Research inspects a distant gamma-ray emitting blazar

Tomasz Nowakowski is a member of the physics.org community.

A long-term study of a distant blazar has been performed by an international team of astronomy. The results of the research were published on arXiv.org.

Blazars are members of a larger group of active galaxies that have active AGN. The jets are pointed towards the Earth. Astronomers divide blazars into two classes based on their optical emission properties: flat-spectrum radio quasars that feature prominent and broad optical emission lines, andBL Lacs, which do not.

At an estimated redshift of at least 0.29, 1ES 0647+250 is reported to be a very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emitting object. The source is variable and bright in all the bands.

Significant variability in the optical band has been found by previous observations, but no evidence of short burst variability. The variability of the optical band is still uncertain due to long gaps in the historical light curve.

In order to shed more light on the variability of 1ES 0647+250, a group of astronomer led by the University of La Laguna, Spain analyzed long-term multi wavelength data from various telescopes.

The first long-term multi-wavelength study of 1ES 0647+250 was performed in the paper.

Significant long-term variability can be seen in X-rays and VHE gamma-rays, with an increasing flux in radio, optical, and gamma-ray wavelengths. In other blazars the behavior is compatible with that expected from the conditions of the accretion disk.

The data shows a long-term correlation between the two sources of light. There is a correlation between the radio emission and the optical and gamma-ray bands. The delay suggests that the radio emission is coming from a distinct region of the blazar's jet.

A harder-when-brighter behavior can be seen in the X-ray spectrum of 1ES 0647+250. The redshift of the source was estimated by using the simultaneous GeV and TeV spectrum of the source.

The SED can be described well with both one-component and two-component scenarios according to the analysis done by the authors of the paper.

There is more information about the MAGIC Collaboration. There is a book titled "arxiv.2211.13268."

Journal information: arXiv

There is a science network.

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