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Introduction
All aspects of AGN/blazar physics through statistical analysis of multiwavelength (GHz-band radio to VHE gamma-rays) light curves using well-posted statistical methods/optical polarization/modeling of broad-band blazar emission. AGN jet physics using radio galaxies.
Additional affiliations
May 2019 - present
Publications
Publications (74)
We present the results of our power spectral analysis for the BL Lac object PKS 0735+178 utilizing the Fermi-LAT survey at high-energy $\gamma$-rays, several ground-based optical telescopes, and single-dish radio telescopes operating at GHz frequencies. The novelty of our approach is that, by combining long-term and densely sampled intra-night ligh...
We present the results of our power spectral analysis for the BL Lac object OJ 287, utilizing the Fermi-LAT survey at high-energy gamma-rays, the Swift-XRT data in X-rays, several ground-based telescopes and the Kepler satellite in optical, and single-dish GHz-band radio telescopes. The multiwavelength light curves of the source are modeled in term...
We present the results of the power spectral density (PSD) analysis for the blazars Mrk\,421 and PKS\,2155$-$304, using good-quality, densely sampled light curves at multiple frequencies, covering 17 decades of the electromagnetic spectrum, and variability timescales from weeks up to a decade. The data were collected from publicly available archive...
We present the results of variability power spectral density (PSD) analysis using multiwavelength radio to GeV\,$\gamma$-ray light curves covering decades/years to days/minutes timescales for the blazars 3C\,279 and PKS\,1510$-$089. The PSDs are modeled as single power-laws, and the best-fit spectral shape is derived using the `power spectral respo...
We report the first results of a systematic investigation to characterize blazar variability power spectral densities (PSDs) at optical frequencies using densely sampled (5--15 minutes integration time), high photometric accuracy ($\lesssim$0.2--0.5\%) R-band intranight light curves, covering timescales ranging from several hours to $\sim$15\,minut...
We characterize the optical variability properties of eight lobe-dominated radio quasars (QSOs): B2 0709+37, FBQS J095206.3+235245, PG 1004+130, [HB89] 1156+631, [HB89] 1425+267, [HB89] 1503+691, [HB89] 1721+343, and 4C +74.26, systematically monitored for a duration of 13 yr since 2009. The quasars are radio-loud objects with extended radio lobes...
We present a detailed analysis of 11 local luminous infrared galaxies from ultraviolet through far-infrared to radio (∼70 MHz to ∼15 GHz) bands. We derive the astrophysical properties through spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling using the Code Investigating GALaxy Emission (CIGALE) and UltraNest codes. The radio SEDs include our new observat...
We characterize the optical variability properties of eight lobe-dominated radio quasars (QSOs): B2 0709$+$37, FBQS J095206.3$+$235245, PG 1004$+$130, [HB89] 1156$+$631, [HB89] 1425$+$267, [HB89] 1503$+$691, [HB89] 1721$+$343, 4C $+$74.26, systematically monitored for a duration of 13 years since 2009. The quasars are radio-loud objects with extend...
We present the detailed analysis of 11 local luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) from ultraviolet through far-infrared to radio ($\sim$70 MHz to $\sim$15 GHz) bands. We derive the astrophysical properties through spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling using the Code Investigating GALaxy Emission (CIGALE) and UltraNest codes. The radio SEDs incl...
We present the results of variability power spectral density (PSD) analysis using multiwavelength radio to GeV γ -ray light curves covering timescales of decades/years to days/minutes for the blazars 3C 279 and PKS 1510−089. The PSDs are modeled as single power laws, and the best-fit spectral shape is derived using the “power spectral response” met...
Basing our analysis on ROGUE I, a catalog of over 32,000 radio sources associated with optical galaxies, we provide two diagnostics to select the galaxies where the radio emission is dominated by an active galactic nucleus (AGN), referred to in the paper as radio-AGNs. Each of these diagnostics can be applied independently. The first one, dubbed MI...
We report the first results of a systematic investigation to characterize blazar variability power spectral densities (PSDs) at optical frequencies using densely sampled (5–15 minutes of integration time), high photometric accuracy (≲0.2%–0.5%) R -band intranight light curves, covering timescales ranging from several hours to ∼15 minutes. Our sampl...
