Brett Eric Taylor

THE BRIGHTEST GAMMA-RAY FLARING BLAZAR IN THE SKY: AGILE AND MULTI-WAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF 3C 454.3 DURING 2010 NOVEMBER

Since 2005, the blazar 3C 454.3 has shown remarkable flaring activity at all frequencies, and during the last four years it has exhibited more than one ?-ray flare per year, becoming the most active ?-ray blazar in the sky. We present for the first time the multi-wavelength AGILE, Swift, INTEGRAL, and GASP-WEBT data collected in order to explain the extraordinary ?-ray flare of 3C 454.3 which occurred in 2010 November. On 2010 November 20 (MJD 55520), 3C 454.3 reached a peak flux (E >100?MeV) of Fp ? = (6.8 ? 1.0) ? 10?5?photons cm?2 s?1? on a timescale of about 12 hr, more than a factor of six higher than the flux of the brightest steady ?-ray source, the Vela pulsar, and more than a factor of three brighter than its previous super-flare on 2009 December 2-3. The multi-wavelength data make possible a thorough study of the present event: the comparison with the previous outbursts indicates a close similarity to the one that occurred in 2009. By comparing the broadband emission before, during, and after the ?-ray flare, we find that the radio, optical, and X-ray emission varies within a factor of 2-3, whereas the ?-ray flux by a factor of 10. This remarkable behavior is modeled by an external Compton component driven by a substantial local enhancement of soft seed photons.

XO-5b: A TRANSITING JUPITER-SIZED PLANET WITH A 4 DAY PERIOD

The star XO-5 (GSC 02959?00729, -->V = 12.1, G8 V) hosts a Jupiter-sized, -->Rp = 1.15 ? 0.12 RJ, transiting extrasolar planet, XO-5b, with an orbital period of 4.2 days. The planets mass, -->Mp = 1.15 ? 0.08 MJ, and surface gravity, -->gp = 22 ? 5 m s?2, are large for its orbital period compared to most other transiting planets. However, the deviation from the -->Mp-P relationship for XO-5b is not as large as for GJ 436b, HAT-P-2b, and XO-3b. By coincidence, XO-5 overlies the extreme H I plume that emanates from the interacting galaxy pair NGC 2444/NGC 2445 (Arp 143).

The awakening of BL Lacertae: observations by Fermi, Swift and the GASP-WEBT

Since the launch of the Fermi satellite, BL Lacertae has been moderately active at ?-rays and optical frequencies until 2011 May, when the source started a series of strong flares. The exceptional optical sampling achieved by the GLAST–AGILE Support Program of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope in collaboration with the Steward Observatory allows us to perform a detailed comparison with the daily ?-ray observations by Fermi. Discrete correlation analysis between the optical and ?-ray emission reveals correlation with a time lag of 0 ± 1 d, which suggests cospatiality of the corresponding jet emitting regions. A better definition of the time lag is hindered by the daily gaps in the sampling of the extremely fast flux variations. In general, optical flares present more structure and develop on longer time-scales than corresponding ?-ray flares. Observations at X-rays and at millimetre wavelengths reveal a common trend, which suggests that the region producing the mm and X-ray radiation is located downstream from the optical and ?-ray-emitting zone in the jet. The mean optical degree of polarization slightly decreases over the considered period and in general it is higher when the flux is lower. The optical electric vector polarization angle (EVPA) shows a preferred orientation of about 15°, nearly aligned with the radio core EVPA and mean jet direction. Oscillations around it increase during the 2011–2012 outburst. We investigate the effects of a geometrical interpretation of the long-term flux variability on the polarization. A helical magnetic field model predicts an evolution of the mean polarization that is in reasonable agreement with the observations. These can be fully explained by introducing slight variations in the compression factor in a transverse shock waves model.

Polarization angle swings in blazars: The case of 3C 279

International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy; Universities of Bonn and Cologne; Academy of Finland project [274477]; NASA Fermi GI grant [NNX11AQ03G]; Russian Foundation for Basic Research [13-02-12103, 14-02-31789]; RFBR [12-02-01237a]; UNAM DGAPA-PAPIIT [IN116211-3]; Ramon y Cajal grant of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO); Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain); Regional Government of Andalucia (Spain) [AYA2010-14844, AYA2013-40825-P, P09-FQM-4784]; Fermi Guest Investigator [NNX08AW56G, NNX09AU10G, NNX12AO93G, NNX14AQ58G]; Russian RFBR [15-02-00949]; St. Petersburg University research [6.38.335.2015]; Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation [FR/638/6-320/12, 31/77]

