Search

We conducted a comprehensive variability analysis of the blazar PKS 2255-282 using Fermi-LAT observations spanning over four years, from MJD 57783.5 to 59358.5. Our analysis revealed a transient quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) with a period of 93$\pm$2.6 days. We employed a variety of Fourier-based methods, including the Lomb-Scargle Periodogram (LSP) and Weighted Wavelet Z-Transform (WWZ), as well as time domain analysis techniques such as Seasonal and Non-Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models and the Stochastic modeling with Stochastically Driven Damped Harmonic Oscillator (SHO) models. Consistently, the QPO with a period of 93 days was detected across all methods used. The observed peak in LSP and time-averaged WWZ plots has a significance level of 4.06$\sigma$ and 3.96$\sigma$, respectively. To understand the source of flux modulations in the light curve, we explored various physical models. A plausible scenario involves the precession of the jet with a high Lorentz factor or the movement of a plasma blob along a helical trajectory within the relativistic jet., Comment: 13 pages, 13 Figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (APJ)

We study the long-term behavior of the bright gamma-ray blazar PKS 0402-362. Over a span of approximately 12.5 years, from August 2008 to January 2021, we gathered Fermi-LAT temporal data and identified three distinct periods of intense $\gamma$-ray activity. Notably, the second period exhibited the highest brightness ever observed in this particular source. We observed most of the $\gamma$-ray flare peaks to be asymmetric in profile suggesting a slow cooling time of particles or the varying Doppler factor as the main cause of these flares. The $\gamma$-ray spectrum is fitted with power-law and log-parabola models, and in both cases, the spectral index is very steep. The lack of time lags between optical-IR and $\gamma$-ray emissions indicates the presence of a single-zone emission model. Using this information, we modeled the broadband SEDs with a simple one-zone leptonic model using the publicly available code `GAMERA'. The particle distribution index is found to be the same as expected in diffusive shock acceleration suggesting it as the main mechanism of particle acceleration to very high energy up to 4 - 6 GeV. During the different flux phases, we observed that the thermal disk dominates the optical emission, indicating that this source presents a valuable opportunity to investigate the connection between the disk and the jet., Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, The 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023) proceedings

We present a variability study of the blazar PKS 0346-27 from December 2018 to January 2022 in its archival $\gamma$-ray observation by Fermi-LAT. We use the Lomb-Scargle periodogram and the weighted wavelet transform methods in order to detect the presence of periodicity/quasi-periodicity and localize this feature in time and frequency space. The significance of the periodicity feature has been estimated using the Monte-Carlo simulation approach. We have also determined the global significance of the periodicity to test the robustness of our claim. To explore the most probable scenario, we modeled the light curve with both a straight jet and a curved jet model. We detect a periodicity feature of $\sim$ 100 days duration for the entire period of observation with a statistical significance of $3\sigma$, which amounts to a 99.7\% confidence level. The global significance of this feature is found to be 96.96\%. Based on the Akaike Information Criteria, the most probable explanation is that the observed emission is enhanced due to the helical motion of a blob within a curved jet. The origin of this QPO is very likely a region of enhanced emission moving helically inside a curved jet. This work presents strong evidence for jet curvature in the source and an independent (albeit a little serendipitous) procedure to estimate the curvature in blazar jets., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A, in Press

Arrhythmia, an abnormal cardiac rhythm, is one of the most common types of cardiac disease. Automatic detection and classification of arrhythmia can be significant in reducing deaths due to cardiac diseases. This work proposes a multi-class arrhythmia detection algorithm using single channel electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. In this work, heart rate variability (HRV) along with morphological features and wavelet coefficient features are utilized for detection of 9 classes of arrhythmia. Statistical, entropy and energy-based features are extracted and applied to machine learning based random forest classifiers. Data used in both works is taken from 4 broad databases (CPSC and CPSC extra, PTB-XL, G12EC and Chapman-Shaoxing and Ningbo Database) made available by Physionet. With HRV and time domain morphological features, an average accuracy of 85.11%, sensitivity of 85.11%, precision of 85.07% and F1 score of 85.00% is obtained whereas with HRV and wavelet coefficient features, the performance obtained is 90.91% accuracy, 90.91% sensitivity, 90.96% precision and 90.87% F1 score. The detailed analysis of simulation results affirms that the presented scheme effectively detects broad categories of arrhythmia from single-channel ECG records. In the last part of the work, the proposed classification schemes are implemented on hardware using Raspberry Pi for real time ECG signal classification., Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures

