We selected a sample of a dozen blazars which are the prime candidates for simultaneous multi-wavelength observing campaigns in their outburst phase. We searched for optical outbursts, intra-day variability (IDV) and short-term variability in these blazars. We carried out optical photometric monitoring of nine of these blazars in 13 observing nights during our observing run of 2006 October 27-2007 March 20 using the 1.02 m optical telescope equipped with CCD detector and BVRI Johnson broadband filters at Yunnan Astronomical Observatory, Kunming, China. From our observations, our data favor the hypothesis that three blazars, AO 0235+164, S5 0716+714, and 3C 279, were in the outburst state; one blazar, 3C 454.3, was in the post-outburst state; three blazars, S2 0109+224, PKS 0735+178, and OJ 287, were in the pre/post-outburst state; one blazar, ON 231, was in the low state; and the state of one blazar, 1ES 2344+514, was not known because there are not many optical data available for the blazar to compare with our observations. We observed densely sampled 1534 image frames of these nine blazars. Out of three nights of observations of AO 0235+164, IDV was detected in two nights. Out of five nights of observations of S5 0716+714, IDV was detected in two nights. In one night of observations of PKS 0735+178, IDV was detected. Out of six nights of observations of 3C 454.3, IDV was detected in three nights. No IDV was detected in S2 0109+224, OJ 287, ON 231, 3C 279, and 1ES 2344+514 in their one, four, one, two, and one nights of observations, respectively. AO 0235+164, S5 0716+714, OJ 287, 3C 279, and 3C 454.3 were observed in more than one night and short-term variations in all these blazars were also noticed. From our observations and the available data, we found that the predicted optical outbursts with time intervals of ~8 years in AO 0235+164 and ~3 years in S5 0716+714 have possibly occurred.

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In an effort to locate the sites of emission at different frequencies and physical processes causing variability in blazar jets, we have obtained high time-resolution observations of BL Lacertae over a wide wavelength range: with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) at 6000–10000 Å with 2 minute cadence; with the Neil Gehrels Swift satellite at optical, UV, and X-ray bands; with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array at hard X-ray bands; with the Fermi Large Area Telescope at γ-ray energies; and with the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope for measurement of the optical flux density and polarization. All light curves are correlated, with similar structure on timescales from hours to days. The shortest timescale of variability at optical frequencies observed with TESS is ∼0.5 hr. The most common timescale is 13 ± 1 hr, comparable with the minimum timescale of X-ray variability, 14.5 hr. The multiwavelength variability properties cannot be explained by a change solely in the Doppler factor of the emitting plasma. The polarization behavior implies that there are both ordered and turbulent components to the magnetic field in the jet. Correlation analysis indicates that the X-ray variations lag behind the γ-ray and optical light curves by up to ∼0.4 day. The timescales of variability, cross-frequency lags, and polarization properties can be explained by turbulent plasma that is energized by a shock in the jet and subsequently loses energy to synchrotron and inverse Compton radiation in a magnetic field of strength ∼3 G.

Blazar S5 0716+714 is well-known for its short-term variability, down to intra-day time-scales. We here present the 2-min cadence optical light curve obtained by the TESS space telescope in 2019 December – 2020 January and analyse the object fast variability with unprecedented sampling. Supporting observations by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope Collaboration in B, V, R, and I bands allow us to investigate the spectral variability during the TESS pointing. The spectral analysis is further extended in frequency to the UV and X-ray bands with data from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. We develop a new method to unveil the shortest optical variability time-scales. This is based on progressive de-trending of the TESS light curve by means of cubic spline interpolations through the binned fluxes, with decreasing time bins. The de-trended light curves are then analysed with classical tools for time-series analysis (periodogram, auto-correlation and structure functions). The results show that below 3 d there are significant characteristic variability time-scales of about 1.7, 0.5, and 0.2 d. Variability on time-scales |$\lesssim 0.2$| d is strongly chromatic and must be ascribed to intrinsic energetic processes involving emitting regions, likely jet sub-structures, with dimension less than about 10⁻³ pc. In contrast, flux changes on time-scales |$\gtrsim 0.5$| d are quasi-achromatic and are probably due to Doppler factor changes of geometric origin.

We present our optical photometric observations of three TeV blazars, PKS 1510−089, PG 1553+113, and Mrk 501, taken using two telescopes in India, one in Bulgaria, one in Greece, and one in Serbia during 2012–2014. These observations covered a total of 95 nights with a total of 202 B filter frames, 247 images in V band, 817 in R band while 229 images were taken in the I filter. This work is focused on multiband flux and colour variability studies of these blazars on diverse time-scales which are useful in understanding the emission mechanisms. We studied the variability characteristics of above three blazars and found all to be active over our entire observational campaigns. We also searched for any correlation between the brightness of the sources and their colour indices. During the times of variability, no significant evidence for the sources to display spectral changes correlated with magnitude was found on time-scales of a few months. We briefly discuss the possible physical mechanisms most likely responsible for the observed flux variability.