Rapid quasi-periodic oscillations in the relativistic jet of BL Lacertae

S G Jorstad; A P Marscher; C M Raiteri; M Villata; Z R Weaver; H Zhang; L Dong; J L Gómez; M V Perel; S S Savchenko; V M Larionov; D Carosati; W P Chen; O M Kurtanidze; A Marchini; K Matsumoto; F Mortari; P Aceti; J A Acosta-Pulido; T Andreeva; G Apolonio; C Arena; A Arkharov; R Bachev; M Banfi; G Bonnoli; G A Borman; V Bozhilov; M I Carnerero; G Damljanovic; S A Ehgamberdiev; D Elsässer; A Frasca; D Gabellini; T S Grishina; A C Gupta; V A Hagen-Thorn; M K Hallum; M Hart; K Hasuda; F Hemrich; H Y Hsiao; S Ibryamov; T R Irsmambetova; D V Ivanov; M D Joner; G N Kimeridze; S A Klimanov; J Knött; E N Kopatskaya; S O Kurtanidze; A Kurtenkov; T Kuutma; E G Larionova; S Leonini; H C Lin; C Lorey; K Mannheim; G Marino; M Minev; D O Mirzaqulov; D A Morozova; A A Nikiforova; M G Nikolashvili; E Ovcharov; R Papini; T Pursimo; I Rahimov; D Reinhart; T Sakamoto; F Salvaggio; E Semkov; D N Shakhovskoy; L A Sigua; R Steineke; M Stojanovic; A Strigachev; Y V Troitskaya; I S Troitskiy; A Tsai; A Valcheva; A A Vasilyev; O Vince; L Waller; E Zaharieva; R Chatterjee

doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05038-9

Rapid quasi-periodic oscillations in the relativistic jet of BL Lacertae

Nature. 2022 Sep;609(7926):265-268. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05038-9. Epub 2022 Sep 7.

Authors

S G Jorstad^{1

2}, A P Marscher³, C M Raiteri⁴, M Villata⁴, Z R Weaver³, H Zhang^{5

6}, L Dong⁷, J L Gómez⁸, M V Perel⁹, S S Savchenko^{10

11

12}, V M Larionov^{10

12}, D Carosati^{13

14}, W P Chen¹⁵, O M Kurtanidze^{16

17

18}, A Marchini¹⁹, K Matsumoto²⁰, F Mortari²¹, P Aceti^{22

23}, J A Acosta-Pulido²⁴, T Andreeva²⁵, G Apolonio²⁶, C Arena²⁷, A Arkharov¹², R Bachev²⁸, M Banfi²², G Bonnoli^{8

19

29}, G A Borman³⁰, V Bozhilov³¹, M I Carnerero⁴, G Damljanovic³², S A Ehgamberdiev^{33

34}, D Elsässer^{35

36}, A Frasca³⁷, D Gabellini²¹, T S Grishina¹⁰, A C Gupta³⁸, V A Hagen-Thorn¹⁰, M K Hallum³, M Hart³, K Hasuda³⁹, F Hemrich³⁵, H Y Hsiao¹⁵, S Ibryamov⁴⁰, T R Irsmambetova⁴¹, D V Ivanov²⁵, M D Joner²⁶, G N Kimeridze¹⁶, S A Klimanov¹², J Knött³⁵, E N Kopatskaya¹⁰, S O Kurtanidze^{16

18}, A Kurtenkov²⁸, T Kuutma⁴², E G Larionova¹⁰, S Leonini⁴³, H C Lin¹⁵, C Lorey³⁵, K Mannheim^{35

