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Fast variability of γ-ray emission from supermassive black hole binary OJ 287

Neronov, A. ; Vovk, Ie

In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2011, vol. 412, no. 2, p. 1389-1393

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    Titre
    • Fast variability of γ-ray emission from supermassive black hole binary OJ 287
    Auteur
    • Neronov, A.. E-mail: andrii.neronov@unige.ch
    • Vovk, Ie. ISDC Data Center for Astrophysics, Geneva Observatory, Chemin d'Écogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Inglese
    Publié dans
    • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2011, vol. 412, no. 2, p. 1389-1393. Blackwell Publishing Ltd
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:294747
    Summary
    We report the discovery of fast variability of γ-ray flares from blazar OJ 287. This blazar is known to be powered by a binary system of supermassive black holes. The observed variability time-scale Tvar≲ 3-10 h is much shorter than the light-crossing time of the more massive (1.8 × 1010 M⊙) black hole and is comparable to the light-crossing time of the less massive (1.3 × 108 M⊙) black hole. This indicates that γ-ray emission is produced by the relativistic jet ejected by the black hole of smaller mass. Detection of γ-rays with energies in excess of 10 GeV during the fast variable flares constrains the Doppler factor of the jet to be larger than 4. The possibility of studying the orbital modulation of emission from the relativistic jet makes OJ 287 a unique laboratory for the study of the mechanism(s) of formation of jets by black holes, and in particular the response of the jet parameters to changes in the parameters of the medium from which the black hole accretes and into which the jet expands