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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.

HERE we present results of observations at 8 GHz during the decay phase of the recent outburst of Cygnus X-3 (refs. 1 and 2). We also compare our results with the flux density variation observed with the Haystack 120-foot telescope at 15.5 GHz (ref. 3) and describe a possible model for the source.

A 45′×30′ region around the galatic center was mapped with 1′ resolution at 55 μm and 125 μm using the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. Peaks in temperature of the dust are correlated with centimeter wavelength thermal continuum sources. The distribution of the column density of dust shows minima at the galactic center (Sgr A) and at the position of an HII region complex (G.07+04) 10′ to the North.

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.

We report here an exceedingly large amplitude radio outburst presently occurring in the quasi-stellar source 1921 – 29 (also known as OV – 236). This source which had exhibited slow ±25% variations about a 6 Jy level (1 Jy = 10−26 W m−2 Hz−1) at centimetre wavelengths since 1971 has suddenly increased by more than a factor of 3 to 20 Jy. At 31 GHz, 1921 – 29 is now the strongest known quasar in the sky, even exceeding 3C273 which has been decreasing since 1975.

A very rapid large-amplitude outburst was observed in the Seyfert-like galaxy NGC1275 at millimetre wavelengths but not at lower radio frequencies. At 89.6 GHz, the flux density rose from 42 Jy to 75 Jy between 26 October 1979 and 13 March 1980 at a rate reaching 140 Jy yr−1. The event was also evident at 1 mm wavelength, where the flux density increased from 24 Jy to 64 Jy between measurements made on 11 Jan 1979 and on 28 March 19801. Observations at 31.4 GHz limit any simultaneous outburst to 20 Jy or less. This is the first time a strong outburst has been seen at millimetre but not centimetre wavelengths in any radio source.

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).

THE flux densities of 35 non-thermal radio sources were measured at 8,000 Mc/s (λ 3.75 cm) with the University of Michigan's 85-ft. reflector. Comparison of these measurements with the spectra of the sources at frequencies less than 3,200 Mc/s (ref. 1) showed that most spectra were either straight (constant spectral index) or curved downward (steepening spectrum) at the high-frequency end of the spectrum. However, the radio source 3C 84 which has been identified with the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1275 (refs. 2 and 3) was found to have a flux density at 8,000 Mc/s which was four times greater than that expected from a straight line extrapolation of the spectrum observed at frequencies less than 3,200 Mc/s. This is the first reported instance of a radio spectrum having such a pronounced upward turn in its spectrum with increasing frequency. (The novel spectrum of NGC 1275 was first reported by us at the International Scientific Radio Union General Assembly in Tokyo, September 9–20, 1963.) Thus NGC 1275 may represent a new class of radio source spectra. The radio source 3C 279 was also investigated because a pronounced upward turn of its spectrum was predicted by J. A. Roberts from measurements up to 2,650 Mc/s; we found its spectrum to be similar to NGC 1275. A third source 3C 273 has a spectral flattening at the high frequency end, but does not have a positive spectral index as do the foregoing two sources.

Measurements of the variation of the total flux density of the quasistellar radio source 3C279 provide evidence for an alternate model to explain the recently reported apparent source expansion rate of ten times the speed of light.

Photometric observations are presented for outbursts of the quasi-stellar object QSO 1156+295 in 1981 and 1982. High time resolution photometry is included showing variations on time scales of weeks to about half an hour. Data from early plate material show that the object may have been quite bright at the beginning of this century but was quite faint and probably inactive between about 1950 and the beginning of recent activity in 1977-1979. Some results of optical linear polarization are discussed. In examining spectrophotometric results, broadband spectra show very little change in spectral shape during changes in continuum brightness. High resolution spectra (0.1-A FWHM) show no evidence for the Mg II 2798-A absorption sometimes seen in optically violent variables and other QSOs. The radio flux density variations at several frequencies are documented and discussed and compared with the optical light curve. Models for 1156+295 are discussed including variability time scales, and the observed energy output is compared with a magnetic accretion disk model proposed by Shields and Wheeler (1976). Results are summarized and the different sizes of active and inactive regions of the object are compared.

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.

