MULTIWAVELENGTH VARIATIONS OF 3C 454.3 DURING THE 2010 NOVEMBER TO 2011 JANUARY OUTBURST
- Space Science Institute, 4750 Walnut Street, Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80301 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215 (United States)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, MS 42, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
We present multiwavelength data of the blazar 3C 454.3 obtained during an extremely bright outburst from 2010 November through 2011 January. These include flux density measurements with the Herschel Space Observatory at five submillimeter-wave and far-infrared bands, the Fermi Large Area Telescope at {gamma}-ray energies, Swift at X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), and optical frequencies, and the Submillimeter Array at 1.3 mm. From this data set, we form a series of 52 spectral energy distributions (SEDs) spanning nearly two months that are unprecedented in time coverage and breadth of frequency. Discrete correlation analysis of the millimeter, far-infrared, and {gamma}-ray light curves show that the variations were essentially simultaneous, indicative of cospatiality of the emission, at these wavebands. In contrast, differences in short-term fluctuations at various wavelengths imply the presence of inhomogeneities in physical conditions across the source. We locate the site of the outburst in the parsec-scale 'core', whose flux density as measured on 7 mm Very Long Baseline Array images increased by 70% during the first five weeks of the outburst. Based on these considerations and guided by the SEDs, we propose a model in which turbulent plasma crosses a conical standing shock in the parsec-scale region of the jet. Here, the high-energy emission in the model is produced by inverse Compton scattering of seed photons supplied by either nonthermal radiation from a Mach disk, thermal emission from hot dust, or (for X-rays) synchrotron radiation from plasma that crosses the standing shock. For the two dates on which we fitted the model SED to the data, the model corresponds very well to the observations at all bands except at X-ray energies, where the spectrum is flatter than observed.
- OSTI ID:
- 22086548
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 758, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
A TIGHT CONNECTION BETWEEN GAMMA-RAY OUTBURSTS AND PARSEC-SCALE JET ACTIVITY IN THE QUASAR 3C 454.3
MULTIWAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF 3C 454.3. II. THE AGILE 2007 DECEMBER CAMPAIGN