We have examined 13 pointed observations of the TeV-emitting high synchrotron peak blazar PKS 2155−304, taken by the Suzaku satellite throughout its operational period. We found that the blazar showed large-amplitude intraday variabilities in the soft (0.8–1.5 keV) and the hard (1.5–8.0 keV) bands in the light curves. Spectral variability on intraday timescales is estimated using the hardness ratio. The blazar usually becomes harder when brighter and vice versa, following the typical behavior of high synchrotron peak blazars. The power spectral density analyses of 11 out of 13 light curves in the total energy (0.8–8.0 keV) are found to be dominated by red noise, with power-law spectral indices that span a large range, from −2.81 to −0.88. Discrete correlation function analyses of all the 13 light curves between the soft and the hard bands show that they are well correlated and peak at, or very close to, zero lag. This indicates that the emissions in soft and hard bands are probably cospatial and emitted from the same population of leptons. Considering fluxes versus variability timescales, we found no correlation on intraday timescales, implying that X-ray emission from PKS 2155−304 is not dominated by simple changes in the Doppler factor. We briefly discuss the most likely emission mechanisms responsible for the observed flux and spectral variabilities and place constraints on magnetic field strength and Lorentz factors of the electrons emitting the X-rays in the most likely scenario.

We present X-ray flux and spectral analyses of the three pointed Suzaku observations of the TeV high synchrotron peak blazar Mrk 421 taken throughout its complete operational duration. The observation taken on 2008 May 5 is, at 364.6 ks (i.e., 101.3 hr), the longest and most evenly sampled continuous observation of this source, or any blazar, in the X-ray energy 0.8–60 keV until now. We found large amplitude intraday variability in all soft and hard bands in all the light curves. The discrete correction function analysis of the light curves in soft and hard bands peaks on zero lag, showing that the emission in hard and soft bands are cospatial and emitted from the same population of leptons. The hardness ratio plots imply that the source is more variable in the harder bands compared to the softer bands. The source is harder when brighter, following the general behavior of high synchrotron peak blazars. Power spectral densities of all three light curves are red noise dominated, with a range of power spectra slopes. If one assumes that the emission originates very close to the central super massive black hole, a crude estimate for its mass, of ∼4 × 10⁸ M _⊙, can be made; but if the variability is due to perturbations arising there that are advected into the jet and are thus Doppler boosted, substantially higher masses are consistent with the quickest seen variations. We briefly discuss the possible physical mechanisms most likely responsible for the observed flux and spectral variability.

Highly variable Markarian 421 is a bright high–synchrotron energy peaked blazar showing a wide featureless nonthermal spectrum, making it a good candidate for our study of intraday flux and spectral variations over time. We analyze its X-ray observations over 17 yr, taken with the EPIC-pn instrument, to probe into the intraday variability properties, focusing on the photon energy band of 0.3–10.0 keV, and its soft (0.3–2.0 keV) and hard (2.0–10.0 keV) subbands. To examine the flux variability, fractional variability amplitudes and minimum variability timescales have been calculated. We also probed into the spectral variability by studying the hardness ratio for each observation, the correlation between the two energy bands, using the discrete correlation function, and inspecting the normalized light curves. The parameters obtained from these methods were studied for any correlations or nonrandom trends. From this work, we speculate on the constraints on the possible particle acceleration and emission processes in the jet, for a better understanding of the processes involving turbulent behavior, except for shocks. A positive discrete correlation function between the two subbands indicates the role of the same electron population in the emission of photons in the two bands. A correlation between the parameter of flux variability and the parameters of spectral variation and lags in the subenergy bands provides the constraints to be considered for any modeling of emission processes.

We study the optical flux and polarization variability of the binary black hole blazar OJ 287 using quasi-simultaneous observations from 2015 to 2023 carried out using telescopes in the USA, Japan, Russia, Crimea, and Bulgaria. This is one of the most extensive quasi-simultaneous optical flux and polarization variability studies of OJ 287. OJ 287 showed large amplitude, ∼3.0 mag flux variability, large changes of ∼37% in degree of polarization, and a large swing of ∼215° in the angle of the electric vector of polarization. During the period of observation, several flares in flux were detected. Those flares are correlated with a rapid increase in the degree of polarization and swings in electric vector of polarization angle. A peculiar behavior of anticorrelation between flux and polarization degree, accompanied by a nearly constant polarization angle, was detected from JD 2,458,156 to JD 2,458,292. We briefly discuss some explanations for the flux and polarization variations observed in OJ 287.

We present an extensive recent multiband optical photometric observations of the blazar S5 0716+714 carried out over 53 nights with two telescopes in India, two in Bulgaria, one in Serbia, and one in Egypt during 2019 November – 2022 December. We collected 1401, 689, 14726, and 165 photometric image frames in B, V, R, and I bands, respectively. We monitored the blazar quasi-simultaneously during three nights in B, V, R, and I bands; four nights in B, V, and R; two nights in V, R, and I; five nights in B and R; and two nights in V and R bands. We also took 37 nights of data only in R band. Single band data are used to study intraday flux variability and two or more bands quasi-simultaneous observations allow us to search for colour variation in the source. We employ the power-enhanced F-test and the nested ANOVA test to search for genuine flux and colour variations in the light curves of the blazar on intraday time-scales. Out of 12, 11, 53, and 5 nights observations, intraday variations with amplitudes between ∼3 and ∼20 per cent are detected in 9, 8, 31 and 3 nights in B, V, R, and I bands, respectively, corresponding to duty cycles of 75, 73, 58, and 60 per cent. These duty cycles are lower than those typically measured at earlier times. On these time-scales colour variations with both bluer-when-brighter and redder-when-brighter are seen, though nights with no measurable colour variation are also present. We briefly discuss possible explanations for this observed intraday variability.

We present X-ray intraday variability and power spectral density (PSD) analyses of the longest 23 pointed XMM–Newton observations of the blazar 3C 273 that were taken during 2000–2021. These good time intervals contain between 5 and 24.6 h of data. Variability has been estimated in three energy bands: 0.2–2 keV (soft), 2–10 keV (hard), and 0.2–10 keV (total). 9 of the 23 observations exhibited some variability, though no major variations exceeding 5 per cent were detected. Typical time-scales for variability were ∼1 ks. For those variable light curves, we find that a power-law model provides good fits to each PSD, with most of the slopes between −1.7 and −2.8. Although no variations of hardness ratio (HR) could be measured in any individual observation, an anticorrelation in flux and HR is found in long term data that indicates a harder when brighter trend. Our flux and spectral analyses indicate that both particle acceleration and synchrotron cooling processes make an important contribution to the emission from this blazar.