carried out using the Pachmarhi Array of Cherenkov Telescopes and span about 6 years period from 2000 to 2005. We discuss our methods of analysis adopted to extract the gamma ray signal from cosmic ray background. We present our results on the emission of TeV gamma rays from these objects. Also, we report on the status of the new high altitude experiment, a 7 telescope array at Hanle in the Himalayas at an altitude of about 4200 m above mean sea level for detecting celestial gamma-rays.     

Composite models (shock and photoionization) for the interpretation of AGN spectra

AGN spectra are investigated by comparing model calculations with observations. Line intensity ratios show that the emitting gas is heated by shocks. Therefore, composite models which consistently account for both shocks, accompanying the radial motion of the gaseous clouds, and a photoionizing radiation flux are used. Liners are ambiguous objects between AGN and Starburst galaxies, therefore, power-law or black body radiations are considered in the models, depending on the characteristics of the line spectra. The SUMA code is used.The results show that shocks definitively play an important role, even if a photoionizing flux is generally present. Particularly, the heterogeneous nature of the objects, which are classified as Liners, is confirmed.