scholarly journals X-ray Spectral Evolution of High Energy Peaked Blazars

Galaxies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Haritma Gaur

The synchrotron hump of the high energy peaked blazars generally lies in the 0.1–10 keV range and such sources show extreme flux and spectral variability in X-ray bands. Various spectral studies showed that the X-ray spectra of high energy peaked blazars are curved and better described by the log-parabolic model. The curvature is attributed to the energy dependent statistical acceleration mechanism. In this work, we review the X-ray spectral studies of high energy peaked blazars. It is found that the log-parabolic model well describes the spectra in a wide energy interval around the peak. The log-parabolic model provides the possibility of investigating the correlation between the spectral parameters derived from it. Therefore, we compiled the studies of correlations between the various parameters derived from the log-parabolic model and their implications to describe the variability mechanism of blazars.

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Pian

AbstractCritical progress in our understanding of high energy emission from AGN has been determined in the last 10 years by X-ray monitoring campaigns with many space missions, notably ROSAT, ASCA, RXTE, BeppoSAX, and XMM, often in conjunction with observations at other frequencies. The emphasis of the present review is on recent findings about X-ray variability of blazars. Among AGN, these exhibit the largest amplitude variations of the X-ray emission, often well correlated with variations at higher energies (GeV and TeV radiation). The accurate sampling of the X-ray spectra over more than three decades in energy, made possible by the wide energy range of BeppoSAX, has also shown strong spectral variability in blazar active states, suggesting extreme electron energies and leading to the identification of a class of ‘extreme synchrotron’ sources.


Galaxies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Kiran A. Wani ◽  
Haritma Gaur

We present the results of timing and spectral analysis of the blazar H 2356-309 using XMM-Newton observations. This blazar is observed during 13 June 2005–24 December 2013 in total nine observations. Five of the observations show moderate flux variability with amplitude 1.7–2.2%. We search for the intra-day variability timescales in these five light curves, but did not find in any of them. The fractional variability amplitude is generally lower in the soft bands than in the hard bands, which is attributed to the energy dependent synchrotron emission. Using the hardness ratio analysis, we search for the X-ray spectral variability along with flux variability in this source. However, we did not find any significant spectral variability on intra-day timescales. We also investigate the X-ray spectral curvature of blazar H 2356-309 and found that six of our observations are well described by the log parabolic model with α = 1.99–2.15 and β = 0.03–0.18. Three of our observations are well described by power law model. The break energy of the X-ray spectra varies between 1.97–2.31 keV. We investigate the correlation between various parameters that are derived from log parabolic model and their implications are discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 1460179
Author(s):  
BIDZINA KAPANADZE ◽  
SERGO KAPANADZE ◽  
MANANA VARDOSANIDZE

The high energy peaked BL Lacertae object PKS 2155-304 has been observed 106-times by the X-ray Telescope onboard the Swift satellite through the 0.3-10 keV band since 2005 November 17. Among these observations, we have revealed 19 cases of the intraday flux variability at 99.9% confidence level with fractional rms amplitudes up to 30% and timescales ranging from 40 ks down to 0.4 ks. Flux changes were often accompanied by a spectral variability which showed a complex character in the presence of both clockwise and counter-clockwise evolution in a hardness ratio-flux plane. These events show rather curved spectra fitted well with the log-parabolic model. The curvature parameter ranged from 0.13 to 0.73 and showed different values for the spectra corresponding to the separate orbits of a single observation. The peak of spectral energy distribution ranged between 1.76 keV and 2.67 keV and generally was variable during the intraday flux changes. The soft and hard X-ray fluxes showed a strong correlation to each other. No correlation between the occurrence of intraday variations and source brightness state was seen — they are found as in flaring as well for intermediate and low states. The X-ray microvariability in PKS 2155-304 can be explained both with the shock-in-jet scenario and emergence of a "blob" of very energetic particles in the jet base.


