BARC/PUB/2016/1381

 
 

Evidence for two lognormal states in multi-wavelength flux variation of FSRQ PKS 1510-089

 
     
 
Author(s)

Kushwaha, P.; Chandra, S.; Misra, R.; Sahayanathan, S.; and others
(ApSD)

Source

Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2016. Vol. 822 (1): Article no. L13

ABSTRACT

We present a systematic characterization of multi-wavelength emission from blazar PKS 1510-089 using wellsampled data at near-infrared (NIR), optical, X-ray, and γ-ray energies. The resulting flux distributions, except at X-rays, show two distinct lognormal profiles corresponding to a high and a low flux level. The dispersions exhibit energy-dependent behavior except in the LAT γ-ray and optical B-band. During the low level flux states, it is higher toward the peak of the spectral energy distribution, with γ-ray being intrinsically more variable followed by IR and then optical, consistent with mainly being a result of varying bulk Lorentz factor. On the other hand, the dispersions during the high state are similar in all bands except the optical B-band, where thermal emission still dominates. The centers of distributions are a factor of ~4 apart, consistent with anticipation from studies of extragalactic γ-ray background with the high state showing a relatively harder mean spectral index compared to the low state.

 
 
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