COMPREHENSIVE MONITORING OF GAMMA-RAY BRIGHT BLAZARS. I. STATISTICAL STUDY OF OPTICAL, X-RAY, AND GAMMA-RAY SPECTRAL SLOPES

We present [gamma]-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared light curves of 33 [gamma]-ray bright blazars over 4 years that we have been monitoring since 2008 August with multiple optical, ground-based telescopes and the Swift satellite, and augmented by data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Spac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2014-07, Vol.789 (2), p.1-20
Main Authors: Williamson, Karen E, Jorstad, Svetlana G, Marscher, Alan P, Larionov, Valeri M, Smith, Paul S, Agudo, Ivan, ARKHAROV, ARKADY A, Blinov, Dmitry A, Casadio, Carolina, Efimova, Natalia V
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BL LACERTAE OBJECTS
Blazars
DISTRIBUTION
EMISSION
ENERGY SPECTRA
GALAXIES
GAMMA RADIATION
Gamma rays
Monitoring
SATELLITES
Slopes
SPACE
Spectra
Spectral energy distribution
Statistical methods
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
VISIBLE RADIATION
X RADIATION
X-RAY SPECTRA
X-rays
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Summary:We present [gamma]-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared light curves of 33 [gamma]-ray bright blazars over 4 years that we have been monitoring since 2008 August with multiple optical, ground-based telescopes and the Swift satellite, and augmented by data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other publicly available data from Swift. The sample consists of 21 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and 12 BL Lac objects (BL Lacs). We identify quiescent and active states of the sources based on their [gamma]-ray behavior. We derive [gamma]-ray, X-ray, and optical spectral indices, [alpha] sub([gamma]), [alpha] sub(X), and [alpha] sub(0) respectively (F sub(v) [is proportional to] v super([alpha])), and construct spectral energy distributions during quiescent and active states. We analyze the relationships between different special indices, blazar classes, and activity states. We discuss the findings with respect to the relative prominence of different components of high-energy and optical emission as the flux state changes.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/789/2/135