FLARING BEHAVIOR OF THE QUASAR 3C 454.3 ACROSS THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

Journal Article · Thu May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/715/1/362· OSTI ID:21448749

Jorstad, Svetlana G; Marscher, Alan P; Chatterjee, Ritaban; D'Arcangelo, Francesca D ^[1]; Larionov, Valeri M; Blinov, Dmitry A; Hagen-Thorn, Vladimir A; Konstantinova, Tatiana S; Kopatskaya, Evgenia N ^[2]; Agudo, Ivan; Gomez, Jose L ^[3]; Smith, Paul S ^[4]; Gurwell, Mark ^[5]; Laehteenmaeki, Anne; Tornikoski, Merja ^[6]; Markowitz, Alex ^[7]; Arkharov, Arkadi A ^[8]; Falcone, Abe D ^[9]; Jordan, Brendan ^[10]

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1. Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215 (United States)
2. Astronomical Institute, St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskij Pr. 28, Petrodvorets, 198504 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation)
3. Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC, Apartado 3004, 18080, Granada (Spain)
4. Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065 (United States)
5. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
6. Metsaehovi Radio Observatory, Helsinki University of Technology TKK, Metsaehovintie 114, FIN-02540 Kylmaelae (Finland)
7. Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, M.C. 0424, La Jolla, CA 92093-0424 (United States)
8. Main Astronomical Observatory of RAS, Pulkovskoye shosse, 60, 196140, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation)
9. Deptartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
10. School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute of Advances Studies (Ireland)

We analyze the behavior of the parsec-scale jet of the quasar 3C 454.3 during pronounced flaring in 2005-2008. Three major disturbances propagated down the jet along different trajectories with Lorentz factors {Gamma} > 10. The disturbances show a clear connection with millimeter-wave outbursts, in 2005 May/June, 2007 July, and 2007 December. High-amplitude optical events in the R-band light curve precede peaks of the millimeter-wave outbursts by 15-50 days. Each optical outburst is accompanied by an increase in X-ray activity. We associate the optical outbursts with propagation of the superluminal knots and derive the location of sites of energy dissipation in the form of radiation. The most prominent and long lasting of these, in 2005 May, occurred closer to the black hole, while the outbursts with a shorter duration in 2005 autumn and in 2007 might be connected with the passage of a disturbance through the millimeter-wave core of the jet. The optical outbursts, which coincide with the passage of superluminal radio knots through the core, are accompanied by systematic rotation of the position angle of optical linear polarization. Such rotation appears to be a common feature during the early stages of flares in blazars. We find correlations between optical variations and those at X-ray and {gamma}-ray energies. We conclude that the emergence of a superluminal knot from the core yields a series of optical and high-energy outbursts, and that the millimeter-wave core lies at the end of the jet's acceleration and collimation zone. We infer that the X-ray emission is produced via inverse Compton scattering by relativistic electrons of photons both from within the jet (synchrotron self-Compton) and external to the jet (external Compton, or EC); which one dominates depends on the physical parameters of the jet. A broken power-law model of the {gamma}-ray spectrum reflects a steepening of the synchrotron emission spectrum from near-IR to soft UV wavelengths. We propose that the {gamma}-ray emission is dominated by the EC mechanism, with the sheath of the jet supplying seed photons for {gamma}-ray events that occur near the millimeter-wave core.

• OSTI ID: 21448749
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 715, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/715/1/362; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BLACK HOLES
COMPTON EFFECT
ELECTRONS
EMISSION SPECTRA
ENERGY LOSSES
GAMMA RADIATION
GAMMA SPECTRA
PHOTONS
QUASARS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
X RADIATION
X-RAY GALAXIES
BASIC INTERACTIONS
BOSONS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
ELASTIC SCATTERING
ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERACTIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
FERMIONS
GALAXIES
INTERACTIONS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LEPTONS
LOSSES
MASSLESS PARTICLES
RADIATIONS
SCATTERING
SPECTRA