Photon Index Distribution Research Articles

Systematic Search for and Study of Short-timescale Flare Structures in BL Lac Object Gamma-Ray Emission

We present here the first systematic search of short-timescale γ-ray flares from 29 high Galactic latitude BL Lac objects over 14 yr of Fermi Large Area Telescope data. Using a combined Bayesian Blocks and HOP algorithm, we identified seven high-quality orbital timescale flare segments from three sources and quantified 24 short-timescale flare structures. We then performed a comprehensive analysis of flare symmetry, power spectral density (PSD) of variability, and flux–photon index relation. The main results are as follows. (1) The flare symmetry parameter A shows a “U-shaped” distribution. Short-timescale flares are symmetric while long-timescale flares are asymmetric. The number of fast-rise, slow-decay and slow-rise, fast-decay type flares are equal. No correlation is found between A and peak/integral flux. No parameter evolution is seen between consecutive flares, either. The observations support a scenario where longer-timescale flares originate from the superposition of short, symmetric subhour flares. (2) PSD from yearly to hourly timescales is modeled using the CARMA process. At lower frequencies, the PSD follows the typical broken power-law form. The high-frequency region of the PSD exhibits a continuous power-law shape, indicating that γ-ray variability originates from a single physical process across all probed timescales. (3) The flux–photon index distribution shows a pattern of “harder-when-brighter” or “softer-when-brighter,” but becomes flat above a certain critical flux, with Γ ≈ 2. This behavior cannot be simply explained by a two-component or blazar sequence model, and we speculate it may be related to complex interplay between electron acceleration and cooling.

A Special State Transition in the Blazar OT 081: Implication for the Unified State Transition Paradigm of Different-scale Black Hole Systems

Exploring the similar behavior of black hole systems with different scales will provide insight into the unified physical laws of black hole systems. Here, we report a special spectral state transition process in blazar OT 081, which is driven by a supermassive black hole. Based on the X-ray flux versus photon index distribution, stacked average X-ray spectra, L 2500Å − α ox parameters, and broadband spectral energy distributions, we conducted a pilot study on the spectral state transition for this blazar system. The analysis results suggest that the source transitions through a steady-state point from a strong corona, weak jet unsteady state to a weak corona, strong jet unsteady state. This state transition behavior is similar to that observed in the much smaller Galactic black hole binary systems, providing further observational evidence for the possible existence of a unified state transition paradigm for black hole systems with different scales.

The first look at narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies with eROSITA

We present the first look at the spectral and timing analysis of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) with the extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array (eROSITA) on board the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission. The sample of approximately 1200 NLS1s was obtained via a cross-match between the first eROSITA All-Sky Survey (eRASS1) catalogue and the catalogue of spectroscopically selected NLS1s from the twelfth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR12. The X-ray spectral analysis is based on a simple power-law fit. The photon index distribution has a mean value of about 2.81 ± 0.03, as expected from previous X-ray studies of NLS1s. Interestingly, it is positively skewed, and about 10% of the sources are located in the super-soft tail of photon indices larger than 4. These sources are of further interest as their source counts run into the X-ray background at values at around 1 keV. We argue that ionised outflows have been detected by eROSITA and may account for some of the extreme spectral steepness, which is supported by correlations found between the photon index and optical outflow parameters. We analysed the intrinsic X-ray variability of the eRASS1 to eRASS3 light curves of the sample but do not find significant variability either during the individual survey scans or between them.

Diffuse flux of PeV neutrinos from centrifugally accelerated protons in active galactic nuclei

Evidence for high-energy astrophysical PeV neutrinos has been found in the IceCube experiment from an analysis with 7.5-year (2010–2017) data. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are among the most prominent objects in the universe, and are widely speculated to be emitters of ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic rays with proton domination. Based on the standard two-step LLCD mechanism of particle acceleration, a transformation of energy occurs from AGN's central super-massive black hole (SMBH) rotation to high-energy protons. Protons can be accelerated up to energies and above, and might generate PeV neutrinos in the energy range through plausible hadronic interactions. The theoretically estimated revised extragalactic diffuse muon neutrino flux employing the “luminosity-dependent density evolution (LDDE)” model for the AGN luminosity function (LF) is found consistent with the IceCube level if only a fraction, of the total bolometric luminosity (BL) of AGN is being realizable to power the PeV neutrinos. In the Λ CDM cosmological framework with the LDDE-modeled LF and photon index distribution, about of the total BL is enough to power the IceCube neutrinos.

