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OT 081 is a luminous blazar well known for its variability in many energy bands. The very-high-energy (VHE; E >100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the source was discovered by MAGIC and H.E.S.S. during flaring activity in July 2016, after a trigger from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi satellite. By analysing the multiwavelength light curves andthe broadband spectral energy distribution (SED), we study the activity of the source and investigate four individual states of activity in the window from MJD 57575 to 57602. The intrinsic gamma-ray spectrum can be described by a power law with spectral indices of 3.27 ± 0.44(MAGIC)and 3.39 ± 0.58(H.E.S.S.) over energy ranges 60–300 GeV and 120–500 GeV, respectively. The combined contemporaneous high-energy (HE;E >100 MeV) through VHE SED shows curvatureand can be described by a log-parabola shape. A simple one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC)model is not sufficient to describe the broadband SED. The presence of broad emission lines in the optical spectrum of the source challenges the categorisation of OT 081 as a BL Lac and, together with the emission scenarios tested, points to the possibility that the source is transitional in nature between a BL Lac and a flat-spectrum radio quasar., PoS: Proceedings of Science, 395, ISSN:1824-8039, 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021)

OT 081 is a luminous blazar well known for its variability in many energy bands. The very-high-energy (VHE; E >100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the source was discovered by MAGIC and H.E.S.S. during flaring activity in July 2016, after a trigger from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi satellite. By analysing the multiwavelength light curves andthe broadband spectral energy distribution (SED), we study the activity of the source and investigate four individual states of activity in the window from MJD 57575 to 57602. The intrinsic gamma-ray spectrum can be described by a power law with spectral indices of 3.27 ± 0.44(MAGIC)and 3.39 ± 0.58(H.E.S.S.) over energy ranges 60–300 GeV and 120–500 GeV, respectively. The combined contemporaneous high-energy (HE;E >100 MeV) through VHE SED shows curvatureand can be described by a log-parabola shape. A simple one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC)model is not sufficient to describe the broadband SED. The presence of broad emission lines in the optical spectrum of the source challenges the categorisation of OT 081 as a BL Lac and, together with the emission scenarios tested, points to the possibility that the source is transitional in nature between a BL Lac and a flat-spectrum radio quasar.

Combined with measurements made by very-long-baseline interferometry, the observations of fast TeV gamma-ray flares probe the structure and emission mechanism of blazar jets. However, only a handful of such flares have been detected to date, and only within the last few years have these flares been observed from lower-frequency-peaked BL. Lac objects and flat-spectrum radio quasars. We report on a fast TeV gamma-ray flare from the blazar BL. Lacertae observed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). with a rise time of similar to 2.3 hr and a decay time of similar to 36 min. The peak flux above 200 GeV is (4.2 +/- 0.6) x 10(-6) photon m(-2) s(-1) measured with a 4-minute-binned light curve, corresponding to similar to 180% of the flux that is observed from the Crab Nebula above the same energy threshold. Variability contemporaneous with the TeV gamma-ray flare was observed in GeV gamma-ray, X-ray, and optical flux, as well as in optical and radio polarization. Additionally, a possible moving emission feature with superluminal apparent velocity was identified in Very Long Baseline Array observations at 43 GHz, potentially passing the radio core of the jet around the time of the gamma-ray flare. We discuss the constraints on the size, Lorentz factor, and location of the emitting region of the flare, and the interpretations with several theoretical models that invoke relativistic plasma passing stationary shocks.

We present observations of a major outburst at centimeter, millimeter, optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths of the BL Lacertae object AO 0235+164 in 2008. We analyze the timing of multi-waveband variations in the flux and linear polarization, as well as changes in Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) images at 7mm with ~0.15 milliarcsecond resolution. The association of the events at different wavebands is confirmed at high statistical significance by probability arguments and Monte-Carlo simulations. A series of sharp peaks in optical linear polarization, as well as a pronounced maximum in the 7mm polarization of a superluminal jet knot, indicate rapid fluctuations in the degree of ordering of the magnetic field. These results lead us to conclude that the outburst occurred in the jet both in the quasi-stationary core and in the superluminal knot, both at >12 parsecs downstream of the supermassive black hole. We interpret the outburst as a consequence of the propagation of a disturbance, elongated along the line of sight by light-travel time delays, that passes through a standing recollimation shock in the core and propagates down the jet to create the superluminal knot. The multi-wavelength light curves vary together on long time-scales (months/years), but the correspondence is poorer on shorter time-scales. This, as well as the variability of the polarization and the dual location of the outburst, agrees with the expectations of a multi-zone emission model in which turbulence plays a major role in modulating the synchrotron and inverse Compton fluxes., 2012 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C121028

We present observations of a major outburst at centimeter, millimeter, optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths of the BL Lacertae object AO 0235+164. We analyze the timing of multi-waveband variations in the flux and linear polarization, as well as changes in Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) images at 7mm with 0.15 milliarcsecond resolution. The association of the events at different wavebands is confirmed at high statistical significance by probability arguments and Monte-Carlo simulations. A series of sharp peaks in optical linear polarization, as well as a pronounced maximum in the 7 mm polarization of a superluminal jet knot, indicate rapid fluctuations in the degree of ordering of the magnetic field. These results lead us to conclude that the outburst occurred in the jet both in the quasi-stationary "core" and in the superluminal knot, both parsecs downstream of the supermassive black hole. We interpret the outburst as a consequence of the propagation of a disturbance, elongated along the line of sight by light-travel time delays, that passes through a standing recollimation shock in the core and propagates down the jet to create the superluminal knot. The multi-wavelength light curves vary together on long time-scales (months/years), but the correspondence is poorer on shorter time-scales. This, as well as the variability of the polarization and the dual location of the outburst, agrees with the expectations of a multi-zone emission model in which turbulence plays a major role in modulating the synchrotron and inverse Compton fluxes., Accepted for Publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 7 pages (including 5 figures). Minor corrections with regard to previous version, as proposed by the referee

As part of our comprehensive long-term multi-waveband monitoring of 34 blazars, we followed the activity in the jet of the blazar PKS 1510-089 during major outbursts during the first half of 2009. The most revealing event was a two-month long outburst that featured a number of gamma-ray flares. During the outburst, the position angle of optical linear polarization rotated by about 720 degrees, which implies that a single emission feature was responsible for all of the flares during the outburst. At the end of the rotation, a new superluminal knot (~ 22c) passed through the "core" seen on 43 GHz VLBA images at essentially the same time as an extremely sharp, high-amplitude gamma-ray and optical flare occurred. We associate the entire multi-flare outburst with this knot. The ratio of gamma-ray to synchrotron integrated flux indicates that some of the gamma-ray flares resulted from inverse Compton scattering of seed photons outside the ultra-fast spine of the jet. Because many of the flares occurred over time scales of days or even hours, there must be a number of sources of IR-optical-UV seed photons -- probably synchrotron emission -- surrounding the spine, perhaps in a slower sheath of the jet., 6 pages, 3 figures, in 2009 Fermi Symposium, eConf Proceedings C091122