Characterization of variability in blazar light curves

Abstract

AbstractBlazars represent the dominant population of the extragalactic γ‐ray sources in the universe. These sources exhibit some characteristic properties such as strong and nonthermal continuum emission over the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to Tera electron Volts (TeV) γ‐rays, with rapid variability on all timescales. The emission at radio and optical wavelengths is highly polarized with significant variation. The fastest variability in the blazar emission is observed during the flaring activity, which is an important observational property of blazars. In this paper, we describe various methods to characterize the temporal variability in the multiwavelength light curves of blazars. We also provide a detailed description of the set of statistical parameters that are used to quantify the level of variability present in the time series. Implications of the information derived from the variability study to probe the physics of blazars using multiwavelength observations are also discussed.