Statistical properties of flux variations in blazar light curves at GeV and TeV energies
Wagner SM, Burd PR, Dorner D, Mannheim K, Buson S, Gokus A, Madejski G, Scargle JD, Arbet-Engels A, Baack D, Balbo M, Biederbeck N, Biland A, Bretz T, Buss J, Elsaesser D, Eisenberger L, Hildebrand D, Iotov R, Kalenski A, Neise D, Noethe M, Paravac A, Rhode W, Schleicher B, Sliusar V, Walter R (2022)
Publication Type: Conference contribution
Publication year: 2022
Journal
Publisher: Sissa Medialab Srl
Book Volume: 395
Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings of Science
Event location: Berlin
Abstract
Despite numerous detections of individual flares, the physical origin of the rapid variability observed from blazars remains uncertain. Using Bayesian blocks and the Eisenstein-Hut HOP algorithm, we characterize flux variations of high significance in the γ-ray light curves of two samples of blazars. Daily binned long-term light curves of TeV-bright blazars observed with the First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) are compared to those of GeV-bright blazars observed with the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi-LAT). We find no evidence for systematic asymmetry of the flux variations based on the derived rise and decay time scales. Additionally, we show that the daily-binned blazar light curves can be described by an exponential stochastic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process with parameters depending on energy. Our analysis suggests that the flux variability in both samples is a superposition of faster fluctuations. This is, for instance, challenging to explain by shock-acceleration but expected for magnetic reconnection.
Authors with CRIS profile
Involved external institutions
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Germany (DE)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
United States (USA) (US)
University of Geneva / Université de Genève (UNIGE)
Switzerland (CH)
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
Switzerland (CH)
Technische Universität Dortmund
Germany (DE)
Stanford University
United States (USA) (US)
Germany (DE)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
United States (USA) (US)
University of Geneva / Université de Genève (UNIGE)
Switzerland (CH)
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
Switzerland (CH)
Technische Universität Dortmund
Germany (DE)
Stanford University
United States (USA) (US)
How to cite
APA:
Wagner, S.M., Burd, P.R., Dorner, D., Mannheim, K., Buson, S., Gokus, A.,... Walter, R. (2022). Statistical properties of flux variations in blazar light curves at GeV and TeV energies. In Proceedings of Science. Berlin, DE: Sissa Medialab Srl.
MLA:
Wagner, Sarah M., et al. "Statistical properties of flux variations in blazar light curves at GeV and TeV energies." Proceedings of the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2021, Berlin Sissa Medialab Srl, 2022.
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