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Scientific article
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English

Flux States of Active Galactic Nuclei

ContributorsFACT Collaboration
Published inGalaxies, vol. 7, no. 2, 57
Publication date2019
Abstract

Blazars are known to show variability on time scales from minutes to years covering a wide range of flux states. Studying the flux distribution of a source allows for various insights. The shape of the flux distribution can provide information on the nature of the underlying variability processes. The level of a possible quiescent state can be derived from the main part of the distribution that can be described by a Gaussian distribution. Dividing the flux states into quiescent and active, the duty cycle of a source can be calculated. Finally, this allows alerting the multi-wavelength and multi-messenger community in case a source is in an active state. To get consistent and conclusive results from flux distributions, unbiased long-term observations are crucial. Only like this is a complete picture of the variability and flux states, e.g., an all-time quiescent state, possible. In seven years of monitoring of bright TeV blazars, the first G-APD Cherenkov telescope (FACT) has collected a total of more than 11,700 hours of physics data with 1500 hours to 3000 hours per source for Mrk 421, Mrk 501, 1ES 1959+650, and 1ES 2344+51.

Keywords
  • Active galactic nuclei
  • Blazars
  • Monitoring
  • TeV energies
  • FACT
  • Flux states
  • Flux distributions
  • Duty cycle
Citation (ISO format)
FACT Collaboration. Flux States of Active Galactic Nuclei. In: Galaxies, 2019, vol. 7, n° 2, p. 57. doi: 10.3390/galaxies7020057
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Article (Published version)
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal2075-4434
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Technical informations

Creation10/02/2019 12:56:00 PM
First validation10/02/2019 12:56:00 PM
Update time03/15/2023 6:06:48 PM
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