Temporal and spectral study of PKS B1222 + 216 flares in 2014

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 508; no. 2; pp. 1986 - 2001
• Main Authors: Chatterjee, Anshu, Roy, Abhradeep, Sarkar, Arkadipta, Chitnis, Varsha R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 01.12.2021
• Subjects: radiation mechanisms: non-thermal; galaxies: individual: PKS B1222 + 216; galaxies: jets; galaxies: active
• ISSN: 0035-8711; 1365-2966
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab2747

ABSTRACT We report on a temporal and spectral study of a flat-spectrum radio quasar, PKS B1222 + 216, in a flare state to get insight into the acceleration and emission mechanisms inside the jet. It is one of the brightest and highly active blazars in the MeV–GeV regime. The long-term multiwaveband light curves of this object showed flaring activity in 2014, with two distinct flares. The work presented here includes the study of flux-index variation, flare fitting, and hardness ratio, and the spectral modelling of X-ray and γ-ray data. The flux-index correlation found in the MeV–GeV regime indicates a ‘softer when brighter’ feature. The modelling of γ-ray light curves suggests that low-energy particles initiate both the flares, followed by the injection of high-energy particles. The short rise time indicates the presence of Fermi first-order acceleration. A single-zone leptonic model is used to fit the multiwaveband spectral energy distributions generated for both flares. The spectral energy distribution modelling shows that inverse Compton scattering of the photon field reprocessed from the broad-line region primarily accounts for the GeV emission. In addition, we have reported a shift in the break energy in the soft X-ray regime during flares, which is due to a rapid change in the injection spectrum.