Basing our analysis on ROGUE I, a catalog of over 32,000 radio sources associated with optical galaxies, we provide two diagnostics to select the galaxies where the radio emission is due to an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Each of these diagnostics can be applied independently. The first one, dubbed MIRAD, compares the flux $F_{W3}$ in the $W3$ mi...
We present the source associations, cross-identifications, and multi-wavelength properties of the faint radio source population detected in the deep tier of the LOFAR Two Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS): the LoTSS Deep Fields. The first LoTSS Deep Fields data release consists of deep radio imaging at 150~MHz of the ELAIS-N1, Lockman Hole, and Bo\"{o}tes f...
We present the results of the power spectral density (PSD) analysis for the blazars Mrk 421 and PKS 2155−304, using good-quality, densely sampled light curves at multiple frequencies, covering 17 decades of the electromagnetic spectrum, and variability time-scales from weeks up to a decade. The data were collected from publicly available archives o...
We present the catalogue of Radio sources associated with Optical Galaxies and having Unresolved or Extended morphologies I (ROGUE I). It was generated by cross-matching galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR 7) as well as radio sources from the First Images of Radio Sky at Twenty Centimetre (FIRST) and the National Radi...
We present the results of flux density, spectral index, and polarization intra-night monitoring studies of a sample of eight optically bright blazars, carried out by employing several small to moderate aperture (0.4 to 1.5 m diameter) telescopes fitted with CCDs and polarimeters located in Europe, India, and Japan. The duty cycle of flux variabilit...
We present the catalog of Radio sources associated with Optical Galaxies and having Unresolved or Extended morphologies I (ROGUE~I), consisting of 32,616 spectroscopically selected galaxies. It is the largest handmade catalog of this kind, obtained by cross-matching galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 and radio sources...
We present the results of flux density, spectral index, and polarization intra-night monitoring studies of a sample of eight optically bright blazars, carried out by employing several small to moderate aperture (0.4\,m to 1.5\,m diameter) telescopes fitted with CCDs and polarimeters located in Europe, India, and Japan. The duty cycle of flux variab...
We present the catalogue of Radio sources associated with Optical Galaxies and having Unresolved or Extended morphologies I (ROGUE I). It was generated by cross-matching galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR 7) as well as radio sources from the First Images of Radio Sky at Twenty Centimetre (FIRST) and the National Radi...
We report on a recent multiband optical photometric and polarimetric observational campaign of the blazar OJ 287 that was carried out during 2016 September-2017 December. We employed nine telescopes in Bulgaria, China, Georgia, Japan, Serbia, Spain, and the United States. We collected over 1800 photometric image frames in BVRI bands and over 100 po...
We report the identification of blazar candidates behind the Magellanic Clouds. The objects were selected from the Magellanic Quasars Survey (MQS), which targeted the entire Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and 70% of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Among the 758 MQS quasars and 898 of the unidentified (featureless spectra) objects, we identified a s...
We report the identification of blazar candidates behind the Magellanic Clouds. The objects were selected from the Magellanic Quasars Survey (MQS), which targeted the entire Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and 70\% of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Among the 758 MQS quasars and 898 of unidentified (featureless spectra) objects, we identified a samp...
The supernova remnant (SNR) W49B originated from a core-collapse supernova that occurred between one and four thousand years ago, and subsequently evolved into a mixed-morphology remnant, which is interacting with molecular clouds (MC). Gamma-ray observations of SNR-MC associations are a powerful tool to constrain the origin of Galactic cosmic rays...
A search for new supernova remnants (SNRs) has been conducted using TeV γ-ray data from the H.E.S.S. Galactic plane survey. As an identification criterion, shell morphologies that are characteristic for known resolved TeV SNRs have been used. Three new SNR candidates were identified in the H.E.S.S. data set with this method. Extensive multiwaveleng...
Supernova remnants exhibit shock fronts (shells) that can accelerate charged particles up to very high energies. In the past decade, measurements of a handful of shell-type supernova remnants in very high-energy gamma rays have provided unique insights into the acceleration process. Among those objects, RX J1713.7-3946 (also known as G347.3-0.5) ha...