2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (2) ◽  
pp. 1911-1919
Author(s):  
Fang-Wu Lu ◽  
Quan-Gui Gao ◽  
Li Zhang

ABSTRACT 3C 58 is a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) that shows an interesting energy-dependent nebula extent and spatial variations of the photon index and surface brightness in the X-ray band. These observations provide useful information with which to study the spatially dependent radiative cooling of electrons and the energy-dependent transport mechanisms within the nebula. In this paper, the energy-dependent nebula extent and spatially resolved spectra of this PWN are investigated in the framework of a spatially dependent particle transport model. The observations of the nebula, including the photon spectral energy distribution, spatial variations of the X-ray spectrum, and measurements of the nebula extent, can be naturally explained in this model. Our results show that the energy-dependent nebula extent favours an advection–diffusion scenario with advection-dominated transport, and the variations of the nebula extent with energy in the X-ray band can be attributed to the cooling losses of high-energy electrons affected by synchrotron burn-off. Particle diffusion plays an important role in modifying the spatial variations of the photon index and surface brightness in the X-ray band. The radial extents of the nebula at radio, GeV and TeV energies are predicted by the model, indicating that the nebula extent of 3C 58 varies with energy in these bands. The analyses show that the dependence of the adiabatic cooling rate and synchrotron radiation on the spectral index of injected particles is important for changing the nebula extent at different energies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 494 (4) ◽  
pp. 6012-6029 ◽  
Author(s):  
D J Walton ◽  
C Pinto ◽  
M Nowak ◽  
M Bachetti ◽  
R Sathyaprakash ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present results from the major coordinated X-ray observing programme on the ULX NGC 1313 X-1 performed in 2017, combining XMM–Newton, Chandra, and NuSTAR, focusing on the evolution of the broad-band (∼0.3–30.0 keV) continuum emission. Clear and unusual spectral variability is observed, but this is markedly suppressed above ∼10–15 keV, qualitatively similar to the ULX Holmberg IX X-1. We model the multi-epoch data with two-component accretion disc models designed to approximate super-Eddington accretion, allowing for both a black hole and a neutron star accretor. With regards to the hotter disc component, the data trace out two distinct tracks in the luminosity–temperature plane, with larger emitting radii and lower temperatures seen at higher observed fluxes. Despite this apparent anticorrelation, each of these tracks individually shows a positive luminosity–temperature relation. Both are broadly consistent with L ∝ T4, as expected for blackbody emission with a constant area, and also with L ∝ T2, as may be expected for an advection-dominated disc around a black hole. We consider a variety of possibilities for this unusual behaviour. Scenarios in which the innermost flow is suddenly blocked from view by outer regions of the super-Eddington disc/wind can explain the luminosity–temperature behaviour, but are difficult to reconcile with the lack of strong variability at higher energies, assuming this emission arises from the most compact regions. Instead, we may be seeing evidence for further radial stratification of the accretion flow than is included in the simple models considered, with a combination of winds and advection resulting in the suppressed high-energy variability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 619 ◽  
pp. A114 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. F. Suleimanov ◽  
J. Poutanen ◽  
K. Werner

Some thermonuclear (type I) X-ray bursts at the neutron star surfaces in low-mass X-ray binaries take place during hard persistent states of the systems. Spectral evolution of these bursts is well described by the atmosphere model of a passively cooling neutron star when the burst luminosity is high enough. The observed spectral evolution deviates from the model predictions when the burst luminosity drops below a critical value of 20–70% of the maximum luminosity. The amplitude of the deviations and the critical luminosity correlate with the persistent luminosity, which leads us to suggest that these deviations are induced by the additional heating of the accreted particles. We present a method for computation of the neutron star atmosphere models heated by accreted particles assuming that their energy is released via Coulomb interactions with electrons. We computed the temperature structures and the emergent spectra of the atmospheres of various chemical compositions and investigate the dependence of the results on the velocity of accreted particles, their temperature and the penetration angle. We show that the heated atmosphere develops two different regions. The upper one is the hot (20–100 keV) corona-like surface layer cooled by Compton scattering, and the deeper, almost isothermal optically thick region with a temperature of a few keV. The emergent spectra correspondingly have two components: a blackbody with the temperature close to that of the isothermal region and a hard Comptonized component (a power law with an exponential decay). Their relative contribution depends on the ratio of the energy dissipation rate of the accreted particles to the intrinsic flux from the neutron star surface. These spectra deviate strongly from those of undisturbed, passively cooling neutron star atmospheres, with the main differences being the presence of a high-energy tail and a strong excess in the low-energy part of the spectrum. They also lack the iron absorption edge, which is visible in the spectra of undisturbed low-luminosity atmospheres with solar chemical composition. Using the computed spectra, we obtained the dependences of the dilution and color-correction factors as functions of relative luminosities for pure helium and solar abundance atmospheres. We show that the helium model atmosphere heated by accretion corresponding to 5% of the Eddington luminosity describes well the late stages of the X-ray bursts in 4U 1820−30.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S285) ◽  
pp. 199-206
Author(s):  
Daryl Haggard ◽  
Gregory R. Sivakoff