44}, G Marino^{27

45}, M Minev³¹, D O Mirzaqulov³³, D A Morozova¹⁰, A A Nikiforova^{10

12}, M G Nikolashvili^{16

18}, E Ovcharov³¹, R Papini⁴⁵, T Pursimo^{46

47}, I Rahimov²⁵, D Reinhart³⁵, T Sakamoto³⁹, F Salvaggio^{27

45}, E Semkov²⁸, D N Shakhovskoy³⁰, L A Sigua¹⁶, R Steineke³⁵, M Stojanovic³², A Strigachev²⁸, Y V Troitskaya¹⁰, I S Troitskiy¹⁰, A Tsai¹⁵, A Valcheva³¹, A A Vasilyev¹⁰, O Vince³², L Waller³⁵, E Zaharieva³¹, R Chatterjee⁴⁸

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA. jorstad@bu.edu.
² Astronomical Institute, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia. jorstad@bu.edu.
³ Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Torino, Italy.
⁵ NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
⁶ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
⁸ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC), Granada, Spain.
⁹ St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia.
¹⁰ Astronomical Institute, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia.
¹¹ Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhnii Arkhyz, Russia.
¹² Pulkovo Observatory, St. Petersburg, Russia.
¹³ EPT Observatories, Tijarafe, La Palma, Spain.
¹⁴ INAF, TNG Fundación Galileo Galilei, La Palma, Spain.
¹⁵ Graduate Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
¹⁶ Abastumani Observatory, Mt. Kanobili, Abastumani, Georgia.
¹⁷ Engelhardt Astronomical Observatory, Kazan Federal University, Tatarstan, Russia.
¹⁸ Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Landessternwarte, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁹ Astronomical Observatory, Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
²⁰ Astronomical Institute, Osaka Kyoiku University, Kashiwara, Japan.
²¹ Hypatia Observatory, Rimini, Italy.
²² Osservatorio Astronomico Città di Seveso, Seveso, Italy.
²³ Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy.
²⁴ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and Dpto. de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
²⁵ Institute of Applied Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia.
²⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA.
²⁷ Gruppo Astrofili Catanesi (GAC), Catania, Italy.
²⁸ Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
²⁹ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, Italy.
³⁰ Crimean Astrophysical Observatory RAS, Bakhchisaray, Crimea.
³¹ Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Physics, University of Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria.
³² Astronomical Observatory Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
³³ Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
³⁴ National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
³⁵ Hans-Haffner-Sternwarte, Naturwissenschaftliches Labor für Schüler am FKG, Würzburg, Germany.
³⁶ Department of Physics, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany.
³⁷ INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Catania, Italy.
³⁸ Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, India.
³⁹ Department of Physical Sciences, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Shumen, Shumen, Bulgaria.
⁴¹ Sternberg Astronomical Institute, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
⁴² Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón, Teruel, Spain.
⁴³ Montarrenti Observatory, Siena, Italy.
⁴⁴ Lehrstuhl für Astronomie, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
⁴⁵ Wild Boar Remote Observatory, Florence, Italy.
⁴⁶ Nordic Optical Telescope, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
⁴⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.
⁴⁸ Department of Physics, Presidency University, Kolkata, India.

PMID: 36071186
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05038-9

Abstract

Blazars are active galactic nuclei (AGN) with relativistic jets whose non-thermal radiation is extremely variable on various timescales^1-3. This variability seems mostly random, although some quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), implying systematic processes, have been reported in blazars and other AGN. QPOs with timescales of days or hours are especially rare⁴ in AGN and their nature is highly debated, explained by emitting plasma moving helically inside the jet⁵, plasma instabilities^6,7 or orbital motion in an accretion disc^7,8. Here we report results of intense optical and γ-ray flux monitoring of BL Lacertae (BL Lac) during a dramatic outburst in 2020 (ref. ⁹). BL Lac, the prototype of a subclass of blazars¹⁰, is powered by a 1.7 × 10⁸ M_Sun (ref. ¹¹) black hole in an elliptical galaxy (distance = 313 megaparsecs (ref. ¹²)). Our observations show QPOs of optical flux and linear polarization, and γ-ray flux, with cycles as short as approximately 13 h during the highest state of the outburst. The QPO properties match the expectations of current-driven kink instabilities⁶ near a recollimation shock about 5 parsecs (pc) from the black hole in the wake of an apparent superluminal feature moving down the jet. Such a kink is apparent in a microwave Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) image.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding