We perform correlation and periodicity search analyses on long-term multiband light curves of the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 1510−089 observed by the space-based Fermi-Large Area Telescope in γ-rays, the SMARTS and Steward Observatory telescopes in optical and near-infrared (NIR), and the 13.7 m radio telescope in Metsähovi Radio Observatory between 2008 and 2018. The z-transform discrete correlation function method is applied to study the correlation and possible time lags among these multiband light curves. Among all pairs of wavelengths, the γ-ray versus optical/NIR and optical versus NIR correlations show zero time lags; however, both the γ-ray and optical/NIR emissions precede the radio radiation. The generalized Lomb–Scargle periodogram, weighted wavelet z-transform, and REDFIT techniques are employed to investigate the unresolved core emission–dominated 37 GHz light curve and yield evidence for a quasi period around 1540 days, although given the length of the whole data set it cannot be claimed to be significant. We also investigate the optical/NIR color variability and find that this source shows a simple redder-when-brighter behavior over time, even in the low-flux state.
We studied the relation of accretion-jet power and disk luminosity, especially the jet efficiencies and disk radiative efficiencies for different accretion disks as well as black hole (BH) spin, in order to explore the origin of radio emission in black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs). We found that jet efficiency increases more rapidly (efficient) than the nearly constant disk radiative efficiency for thin disk component in high accretion regime, which could account for the steep track () in the observed radio and X-ray luminosity relations (), but the thin disk component may not be able to explain the standard track () in the BHXBs. For hot accretion flows (HAF), the resulting jet efficiency changes along with the large range of accretions from quiescent state to nearly Eddington state, which could account for the standard track in the BHXBs. The BH spin-jet is discussed for the magnetic arrested disk (MAD) state; in this state, the spin-jet power might contribute to a linear correlation between jet power and mass accretion rate for a given source. More accurate observations are required to test the results.
We analyze the jet-disk coupling for different subsamples from a complete hard X-ray Seyfert sample to study the coupling indices and their relation to accretion rate. The results are: (1) the power-law coupling index ranges from nearly unity (linear correlation) for radio loud Seyferts to significantly less than unity for radio quiet ones. This decline trend of coupling index also holds from larger sources to compact ones; (2) the Seyferts with intermediate to high accretion rate (Eddington ratio 0.001 to 0.3) show a linear jet-disk coupling, but it shallows from near to super Eddington ( 0.3 to 10), and the former is more radio loud than the latter; (3) the Seyfert 1s are slightly steeper than the Seyfert 2s, in the jet-disk correlation. In the linear coupling regime, the ratio of jet efficiency to radiative efficiency ( ) is nearly invariant, but in low accretion or super accretion regime, varies with in our model. We note that a radio-active cycle of accretion-dominated active galactic nuclei would be: from a weaker jet-disk coupling in for low luminosity Seyferts, to a linear coupling in for radio-loud luminous Seyferts and powerful radio galaxies/quasars, and to a weaker coupling in ones.
3 March 2026 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
During the last 40–50 yr, the TeV blazar Ton 599 has systematically experienced major outbursts detected in a wide wavelength range from radio to $\gamma$-rays. In this work, we present an analysis of Ton 599 quasi-periodic variability across multiple wavelengths using an observing baseline from 1983 to 2025. The $\gamma$-ray, optical, and radio emissions are found to be highly correlated with time lags $\sim 0$–360 d, which indicates that they are triggered by the same population of particles. Using the Lomb–Scargle periodogram and the Weighted Wavelet Z-transform, we revealed several periodic components with characteristic periods of 1.4, 1.7, 2.3, 6.5, and 7.5 yr. The result is consistent with the detection of periodic components in the 1997–2011 light curves, which means that we observe the same mechanism causing long-term periodic variability. A model of a binary supermassive black hole (SMBH) with a precessing jet, applied to the radio light curves of Ton 599, yields frequency-dependent best-fitting parameters with orbital periods ranging from $\sim$1.2 to 1.7 yr and precession periods from $\sim$5.8 to 7.7 yr. This result implies the existence of an SMBH system modulating emission through both the orbiting and jet precession effects, with differing observed periods possibly reflecting frequency-dependent emission regions along a structured stratified jet. None the less, the short-term periodicity and exceptionally strong flares likely arise from internal jet shocks, which aligns with typical blazar behaviour. We suggest that the multiband quasi-periodicity of Ton 599 is reasonably described by a combination of geometric effects (orbital motion and precession) and stochastic processes.
Two dozens of radio loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have been observed with Urumqi 25 m radio telescope in order to search for intra-day variability (IDV). The target sources are blazars (namely flat spectrum radio quasars and BL Lac objects) which are mostly selected from the observing list of RadioAstron AGN monitoring campaigns. The observations were carried out at 4.8 GHz in two sessions of 8–12 February 2014 and 7–9 March respectively. We report the data reduction and the first results of observations. The results show that the majority of the blazars exhibit IDV in 99.9% confidence level, some of them show quite strong IDV. We find the strong IDV of blazar 1357 + 769 for the first time. The IDV at centimeter-wavelength is believed to be predominately caused by the scintillation of blazar emission through the local interstellar medium in a few hundreds parsecs away from Sun. No significant correlation between the IDV strength and either redshift or Galactic latitude is found in our sample. The IDV timescale along with source structure and brightness temperature analysis will be presented in a forthcoming paper.
This study conducts a comprehensive analysis of brightness and color variability in blazars, utilizing over 6 yr of quasi-simultaneous g -band and r -band data from 1149 sources in the Zwicky Transient Facility Data Release 22 (DR22), including 589 BL Lacs and 560 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs). We quantify the amplitude of variability and the fractional rms variability for each source and statistically assess the overall and short-term color behaviors across different subclasses; examine the distribution of brightness variability characteristics across different blazar types and investigate how the extent of variability correlates with color trends. We found BL Lacs tend to exhibit a bluer when brighter (BWB) trend, while FSRQs display a redder when brighter (RWB) trend; BL Lacs with negligible host-galaxy contamination exhibit a BWB trend fraction of 14.7% (68/462) compared to 2.3% (11/462) for RWB trend, while FSRQs show 8.8% (49/560) BWB trend versus 14.1% (79/560) RWB trend. By statistically investigating how color behavior depends on brightness state across different timescales, we find that brighter states in both BL Lacs and FSRQs are more likely to exhibit BWB trend. Our results also show that BL Lacs with a BWB trend exhibit higher variability than those with a RWB trend, whereas FSRQs with a RWB trend display significantly greater variability than those with a BWB trend. These results suggest that blazar color variability depends jointly on source type, brightness state, and variability amplitude, highlighting the complexity of color evolution in blazars.