Cross-match between the Latest Swift-BAT and Fermi-LAT Catalogs

Abstract We report the results of a cross-match study between the hard X-ray and GeV gamma-ray catalogs, by making use of the latest 105 month Swift-Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and 10 yr Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) catalogs, respectively. The spatial cross-matching between the two catalogs results in the matching of 132 point-like sources, including ∼5% of false-match sources. Additionally, 24 sources that have been identified as the same identifications are matched. Among the 75 extended sources in the Fermi-LAT catalog, 31 sources have spatial coincidences with at least one Swift-BAT source inside their extent. All the matched sources consist of blazars (>60%), pulsars and pulsar wind nebulae (∼13%), radio galaxies (∼7%), binaries (∼5%), and others. Compared to the original catalogs, the matched sources are characterized by a double-peaked photon index distribution, higher flux, and larger gamma-ray variability index. This difference arises from the different populations of sources, particularly the large proportion of blazars (i.e., flat-spectrum radio quasar and BL Lac). We also report 13 cross-matched and unidentified sources. The matched sources in this study would be promising in the intermediate energy band between the hard X-ray and GeV gamma-ray observations, that is the unexplored MeV gamma-ray domain.

The most luminous blue quasars at 3.0 < z < 3.3

We present the X-ray analysis of 30 luminous quasars at z ≃ 3.0 − 3.3 with pointed XMM–Newton observations (28–48 ks) originally obtained by our group to test the suitability of active galactic nuclei as standard candles for cosmological studies. The sample was selected in the optical from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 to be representative of the most luminous, intrinsically blue quasar population, and by construction boasts a high degree of homogeneity in terms of optical and UV properties. In the X-rays, only four sources are too faint for a detailed spectral analysis, one of which is formally undetected. Neglecting one more object later found to be radio-loud, the other 25 quasars are, as a whole, the most X-ray luminous ever observed, with rest-frame 2–10 keV luminosities of 0.5 − 7 × 1045 erg s−1. The continuum photon index distribution, centred at Γ ∼ 1.85, is in excellent agreement with those in place at lower redshift, luminosity, and black-hole mass, confirming the universal nature of the X-ray emission mechanism in quasars. Even so, when compared against the well-known LX–LUV correlation, our quasars show an unexpectedly varied behaviour, splitting into two distinct subsets. About two-thirds of the sources are clustered around the relation with a minimal scatter of 0.1 dex, while the remaining one-third appear to be X-ray underluminous by factors of > 3−10. Such a large incidence (≈25%) of X-ray weakness has never been reported in radio-quiet, non-broad absorption line (BAL) quasar samples. Several factors could contribute to enhancing the X-ray weakness fraction among our z ≃ 3 blue quasars, including variability, mild X-ray obscuration, contamination from weak-line quasars, and missed BALs. However, the X-ray weak objects also have, on average, flatter spectra, with no clear evidence of absorption. Indeed, column densities in excess of a few ×1022 cm−2 can be ruled out for most of the sample. We suggest that, at least in some of our X-ray weak quasars, the corona might experience a radiatively inefficient phase due to the presence of a powerful accretion-disc wind, which substantially reduces the accretion rate through the inner disc and therefore also the availability of seed photons for Compton up-scattering. The origin of the deviations from the LX–LUV relation will be further investigated in a series of future studies.

Study of long-term flux and photon index distributions of blazars using RXTE observations