The diffuse very high-energy (VHE; >100 GeV) γ-ray emission observed in the central 200 pc of the Milky Way by H.E.S.S. was found to follow dense matter distribution in the central molecular zone (CMZ) up to a longitudinal distance of about 130 pc to the Galactic centre (GC), where the flux rapidly decreases. This was initially interpreted as the r...
We report on our recent multi-band optical photometric and polarimetric observational campaign of the blazar OJ 287 which was carried out during September 2016 -- December 2017. We employed nine telescopes in Bulgaria, China, Georgia, Japan, Serbia, Spain and the United States. We collected over 1800 photometric image frames in BVRI bands and over...
Multiwavelength blazar variability is produced by noise-like processes with the power-law form of power spectral density (PSD). We present the results of our detailed investigation of multiwavelength ( γ -ray and optical) light curves covering decades to minutes timescales, of two BL Lac objects namely, PKS 0735+178 and OJ 287. The PSDs are derived...
PKS 0625-354 (z=0.055) was observed with the four H.E.S.S. telescopes in 2012 during 5.5 hours. The source was detected above an energy threshold of 200 GeV at a significance level of 6.1$\sigma$. No significant variability is found in these observations. The source is well described with a power-law spectrum with photon index $\Gamma=2.84\pm0.50_{...
We report the selection of blazar candidates behind the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Both flat spectrum radio quasar and BL Lacreate objects were selected based on the long-term, multi-colour Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment photometric data. We cross-correlated the Magellanic Quasar Survey catalogue of spectroscopically confirmed qua...
Very high-energy γ rays (VHE, E ≳ 100 GeV) propagating over cosmological distances can interact with the low-energy photons of the extragalactic background light (EBL) and produce electron-positron pairs. The transparency of the Universe to VHE γ rays is then directly related to the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the EBL. The observation of...
We report on the discovery of a new fast radio burst, FRB 150215, with the Parkes radio telescope on 2015 February 15. The burst was detected in real time with a dispersion measure (DM) of 1105.6±0.8 pc cm⁻³, a pulse duration of 2.8$$^{+1.2}_{-0.5}$$ ms, and a measured peak flux density assuming the burst was at beam center of 0.7$$^{+0.2}_{-0.1}$$...
Context. The addition of a 28 m Cherenkov telescope (CT5) to the H.E.S.S. array extended the experiment’s sensitivityto lower energies. The lowest energy threshold is obtained using monoscopic analysis of data taken with CT5, providing access to gamma-ray energies below 100 GeV for small zenith angle observations. Such an extension of the instrumen...
The nine-year H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey (HGPS) yielded the most uniform observation scan of the inner Milky Way in the TeV gamma-ray band to date. The sky maps and source catalogue of the HGPS allow for a systematic study of the population of TeV pulsar wind nebulae found throughout the last decade. To investigate the nature and evolution of p...
Very high-energy gamma rays (VHE, E greater than or similar to 100 GeV) propagating over cosmological distances can interact with the low-energy photons of the extragalactic background light (EBL) and produce electron-positron pairs. The transparency of the Universe to VHE gamma rays is then directly related to the spectral energy distribution (SED...
Aims. We study γ -ray emission from the shell-type supernova remnant (SNR) RX J0852.0−4622 to better characterize its spectral properties and its distribution over the SNR.
Methods. The analysis of an extended High Energy Spectroscopic System (H.E.S.S.) data set at very high energies ( E > 100 GeV) permits detailed studies, as well as spatially res...
Studying the temporal variability of BL Lac objects at the highest energies provides unique insights into the extreme physical processes occurring in relativistic jets and in the vicinity of super-massive black holes. To this end, the long-term variability of the BL Lac object PKS 2155-304 is analyzed in the high (HE, 100 MeV < E < 300 GeV) and ver...
The power-law shape of the power spectral density (PSD) of blazar light curves— P ( ν k ) ∝ ν k − β , where ν k is the temporal frequency—indicates that blazar variability is, in general, of the colored-type noise ( β ≃ 1 − 3 ). A precise characterisation of PSD slopes, normalizations, or characteristic timescales (if any) manifesting as distinct f...
