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We present 20 years of optical, infrared, and radio monitoring data for BL Lac as well as four simultaneous multifrequency spectra covering the 10^9-10^(18) Hz range. Although there is no time delay between the optical and infrared variability, the high-frequency radio variations precede lower frequency variations, but only by weeks. The optical variability precedes the radio variability by a few years. The structure function for the radio variations is nearly that of shot noise for time scales less than 600 days, in contrast to the optical variation, which is similar to flicker noise. These results indicate that, although there are fundamental differences between the optical and radio emitting regions, they are related, possibly by the propagation of shocks between regions. The multifrequency spectra show that the power per logarithmic bandwidth has a well-defined peak in the near-infrared and a sharp cutoff in the optical-ultraviolet region. This cutoff is like those seen in a few other blazars and is attributed to synchrotron losses that prevent particle acceleration from exceeding a critical energy. The X-ray continuum is not smoothly connected to the optical-ultraviolet emission and has a flatter slope, similar to that of the infrared-millimeter region. In addition, the X-ray emission varied in the same sense as the infrared-millimeter emission but opposite that of the optical-ultraviolet emission. These X-ray properties are those expected from the synchrotron-self-Compton process. The best model suggests that the plasma radiating at ~ 10^(11.5) Hz has a size of ~ 10^(-2·5) pc, a Doppler parameter δ>= 2-3, and a magnetic field of B = 2-40 G.

Evidence is presented for the first time for large fractional variations in the radio emission of the quasi-stellar sources 3C 273, 3C 279, and 3C 345, all of which have flat radio spectra at centimeter wavelengths.

We have investigated the continuum properties of the superluminal quasar 3C 345 with monitoring studies at radio, optical, infrared, and X-ray frequencies as well as with simultaneous multifrequency spectra extending from the radio through the X-ray bands. Variability occurs more rapidly and with greater amplitude toward shorter wavelengths in the infrared-optical region (0.4-100 μm). Radio outbursts, which appear to follow infrared-optical outbursts by about a year, occur first at the highest frequencies, as expected from optical depth effects, although the peak flux is often reached at several frequencies at once. The beginning of outbursts as defined by millimeter measurements corresponds to the appearance of the three known "superluminal" components. An increase in the X-ray flux during 1979-1980 corresponds to increased radio flux, while the infrared flux changes in the opposite sense. The multifrequency spectra show that the nearly flat radio continuum steepens at 10^(11)-10^(12) Hz and has a power-law slope of -0.91 ± 0.04 from 350 to 20 μm that steepens to -1.40 ± 0.02 at 20 μm-1200 A. A "blue bump" is detected at rest wavelengths 4000-1500 A. The X-ray emission has a flatter slope (-0.7) than the infrared-ultraviolet continuum and lies above an extrapolation of that continuum to X-ray energies. This supports the finding from variability that the X-ray emission is not simply connected to the optical emission. Although the shape of the infrared-ultraviolet continuum is generally preserved during flux variations, slope variations occur and are most common in the ultraviolet region. Most of the total power (3 x 10^(47) ergs s ^(-1)) emerges in the submillimeter-optical region but about one-sixth of the power is emitted at X-ray and radio.

THE recent major outburst in Cygnus X-3 was observed at 15.5 GHz with the 120-foot antenna of the NEROC Haystack Observatory. The flux density of the continuum emission from Cyg X-3 was first measured at 0437 UT on September 3, 1972, when the outburst was near maximum. The flux density measurements were continued during the 6 day period following the maximum during which time the source decayed rapidly (Table 1).

Results are reported for a systematic search with the A-2 experiment aboard HEAO 1 for X-ray emission from 28 radio sources that were actually bursting at the epoch of the X-ray observations. Two of these sources are found to lie within the positional errors of X-ray sources: the moderately redshifted quasars NRAO 140 and NRAO 530. The positions of 30 historically variable radio sources that were not active at the time of the search are compared with those of detectable X-ray sources, but no X-ray emission is detected from any of these positions. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of models for the radio emission from compact extragalactic sources. Several possible explanations are presented for the general absence of Compton X-ray emission from the bursting radio sources surveyed.

A report is presented on the optically violent variable quasar 1156+295, known also as 4C 29.45 and Ton 599. A large outburst of this quasar was discovered in April 1981 in the course of a program to obtain simultaneous multifrequency spectra of variable quasars. Ultraviolet observations taken with the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite were coordinated with ground-based observations at radio, infrared, and optical wavelengths. Measurements were made at four epochs starting immediately after the outburst was discovered, when the B-magnitude was 14.0, and at intervals of 4 days, 60 days and 1 year. The luminosity integrated only over observed wavelength bands was approximately 3 x 10 to the 48th ergs/sec on the first epoch of observation. Modeling of the source with a synchrotron self-Compton model suggests that the core of the source has a linear dimension of 0.01 pc, a magnetic field strength in the range 0.1-30 gauss, and a bulk relativistic motion in the quasar rest frame characterized by a Lorentz factor in the range 2-8.

The four BL Lacertae-type quasars for which long term variability observations are presented exhibit large variations in both total flux density and polarization, on time scales of less than 3 months. Simple one- and two-component models for polarization variability are discussed and rejected; multiple component models may be required to explain the complexity of the variations. The inferred direction of the magnetic field in the cores is nearly parallel to the position angle of the radio source structures on milliarcsec-to-arcsec scales. It is suggested that the position angle varied gradually by about 110 deg over a one-year period. The outbursts appear to be produced in inhomogeneous regions. 86 references.

Two sets of simultaneous spectra consisting of data obtained with radio, IR, optical, UV and X-ray telescopes were obtained 10 months apart for the X-ray bright BL Lac object IZw 187. In addition, nonsimultaneous observations were made in several of the aforementioned observing bands in order to detect flux variations and galactic light contamination was removed from all observations. The BL Lac component is found to have a weak 3000 A bump superposed on an IR-optical-UV spectrum of slope 0.9. Consistent with the arising of the IR-through-X-ray continuum from a single synchrotron source, the X-ray data fall on or near an extrapolation of this power law. No flux variations have been detected in the flat radio spectrum. Optical and X-ray fluxes are observed to vary by a factor not greater than three, and the shortest variability time scales in these bands are comparable at about one week.

In each of the present four simultaneous spectra covering the radio-through-X-ray regimes, the IR-UV synchrotron continuum dominates the total observed power and presumably becomes opague between 10 to the 11th and 10 to the 13th Hz. Nonsimultaneous observations were also conducted, over a longer time period, in order to study long- and short-term variability at X-ray, optical, and radio frequencies. These data indicate that the rapid and dramatic variations evident at IR and optical wavelengths are absent at radio and X-ray frequencies, supporting a view of IR-UV flux emanation from a small region, while the X-rays are produced by the inverse Compton process in the radio-emitting region. Particles, photons and magnetic field may not be far from equipartition in this region. Theoretical suggestions are developed regarding the radial behavior of the electron density and magnetic field.

For the first time, long-term records of radio and optical fluxes of a large sample of variable extragalactic sources have been assembled and compared, with linear cross-correlation analysis being used to reinforce the visual comparisons. Only in the case of the BL Lac object OJ 287 is the correlation between radio and optical records strong. In the majority of cases there is no evidence of significant correlation, although nine sources show limited or weak evidence of correlation. The results do not support naive extrapolation of the expanding source model. The general absence of strong correlation between the radio and optical regions has important implications for the energetics of events occurring in such sources. (AIP)