AbstractModern X-ray observatories yield unique insight into the astrophysical time domain. Each X-ray photon can be assigned an arrival time, an energy and a sky position, yielding sensitive, energy-dependent light curves and enabling time-resolved spectra down to millisecond time-scales. Combining those with multiple views of the same patch of sky (e.g., in the Chandra and XMM-Newton deep fields) so as to extend variability studies over longer baselines, the spectral timing capacity of X-ray observatories then stretch over 10 orders of magnitude at spatial resolutions of arcseconds, and 13 orders of magnitude at spatial resolutions of a degree. A wealth of high-energy time-domain data already exists, and indicates variability on timescales ranging from microseconds to years in a wide variety of objects, including numerous classes of AGN, high-energy phenomena at the Galactic centre, Galactic and extra-Galactic X-ray binaries, supernovæ, gamma-ray bursts, stellar flares, tidal disruption flares, and as-yet unknown X-ray variables. This workshop explored the potential of strategic X-ray surveys to probe a broad range of astrophysical sources and phenomena. Here we present the highlights, with an emphasis on the science topics and mission designs that will drive future discovery in the X-ray time domain.


10.14311/1326 ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Kreykenbohm ◽  
F. Fürst ◽  
L. Barrágan ◽  
J. Wilms ◽  
R. E. Rothschild ◽  
...  

We present a detailed spectral and timing analysis of the High Mass X-ray Binary (HMXB) 4U 1909+07 with INTEGRAL and RXTE. 4U1909+07 is a persistent accreting X-ray pulsar with a period of approximately 605 s. The period changes erratically consistent with a random walk expected for a wind accreting system. INTEGRAL detects the source with an average of 2.4 cps (corresponding to 15mCrab), but sometimes exhibits flaring activity up to 50 cps (i.e. 300mCrab). The strongly energy dependent pulse profile shows a double peaked structure at low energies and only a single narrow peak at energies above 20 keV. The phase averaged spectrum is well described by a powerlaw modified at higher energies by an exponential cutoff and photoelectric absorption at low energies. In addition at 6.4 keV a strong iron fluorescence line and at lower energies a blackbody component are present. We performed phase resolved spectroscopy to study the pulse phase dependence of the spectral parameters: while most spectral parameters are constant within uncertainties, the blackbody normalization and the cutoff folding energy vary strongly with phase.


Galaxies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Pankaj Kushwaha ◽  
Main Pal

We explored the statistical properties of short-term X-ray variability using long-exposure XMM-Newton data during high X-ray variability phases of blazars S5 0716+714 and PKS 2155-304. In general, the hardness ratio shows correlated variations with the source flux state (count rate), but in a few cases, mainly the bright phases, the trend is complex with both correlation and anti-correlation, indicating spectral evolution. Stationarity tests suggest the time series are non-stationarity or have trend stationarity. Except for one, none of the histogram fits resulted in a reduced-χ2∼1 for a normal and log-normal profile but a normal profile is favored in general. On the contrary, the Anderson–Darling test favors log-normal with a test-statistic value lower for log-normal over normal for all the observations, even if out of significance limits. None of the IDs show linear RMS-flux relation. The contrary inferences from different widely used statistical methods indicate that a careful analysis is needed while the complex behavior of count rate with hardness ratio suggests spectral evolution over a few 10 s of kilo-seconds during bright phases of the sources. In these cases, the spectrum extracted from whole observation may not be meaningful for spectral studies and certainly not a true representation of the spectral state of the source.


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