RAPID INFRARED VARIABILITY OF THREE RADIO-LOUD NARROW-LINE SEYFERT 1 GALAXIES: A VIEW FROM THE WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY EXPLORER

Journal Article · Sat Nov 10 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/759/2/L31· OSTI ID:22078449

Ning, Jiang; Hongyan, Zhou; Tinggui, Wang; Xiaobo, Dong; Peng, Jiang ^[1]; Ho, Luis C ^[2]; Weimin, Yuan ^[3]; Tuo, Ji

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1. Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, University of Science and Technology of China, Chinese Academy of Science, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)
2. The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
3. National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China)

Using newly released data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, we report the discovery of rapid infrared variability in three radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) selected from the 23 sources in the sample of Yuan et al. J0849+5108 and J0948+0022 clearly show intraday variability, while J1505+0326 has a longer measurable timescale within 180 days. Their variability amplitudes, corrected for measurement errors, are {approx}0.1-0.2 mag. The detection of intraday variability restricts the size of the infrared-emitting region to {approx}10{sup -3} pc, significantly smaller than the scale of the torus but consistent with the base of a jet. The three variable sources are exceptionally radio-loud, have the highest radio brightness temperature among the whole sample, and all show detected {gamma}-ray emission in Fermi/LAT observations. Their spectral energy distributions resemble those of low-energy-peaked blazars, with a synchrotron peak around infrared wavelengths. This result strongly confirms the view that at least some radio-loud NLS1s are blazars with a relativistic jet close to our line of sight. The beamed synchrotron emission from the jet contributes significantly to and probably dominates the spectra in the infrared and even optical bands.

• OSTI ID: 22078449
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 759; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
AMPLITUDES
BRIGHTNESS
ENERGY SPECTRA
GALAXIES
GAMMA RADIATION
INFRARED SURVEYS
JETS
PHOTON EMISSION
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
WAVELENGTHS