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Title: Multifrequency studies of the peculiar quasar 4C + 21.35 during the 2010 flaring activity

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal
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The discovery of rapidly variable Very High Energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) γ-ray emission from 4C +21.35 (PKS 1222+216) by MAGIC on 2010 June 17, triggered by the high activity detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) in high energy (HE; E > 100 MeV) γ-rays, poses intriguing questions on the location of the γ-ray emitting region in this flat spectrum radio quasar. Here, we present multifrequency data of 4C +21.35 collected from centimeter to VHE during 2010 to investigate the properties of this source and discuss a possible emission model. Additionally, the first hint of detection at VHE was observed by MAGIC on 2010 May 3, soon after a γ-ray flare detected by Fermi-LAT that peaked on April 29. The same emission mechanism may therefore be responsible for both the HE and VHE emission during the 2010 flaring episodes. Two optical peaks were detected on 2010 April 20 and June 30, close in time but not simultaneous with the two γ-ray peaks, while no clear connection was observed between the X-ray and γ-ray emission. Furthermore, an increasing flux density was observed in radio and mm bands from the beginning of 2009, in accordance with the increasing γ-ray activity observed by Fermi-LAT, and peaking on 2011 January 27 in the mm regime (230 GHz). We also model the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 4C +21.35 for the two periods of the VHE detection and a quiescent state, using a one-zone model with the emission coming from a very compact region outside the broad line region. The three SEDs can be fit with a combination of synchrotron self-Compton and external Compton emission of seed photons from a dust torus, changing only the electron distribution parameters between the epochs. The fit of the optical/UV part of the spectrum for 2010 April 29 seems to favor an inner disk radius of

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; MEXT; JAXA; K.A. Wallenberg Foundation; Swedish Research Council (SRC); CPAN; Academy of Finland; German Research Foundation (DFG); MNiSzW; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain (MINECO); RFBR; Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation; Generalitat Valenciana
Contributing Organization:
Fermi LAT Collaboration; the MAGIC Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; 745/N-HESS-MAGIC/2010/0; 11-Fermi11-0019; NNX08AW31G; NNX11A043G; AST-0808050; AST-1109911; NNX08AW56G; NNX09AU10G; NNX12AO93G; 12-02-00452; 12-02-3119; 127740
OSTI ID:
1356524
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 786, Issue 2; ISSN 0004-637X
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 24 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

Long-term optical monitoring of TeV emitting blazars: I. Data analysis⋆ journal December 2018
The large gamma-ray flare of the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 0346−27 journal July 2019
Constraining the Physical Conditions in the jets of γ-Ray Flaring Blazars Using Centimeter-Band Polarimetry and Radiative Transfer Simulations. ii. Exploring Parameter Space and Implications journal January 2015
Jet kinematics of the quasar 4C+21.35 from observations with the KaVA very long baseline interferometry array journal April 2019
Kinematics of Parsec-scale Jets of Gamma-Ray Blazars at 43 GHz within the VLBA-BU-BLAZAR Program journal September 2017
Blazar Sheath Illumination of the Outer Molecular Torus: A Resolution of the Seed Photon Problem for the Far-GeV Blazar Flares journal January 2018
Constraining the Physical Conditions in the Jets of Gamma-ray Flaring Blazars using Centimeter-Band Polarimetry and Radiative Transfer Simulations. II. Exploring Parameter Space and Implications text January 2014
Relativistic Jets in Active Galactic Nuclei and Microquasars journal January 2017

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
galaxies: active
gamma rays: general
quasars: general
quasars: individual (4C+21.35)
radiation mechanisms: non-thermal