Monitoring of the Blazar J0238+1636 with the RATAN-600 and RT-32 in 2014−2019

Abstract

The presented observation results of the blazar J0238+1636 were obtained in: 2014–2019 with the RATAN-600 radio telescope from the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at 2.3, 4.8, 8.2, 11.2, and 21.7 GHz; and 2015–2017 with the 32-m Zelenchuk and Badary radio telescopes of the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences at 4.84 and 8.57 GHz. Two flares were detected on the long-term light curve. The time scale for variability on the rising branch of the first flare is τvar = 0.5 year, and the upper limit for the linear and angular sizes of the emitting region at 21.7 GHz are 0.3 pc and 0.05 mas, respectively. The brightness temperature is Tb ≥ 2.6 × 1013 K, and the Doppler factor is δ ≥ 3. In three sets of the source’s daily observations, which lasted up to three months each, no significant variability on the day-to-day scale was found after subtracting the long-term variability. In the RT-32 data, the intraday variability (IDV) was found at a frequency of 4.84 GHz in three out of 15 sessions and at 8.57 GHz in two out of 13 sessions. The characteristic times for variability are 4−5 hours.