Multiwavelength behaviour of the blazar OJ 248 from radio to γ-rays

We present an analysis of the multiwavelength behaviour of the blazar OJ 248 at z = 0.939 in the period 2006-2013. We use low-energy data (optical, near-infrared, and radio) obtained by 21 observatories participating in the GLAST-AGILE Support Program (GASP) of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT), as well as data from the Swift (optical-UV and X-rays) and Fermi (gamma-rays) satellites, to study flux and spectral variability and correlations among emissions in different bands. We take into account the effect of absorption by the Damped Lyman Alpha intervening system at z = 0.525. Two major outbursts were observed in 2006-2007 and in 2012-2013 at optical and near-IR wavelengths, while in the high-frequency radio light curves prominent radio outbursts are visible peaking at the end of 2010 and beginning of 2013, revealing a complex radio-optical correlation. Cross-correlation analysis suggests a delay of the optical variations after the gamma-ray ones of about a month, which is a peculiar behaviour in blazars. We also analyse optical polarimetric and spectroscopic data. The average polarization percentage P is less than 3 per cent, but it reaches about 19 per cent during the early stage of the 2012-2013 outburst. A vague correlation of P with brightness is observed. There is no preferred electric vector polarisation angle and during the outburst the linear polarization vector shows wide rotations in both directions, suggesting a complex behaviour or structure of the jet and possible turbulence. The analysis of 140 optical spectra acquired at the Steward Observatory reveals a strong Mg II broad emission line with an essentially stable flux of 6.2 e-15 erg cm-2 s-1 and a full width at half-maximum of 2053 km s-1.

The H-band emitting region of the luminous blue variable P Cygni: Spectrophotometry and interferometry of the wind

We present the first high angular resolution observations in the near-infrared H band (1.6 μm) of the luminous blue variable star P Cygni. We obtained six-telescope interferometric observations with the CHARA Array and the MIRC beam combiner. These show that the spatial flux distribution is larger than expected for the stellar photosphere. A two-component model for the star (uniform disk) plus a halo (two-dimensional Gaussian) yields an excellent fit of the observations, and we suggest that the halo corresponds to flux emitted from the base of the stellar wind. This wind component contributes about 45% of the H-band flux and has an angular FWHM = 0.96 mas, compared to the predicted stellar diameter of 0.41 mas. We show several images reconstructed from the interferometric visibilities and closure phases, and they indicate a generally spherical geometry for the wind. We also obtained near-infrared spectrophotometry of P Cygni from which we derive the flux excess compared to a purely photospheric spectral energy distribution. The H-band flux excess matches that from the wind flux fraction derived from the two-component fits to the interferometry. We find evidence of significant near-infrared flux variability over the period from 2006 to 2010 that appears similar to the variations in the Hα emission flux from the wind.

Analyzing polarization swings in 3C 279

Quasar 3C 279 is known to exhibit episodes of optical polarization angle rotation. We present new, well-sampled optical polarization data for 3C 279 and introduce a method to distinguish between random and deterministic electric vector position angle (EVPA) variations. We observe EVPA rotations in both directions with different amplitudes and find that the EVPA variation shows characteristics of both random and determin- istic cases. Our analysis indicates that the EVPA variation is likely dominated by a random process in the low brightness state of the jet and by a deterministic process in the flaring state.

Polarization angle swings in blazars: The case of 3C 279 (Corrigendum)

Over the past few years, several occasions of large, continuous rotations of the electric vector position angle (EVPA) of linearly polarized optical emission from blazars have been reported. These events are often coincident with high energy gamma-ray flares and they have attracted considerable attention, as they could allow one to probe the magnetic field structure in the gamma-ray emitting region of the jet. The flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C279 is one of the most prominent examples showing this behaviour. Our goal is to study the observed EVPA rotations and to distinguish between a stochastic and a deterministic origin of the polarization variability. We have combined multiple data sets of R-band photometry and optical polarimetry measurements of 3C279, yielding exceptionally well-sampled flux density and polarization curves that cover a period of 2008-2012. Several large EVPA rotations are identified in the data. We introduce a quantitative measure for the EVPA curve smoothness, which is then used to test a set of simple random walk polarization variability models against the data. 3C279 shows different polarization variation characteristics during an optical low-flux state and a flaring state. The polarization variation during the flaring state, especially the smooth approx. 360 degrees rotation of the EVPA in mid-2011, is not consistent with the tested stochastic processes. We conclude that during the two different optical flux states, two different processes govern the polarization variation, possibly a stochastic process during the low-brightness state and a deterministic process during the flaring activity.