We analyse the light curve in the R band of the blazar OJ287, gathered during the 2015/2016 observing season. We did a search for quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) using several methods over a wide range of timescales. No statistically significant periods were found in the high-frequency domain both in the ground-based data and in Kepler observati...
A search for dark matter linelike signals iss performed in the vicinity of the Galactic Center by the H.E.S.S. experiment on observational data taken in 2014. An unbinned likelihood analysis iss developed to improve the sensitivity to linelike signals. The upgraded analysis along with newer data extend the energy coverage of the previous measuremen...
The inner region of the Milky Way halo harbors a large amount of dark matter (DM). Given its proximity, it is one of the most promising targets to look for DM. We report on a search for the annihilations of DM particles using γ-ray observations towards the inner 300 pc of the Milky Way, with the H.E.S.S. array of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes....
The supernova remnant (SNR) W49B originated from a core-collapse supernova that occurred between one and four thousand years ago, and subsequently evolved into a mixed-morphology remnant, which is interacting with molecular clouds (MC). $\gamma$-ray observations of SNR/MC associations are a powerful tool to constrain the origin of Galactic cosmic-r...
Here we present some preliminary results of our analysis of the Chandra observations of the diffuse X-ray emission from the extended lobes in Pictor A radio galaxy. All the available Chandra data for the target, consisting of multiple pointings spanning over 15 years and amounting to the total exposure time of 464 ks, have been included in the anal...
Partida de Maitino, pol. 2 num. 163 (03206) Elche, Abstract: We analyse the light curve in the R-band gathered during the 2015/16 observing season of OJ287. We did a search for QPOs using several methods in wide time domain. No statistically significant periods were found in the high frequency domain both in the ground data and also in K2 observati...
Galactic cosmic rays reach energies of at least a few petaelectronvolts1 (of the order of 1015 electronvolts). This implies that our Galaxy contains petaelectronvolt accelerators (PeVatrons), but all proposed models of Galactic cosmic-ray accelerators encounter difficulties at exactly these energies2. Dozens of Galactic accelerators capable of acce...
Aims. We aim for an understanding of the morphological and spectral properties of the supernova remnant RCW 86 and for insights into the production mechanism leading to the RCW 86 very high-energy γ-ray emission. Methods. We analyzed High Energy Spectroscopic System (H.E.S.S.) data that had increased sensitivity compared to the observations present...
The occurrence of low-amplitude flux variations in blazars on hourly
timescales, commonly known as microvariability, is still a widely debated
subject in high-energy astrophysics. Several competing scenarios have been
proposed to explain such occurrences, including various jet plasma
instabilities leading to the formation of shocks, magnetic reconn...
Re-observations with the H.E.S.S. telescope array of the very-high-energy
(VHE) source HESS J1018-589 A coincident with the Fermi-LAT $\gamma$-ray binary
1FGL J1018.6-5856 have resulted in a source detection significance of more than
9$\sigma$, and the detection of variability ($\chi^2$/$\nu$ of 238.3/155) in
the emitted $\gamma$-ray flux. This var...
We present the first results of a systematic search for the rare extragalactic radio sources showing an inverted (integrated)
spectrum, with spectral index α ≥ +2.0, a previously unexplored spectral domain. The search is expected to yield strong candidates
for α ≥ +2.5, for which the standard synchrotron self-absorption (characterized by a single p...
In the framework of the unification scheme of radio-loud active galactic
nuclei, BL Lac objects and quasars are the beamed end-on counterparts of
low-power (FRI) and high-power (FRII) radio galaxies, respectively. Some BL
Lacs have been found to possess the FRII-type large-scale radio morphology,
suggesting that the parent population of BL Lacs is...
The incidence of intra-night optical variability (INOV) is known to to differ
significantly among different classes of powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN).
A number of statistical methods have been employed in the literature for
testing the presence of INOV in the light curves, sometimes leading to
discordant results. In this paper we compare the...
It is important to quantify the underestimation of rms photometric errors
returned by the commonly used $\emph APPHOT$ algorithm in the $\emph IRAF$
software, in the context of differential photometry of point-like AGN, because
of the crucial role it plays in evaluating their variability properties.
Published values of the underestimation factor, $...