ABSTRACT We present a detailed study of flux and index distributions of three blazars [one flat-spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) and two BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs)] by using 16 yr of Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) archival data. The three blazars were chosen such that their flux and index distributions have sufficient number of data points (≥90) with relatively less uncertainty $\left(\overline{\sigma _{\rm err}^{2}}/\sigma ^{2} < 0.2\right)$ in light curves. Anderson–Darling (AD) test and histogram fitting show that flux distribution of FSRQ 3C 273 is lognormal, while its photon index distribution is Gaussian. This result is consistent with linear Gaussian perturbation in the particle acceleration time-scale, which produces lognormal distribution in flux. However, for two BL Lacs, viz. Mrk 501 and Mrk 421, AD test shows that their flux distributions are neither Gaussian nor lognormal, and their index distributions are non-normal. The histogram fitting of Mrk 501 and Mrk 421 suggests that their flux distributions are more likely to be a bimodal, and their index distributions are double Gaussian. Since, Sinha et al. had shown that Gaussian distribution of index produces a lognormal distribution in flux, double Gaussian distribution of index in Mrk 501 and Mrk 421 indicates that their flux distributions are probably double lognormal. Observation of double lognormal flux distribution with double Gaussian distribution in index reaffirms two flux states hypothesis. Further, the difference observed in the flux distribution of FSRQ (3C 273) and BL Lacs (Mrk 501 and Mrk 421) at X-rays suggests that the low-energy emitting electrons have a single lognormal flux distribution, while the high-energy ones have a double lognormal flux distribution.

A determination of the gamma-ray flux and photon spectral index distributions of blazars from theFermi-LAT 3LAC

We present a determination of the distributions of gamma-ray photon flux – the so-called LogN–LogS relation – and photon spectral index for blazars, based on the third extragalactic source catalogue of the FermiGamma-ray Space Telescope's Large Area Telescope, and considering the photon energy range from 100 MeV to 100 GeV. The data set consists of the 774 blazars in the so-called Clean sample detected with a greater than approximately 7σ detection threshold and located above ±20° Galactic latitude. We use non-parametric methods verified in previous works to reconstruct the intrinsic distributions from the observed ones which account for the data truncations introduced by observational bias and includes the effects of the possible correlation between the flux and photon index. The intrinsic flux distribution can be represented by a broken power law with a high-flux power-law index of −2.43 ± 0.08 and a low-flux power-law index of −1.87 ± 0.10. The intrinsic photon index distribution can be represented by a Gaussian with mean of 2.62 ± 0.05 and width of 0.17 ± 0.02. We also report the intrinsic distributions for the subpopulations of BL Lac and FSRQ (Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar)-type blazars separately and these differ substantially. We then estimate the contribution of FSRQs and BL Lacs to the diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray background radiation. Under the simplistic assumption that the flux distributions probed in this analysis continue to arbitrary low flux, we calculate that the best-fitting contribution of FSRQs is 35 per cent and BL Lacs 17 per cent of the total gamma-ray output of the Universe in this energy range.

FLUX AND PHOTON SPECTRAL INDEX DISTRIBUTIONS OFFERMI-LAT BLAZARS AND CONTRIBUTION TO THE EXTRAGALACTIC GAMMA-RAY BACKGROUND

We present a determination of the distributions of photon spectral index and gamma-ray flux - the so called LogN-LogS relation - for the 352 blazars detected with a greater than approximately seven sigma detection threshold and located above +/- 20 degrees Galactic latitude by the Large Area Telescope of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in its first year catalog. Because the flux detection threshold depends on the photon index, the observed raw distributions do not provide the true LogN-LogS counts or the true distribution of the photon index. We use the non-parametric methods developed by Efron and Petrosian to reconstruct the intrinsic distributions from the observed ones which account for the data truncations introduced by observational bias and includes the effects of the possible correlation between the two variables. We demonstrate the robustness of our procedures using a simulated data set of blazars and then apply these to the real data and find that for the population as a whole the intrinsic flux distribution can be represented by a broken power law with high and low indexes of -2.37 +/- 0.13 and -1.70 +/- 0.26, respectively, and the intrinsic photon index distribution can be represented by a Gaussian with mean of 2.41 +/- 0.13 and width of 0.25 +/- 0.03. We also find the intrinsic distributions for the sub-populations of BL Lac and FSRQs type blazars separately. We then calculate the contribution of Fermi blazars to the diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray background radiation. Under the assumption that the flux distribution of blazars continues to arbitrarily low fluxes, we calculate the best fit contribution of all blazars to the total extragalactic gamma-ray output to be 60%, with a large uncertainty.

