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Author(s) |
Kushwaha, P.; Sahayanathan, S.; Lekshmi, R.; Singh, K. P.; Bhattacharyya, S.; Bhattacharya, D. (ApSD)
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Source |
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2014. Vol. 442 (1): pp. 131-137 |
ABSTRACT
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The γ-ray
flare of PKS 1222+216, observed in June 2010, is interpreted as an
outcome of jet dynamics at recollimation zone. We obtained the γ-ray light-curves in three different energy bands, namely, 100–300MeV, 300 MeV–1 GeV and 1–3 GeV from observations by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT).We also use the Swift–
XRT flux from 0.3–10 keV obtained from archival data. We supplement
these with the 0.07–0.4 TeV observations with MAGIC telescope, available
in the literature. The detection of source at very high energy (VHE, E
> 100 GeV) with a differential photon spectral index of 2.7 ± 0.3
and the rapid variability associated with it suggests that the emission
arises from a compact region located beyond the broad line emitting
region. The plausible γ-ray emission mechanism can then be inverse
Compton scattering of IR photons from obscuring torus. Further, the
decay time of LAT flare cannot be explained by considering simple
radiative loss mechanisms. Hence, to interpret the LAT light curves, we
develop a model where the broadband emission originates from a compact
region, arising plausibly from the compression of jet matter at the
recollimation zone. The flare is then expressed as an outcome of jet
deceleration probably associated with this focusing effect. Based on
this model, the rise of the LAT flare is attributed to the opening of
emission cone followed by the decay resulting from jet deceleration. The
parameters of the model are further constrained by reproducing the
broadband spectral energy distribution of the source obtained during the
flare episode. Our study suggests that the particle energy density
exceeds magnetic energy density by a large factor which in turn may
cause rapid expansion of the emission region. However, near
equipartition can be achieved towards the end of LAT flare during which
the compact emission region would have expanded to the size of jet
cross-section. |
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