DOI

  • Pankaj Kushwaha
  • Alok C. Gupta
  • Paul J. Wiita
  • Haritma Gaur
  • E. M. de Gouveia Dal Pino
  • Jai Bhagwan
  • O. M. Kurtanidze
  • G. Damljanovic
  • M. Uemura
  • E. Semkov
  • A. Strigachev
  • R. Bachev
  • O. Vince
  • Minfeng Gu
  • Z. Zhang
  • T. Abe
  • A. Agarwal
  • G. A. Borman
  • J. H. Fan
  • J. Hirochi
  • R. Itoh
  • M. Kawabata
  • S. O. Kurtanidze
  • L. V. Larionova
  • A. Mishra
  • T. Nakaoka
  • M. G. Nikolashvili

We present a multiwavelength spectral and temporal analysis of the blazar OJ 287 during its recent activity between 2015 December and 2016 May, showing strong variability in the near-infrared (NIR) to X-ray energies with detection at gamma-ray energies as well. Most of the optical flux variations exhibit strong changes in polarization angle and degree. All the interband time lags are consistent with simultaneous emissions. Interestingly, on days with excellent data coverage in the NIR-UV bands, the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) show signatures of bumps in the visible-UV bands, never seen before in this source. The optical bump can be explained as accretion-disc emission associated with the primary black hole of mass similar to 1.8 x 10(10) M-circle dot while the little bump feature in the optical-UV appears consistent with line emission. Further, the broad-band SEDs extracted during the first flare and during a quiescent period during this span show very different gamma-ray spectra compared to previously observed flare or quiescent spectra. The probable thermal bump in the visible seems to have been clearly present since 2013 May, as found by examining all available NIR-optical observations, and favours the binary supermassive black hole model. The simultaneous multiwavelength variability and relatively weak gamma-ray emission that shows a shift in the SED peak is consistent with gamma-ray emission originating from inverse Compton scattering of photons from the line emission that apparently contributes to the little blue bump.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1145-1156
Number of pages12
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume473
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2018

    Research areas

  • radiation mechanisms: non-thermal, galaxies: active, BL Lacertae objects: individual: OJ 287, galaxies: jets, X-rays: galaxies, gamma-rays: galaxies, ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI, BLACK-HOLE MODEL, OPTICAL OUTBURST, SKY SURVEY, OJ-287, OJ287, TELESCOPE, EMISSION, JET, OSCILLATIONS, Galaxies: active, Gamma-rays: galaxies, Radiation mechanisms: non-thermal, Galaxies: jets

    Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

ID: 16274587