An X-ray view of the INTEGRAL/IBIS blazars

Aim of this work is a broad-band study with INTEGRAL, Swift and XMM-Newton satellites of a sample of 9 blazars (7 FSRQ and 2 BL Lac) with redshift up to about 4. The spectral analysis has shown clear evidence of a flattening of the continuum towards the low energies ($E<3$ keV observer frame). This behaviour is well reproduced both with an absorbed power-law model ($N_H\sim10^{20}$-$10^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$ in the rest-frame of the sources) or a broken power-law continuum model (with an energy break below 3 keV in the observer-frame). No Compton reflection features, Fe $K\alpha$ line and hump at high energies, have been detected, with the exception of the source IGR J22517+2218 that shows the presence of a weak iron line. In this work we also investigate a possible correlation between the absorption column density $N_H$ and the red-shift. We confirm the existence of a $N_H$-z trend, with the higher absorption at z$>$2 for a larger sample compared to previous results. The distribution of the $N_H$ and the photon index $\Gamma$ is also presented. The hard X-ray data allow us to detect highly absorbed sources (with $N_H\ge10^{23}$cm$^{-2}$ in rest-frame of the source) characterized by photon index distribution peaked at harder values ($\Gamma\sim1.4$) with respect to that obtained with XMM data only ($\Gamma\sim2$).

SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF BRIGHTFERMI-DETECTED BLAZARS IN THE GAMMA-RAY BAND

The gamma-ray energy spectra of bright blazars of the LAT Bright AGN Sample (LBAS) are investigated using Fermi-LAT data. Spectral properties (hardness, curvature and variability) established using a data set accumulated over 6 months of operation are presented and discussed for different blazar classes and subclasses: Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs), Low-synchrotron peaked BLLacs (LSP-BLLacs), Intermediate-synchrotron peaked BLLacs (ISP-BLLacs) and High-synchrotron peaked BLLacs (HSP-BLLacs). The distribution of photon index (obtained from a power-law fit above 100 MeV) is found to correlate strongly with blazar subclass. The change in spectral index from that averaged over the six month observing period is < 0.2-0.3 when the flux varies by about an order of magnitude, with a tendency toward harder spectra when the flux is brighter for FSRQs and LSP-BLLacs. A strong departure from a single power-law spectrum appears to be a common feature for FSRQs. This feature is also present for some high-luminosity LSP-BLLacs, and a small number of ISP-BLLacs. It is absent in all LBAS HSP-BLLacs. For 3C 454.3 and AO 0235+164, the two brightest FSRQ source and LSP-BLLac source respectively, a broken power law gives the most acceptable of power law, broken power law, and curved forms. The consequences of these findings are discussed.

Global characteristics of GRBs observed with INTEGRAL and the inferred large population of low-luminosity GRBs

INTEGRAL has two sensitive gamma-ray instruments that have detected 46 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) up to July 2007. We present the spectral, spatial, and temporal properties of the bursts in the INTEGRAL GRB catalogue using data from the imager, IBIS, and spectrometer, SPI. Spectral properties of the GRBs are determined using power-law, Band model and quasithermal model fits to the prompt emission. Spectral lags, i.e. the time delay in the arrival of low-energy gamma-rays with respect to high-energy gamma-rays, are measured for 31 of the GRBs. The photon index distribution of power-law fits to the prompt emission spectra is consistent with that obtained by Swift. The peak flux distribution shows that INTEGRAL detects proportionally more weak GRBs than Swift because of its higher sensitivity in a smaller field of view. The all-sky rate of GRBs above ~0.15 ph cm^-2 s^-1 is ~1400 yr^-1 in the fully coded field of view of IBIS. Two groups are identified in the spectral lag distribution, one with short lags <0.75 s (between 25-50 keV and 50-300 keV) and one with long lags >0.75 s. Most of the long-lag GRBs are inferred to have low redshifts because of their long spectral lags, their tendency to have low peak energies and their faint optical and X-ray afterglows. They are mainly observed in the direction of the supergalactic plane with a quadrupole moment of Q=-0.225+/-0.090 and hence reflect the local large-scale structure of the Universe. The rate of long-lag GRBs with inferred low luminosity is ~25% of Type Ib/c supernovae. Some of these bursts could be produced by the collapse of a massive star without a supernova or by a different progenitor, such as the merger of two white dwarfs or a white dwarf with a neutron star or black hole, possibly in the cluster environment without a host galaxy.