Abstract
We study flux and spectral variability of the high energy peaked TeV blazar PG 1553 + 113 on diverse timescales using the data collected from 2005 to 2019 which also includes the intensive intra-night monitoring of the target. Additionally, we recorded the brightest flare of the blazar PG 1553 + 113 during April 2019 when the source attained an R-band magnitude of 13.2. Analyzing the spectral evolution of the source during the flare gave a clockwise spectral hysteresis loop and a time lag with V-band variations leading to the R-band ones. Various statistical tests, fitting procedures and cross-correlation techniques are applied to search for periodicity and examine the color-magnitude relationship. We find a median period of (2.21 ± 0.04) years along with the secondary period of about 210 days. Finally, we briefly discuss various physical mechanisms which are capable of explaining our findings.
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Acknowledgments
BM is supported by the Bulgarian National Science Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science under grant DN 18/13-2017. SZ acknowledges NCN grant No. 1028/29/B/ST9/01793. We thank TUBITAK National Observatory for partial support in using T60 and T100 telescopes with project numbers 1505 and 1486, respectively. AO was supported by the Scientific Research Project Coordination Unit of Ataturk University, Project ID 8418. Data from the Steward Observatory spectropolarimetric monitoring project were used. This program is supported by Fermi Guest Investigator grants NNX08AW56G, NNX09AU10G, NNX12AO93G and NNX15AU81G. Based on observations obtained with the Samuel Oschin 48-inch Telescope at the Palomar Observatory as part of the Zwicky Transient Facility project. ZTF is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-1440341 and collaboration including Caltech, IPAC, the Weizmann Institute for Science, the Oskar Klein Center at Stockholm University, the University of Maryland, the University of Washington, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron and Humboldt University, Los Alamos National Laboratories, the TANGO Consortium of Taiwan, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. Operations are conducted by COO, IPAC and UW. The iPTF project is a scientific collaboration between Caltech; Los Alamos National Laboratory; the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; the Oskar Klein Centre in Sweden; the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel; the TANGO Program of the University System of Taiwan; and the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe in Japan. The CSS survey is funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNG05GF22G was issued through the Science Mission Directorate Near-Earth Objects Observations Program. The CRTS survey is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grants AST-0909182. Based on data acquired at Complejo Astronómico El Leoncito, operated under agreement between the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la República Argentina and the National Universities of La Plata, Córdoba and San Juan (proposals JS-2019A-10, JS-2019A-16, HSH-2018B-03 and Staff time).
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This article is part of the Special Issue on “Astrophysical Jets and Observational Facilities: A National Perspective”.
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Agarwal, A., Mihov, B., Andruchow, I. et al. Optical flux and spectral characterization of the blazar PG 1553 + 113 based on the past 15 years of data. J Astrophys Astron 43, 9 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12036-021-09793-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12036-021-09793-5