Results are presented for measurements of the flux densities of 10 variable extragalactic sources at 85.2 or 90 GHz, which were made over a period of almost seven years with the NRAO 36-ft millimeter-wave antenna. The primary flux-density calibration standards used include Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and the small-diameter Galactic source DR 21. Measured flux densities are given as a function of time (in years) for the sources 3C 84, NRAO 150, 3C 120, OJ 287, 4C 39.25, 3C 273, 3C 279, 3C 345, BL Lac, and 3C 454.3. No statistically meaningful flux-density changes during an observing interval (1 to 3 days) are detected for any source, and a high degree of correlation between flux-density variations at 85.2 or 90 GHz and those observed at lower frequencies is found in all 10 sources. Some variations observed at different frequencies in several individual sources are briefly discussed.

The paper reports partially simultaneous observations of the 'rapid burster' (MXB 1730-335) at X-ray, infrared, and radio wavelengths, covering several hundred hours during 1979 and 1980. None of the authors of this report saw any infrared or radio bursts. On several occasions an absence of infrared bursting was observed during X-ray bursting. On one occasion an absence of X-ray bursting was observed during a radio burst (4.1 GHz) reported by Calla et al. (1979). To date, radio bursts (a total of at least a dozen) have been reported only by Calla et al. (1980). Considering these and other observations summarized here, the reported radio bursts are either unreal or do not bear a simple relation to the X-ray bursts from the 'rapid burster'. The status of the reported infrared bursts also remain ambiguous. Limits to the brightness of any persistent radio source at the position of MXB 1730-335, limits to persistent X-ray emission during an extended X-ray quiet phase, and a measurement of the infrared polarization in the direction of the X-ray source are also reported.

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)

Observations of the X-ray source associated with 3C 273 have been carried out from 1.3 to 13.3 keV with the scanning modulation collimator on HEAO 1, yielding several precise positions (0.42 sq arcmin), one of which includes 3C 273. The data show an increase in flux by a factor of at least 3 in 6 months. A substantial low-energy (1.3-2.6 keV) flux during the higher state yields a hydrogen column density of less than 2 x 10 to the 22nd per sq cm and removes a possible X-ray distinction between quasars and other extragalactic nuclei, viz., Seyfert type 1 and BL Lacertae objects. The 90-GHz radio flux decreased during this period (1978.0-1978.5), and the optical flux exhibited increased variability after several years of relative quiescence.

Extensive optical and radio monitoring data and seven multifrequency spectra were obtained of the violently variable quasar 3C 446. The monitoring data suggest a correlation between the radio and optical outbursts, with the optical flare preceding the radio activity by 400-600 days. A difference in the statistical behavior of the optical and radio variability indicates that considerable processing occurs to the optical emitting plasma before it becomes radio emitting plasma. Within the radio band, outbursts proceed from high to low frequencies. An outburst in 1983 showed greater and more rapid variation in the optical than in the near-IR region. The 10-100 μm fluxes did not follow the higher frequency variation, suggesting a time delay between these spectral domains. During another time, the X-ray emission varied on a time scale of days and more rapidly than the UV or optical emission. On a time scale of weeks-months, the X-ray fluxes are well correlated with the UV-IR fluxes but not with the radio fluxes. The multifrequency data show that the flat radio spectrum turns over at 3-10 x 10^(11) Hz and the continuum steepens with frequency; ɑ(IR) = 1.1, ɑ(opt-UV) = -2 to -3. The X-ray emission lies an order of magnitude above an extrapolation of the optical-UV spectrum and has a harder spectrum. The power is primarily concentrated in the submillimeter and infrared region. When the source is faint, a blue bump may be present. The flux in the Lycx line is proportional to the UV continuum flux density when the source is bright but is independent of the continuum level when the source is faint. The data suggest that the X-rays are produced by the inverse Compton process from an emitting region (10^(16) cm) smaller than but related to the synchrotron emitting UV-IR region. The characteristic size of the emitting region increases with decreasing frequency from 10^(16) (X-ray region) to 1-3 x 10^(17) cm (far IR-submillimeter region) to 10^(19)-10^(20) cm (radio region). Plasma conditions are best constrained at the frequency when the source becomes transparent, the far IR-submillimeter band, where B ≈ 3-100 G, n ≈ 40-100 cm^(-3); and the Doppler boosting factor δ ≈ 1-5.

A 2-cm wavelength map of the region in the vicinity of the galactic center is presented that represents an improvement in resolution by a factor of 2.7 over Hollinger's (1965) map and an improvement in sensitivity and coverage over the Downes, Maxwell, and Meeks (1965) map. The improved map reveals the great complexity of this region and the existence of a large number of densely clustered discrete sources and many new hitherto unresolved features.