Gigahertz-Peaked-Spectrum (GPS) extragalactic radio sources are usually
marked by a radio spectrum showing a single peak in the frequency range
from about 0.5 to 5 GHz. GPS sources hosted by galaxies often signify
very early stages of the jet activity, before they have expanded to the
10-1000 kpc scale typical of most radio galaxies. However, a
non...
{Abridged} Rapid variations in optical flux are seen in many quasars and all
blazars. The amount of variability in different classes of Active Galactic
Nuclei has been studied extensively but many questions remain unanswered. We
present the results of a long-term programme to investigate the intra-night
optical variability (INOV) of powerful flat s...
In this first systematic attempt to characterise the intranight optical
variability (INOV) of TeV detected blazars, we have monitored a well defined
set of 9 TeV blazars on total 26 nights during 2004-2010. In this R (or V)-band
monitoring programme only one blazar was monitored per night for a minimum
duration of 4 hours. Using the CCD, an INOV de...
We have investigated the intranight optical variability (INOV) of powerful flat spectrum core dominated radio quasars (CDQs) and TeV blazars to test unification models of radio-loud AGN. A sample of 15 CDQs, including both low-polarization and high-polarization objects, were observed at three sites in India on 49 nights; with data from the literatu...
Context. We present evidence that parsec-scale jets in BL Lac objects may be significantly distinct in kinematics from their counterparts in quasars. We argued this previously for the BL lac sources 1803+784 and 0716+714, report here a similar pattern for another well-known BL Lac object, PKS 0735+178, whose nuclear jet is found to exhibit kinemati...
We report the results of our intensive intranight optical monitoring of 8 `radio-intermediate quasars' (RIQs) having flat or inverted radio spectra. The monitoring was carried out in {\it R-} band on 25 nights during 2005-09. An intranight optical variability (INOV) detection threshold of $\sim$ 1--2% was achieved for the densely sampled differenti...
We report our extensive intranight optical monitoring of the well known
low-energy peaked (LBL) BL Lac object PKS 0735+178. This long-term
follow-up consists of R-band monitoring for a minimum duration of
˜ 4 hours, on 17 nights spanning the past 11 years (1998-2008).
Intra-night optical variability (INOV) amplitude of ≥ 3% on hour-like
time scale...
We present the result of our extensive intranight optical monitoring of the well-known low-energy peaked BL Lac (LBL) object
PKS 0735+178. This long-term follow-up consists of R-band monitoring for a minimum duration of ∼4 hours, on 17 nights spanning 11 years (1998–2008). Using the CCD as an N-star
photometer, a detection limit of around 1 per cen...
We present the initial results of a programme to investigate the
dependence of intra-night optical variability (INOV) of powerful AGN, on
the degree of optical polarization. For the first systematic study of
this kind, we employed 104-cm Sampurnanand telescope (ST) and 201-cm
Himalayan Chandra telescope (HCT) to carry out R-band monitoring of a
sam...
Although well established for BL Lac objects and radio-loud quasars, the occurrence of intra-night optical variability (INOV) in radio-quiet quasars is still debated, primarily since only a handful of INOV events with good statistical significance, albeit small amplitude, have been reported so far. This has motivated us to continue intra-night opti...
Two guest-observer XMM-Newton pointings of the blazar OJ 287 in 2005 are introduced, along with part of the radio, mm, near-IR, and optical data obtained during a coordinated and intensive WEBT campaign, during longer-term monitoring observations performed by teams of the ENIGMA network, and during other independent observing programs (like VLBA ob...
Two guest-observer XMM-Newton pointings of the blazar OJ 287 in 2005 are introduced, along with part of the radio, mm, near-IR, and optical data obtained during a coordinated and intensive WEBT campaign, during longer-term monitoring observations performed by teams of the ENIGMA network, and during other independent observing programs (like VLBA ob...
Projects
Projects (4)
To understand the complex AGN physics using a spectroscopically selected sample of galaxies.
The detection of large-amplitude fast variability offers a unique probe to
the emission processes at the smallest spatial scales of AGNs.
A new approach towards the understanding of complex blazar physics using multiwavelength (radio to TeV gamma-rays) decade-long (daily/weekly sampled) light curves as well as densely intranight light curves. State of the art analysis methods along with numerical simulations of light curves is performed to carry out the research.