We study the long-term behavior of the bright gamma-ray blazar PKS 0402-362. We collected approximately 13 years of Fermi-LAT data between Aug 2008 to Jan 2021 and identified three bright $\gamma$-ray activity epochs. The second was found to be the brightest epoch ever seen in this source. We observed most of the $\gamma$-ray flare peaks to be asymmetric in profile suggesting a slow cooling time of particles or the varying Doppler factor as the main cause of these flares. The $\gamma$-ray spectrum is fitted with PL and LP spectral models, and in both cases, the spectral index is very steep. The $\gamma$-ray spectrum does not extend beyond 10 GeV energy suggesting the emission is produced within the BLR. The absence of time lags between optical-IR and $\gamma$-ray suggest one zone emission model. Using the above information, we have modeled the broadband SED with a simple one-zone emission model using the publicly available code `GAMERA'. The particle distribution index is found to be the same as expected in diffusive shock acceleration suggesting it as the main mechanism of particle acceleration to very high energy up to 4 - 6 GeV. Throughout the various flux phases, we noticed that the optical emission is dominated by the thermal disk, suggesting it to be a good source to examine the disk-jet coupling. We postulate that the observed broadband flares could be linked with perturbation produced in the disk, which propagates to the jet and interacts with the standing shock. However, a more detailed examination is required., Comment: Accepted for publication in The MNRAS

We present an analysis of the $BVRI$ photometry of the blazar BL Lacertae on diverse timescales from mid-July to mid-September 2020. We have used 11 different optical telescopes around the world and have collected data over 84 observational nights. The observations cover the onset of a new activity phase of BL Lacertae started in August 2020 (termed as the August 2020 flare by us), and the analysis is focused on the intra-night variability. On short-term timescales, (i) flux varied with ~2.2\,mag in $R$ band, (ii) the spectral index was found to be weakly dependent on the flux (i.e., the variations could be considered mildly chromatic) and (iii) no periodicity was detected. On intra-night timescales, BL Lacertae was found to show bluer-when-brighter chromatism predominantly. We also found two cases of significant inter-band time lags of the order of a few minutes. The duty cycle of the blazar during the August 2020 flare was estimated to be quite high (~90\% or higher). We decomposed the intra-night light curves into individual flares and determined their characteristics. On the basis of our analysis and assuming the turbulent jet model, we determined some characteristics of the emitting regions: Doppler factor, magnetic field strength, electron Lorentz factor, and radius. The radii determined were discussed in the framework of the Kolmogorov theory of turbulence. We also estimated the weighted mean structure function slope on intra-night timescales, related it to the slope of the power spectral density, and discussed it with regard to the origin of intra-night variability., Comment: 46 pages, 19 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (manuscript version after proof correction)

The continuous monitoring capability of Fermi-LAT has enabled the exploration of Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPOs) in the $\gamma$-ray light curve of blazar that has given a new perspective to probe these sources over a wide range of time scales. We report the presence of transient QPOs in the long-term $\gamma$-ray light curve of blazars PKS 0244-470 and 4C +38.41. We first identified different flux states using the Bayesian Block algorithm and then explored the possible transient QPOs in the segments of each flux phase where the flux level changes over fairly regular intervals. Combining this with the source's intrinsic variance, we identified two flux phases for PKS 0244-470: one activity (AP-1) and one quiescent phase (QP-1). For 4C+38.41, we similarly identified four activity (AP-1, AP-2, AP-3, AP-4) and two quiescent (QP-1, QP-2) phases. AP-1 phase of PKS 0244-470 shows QPO of $\sim$225 days persisting for 8 cycles ($\sim$ 4.1$\sigma$). In 4C+38.41, AP-1 and AP-2 phases show QPO-like behavior of $\sim$110 days and $\sim$ 60 days, respectively, persisting for 5 cycles. In AP-3, we identified three sub-phases, and all show a $\sim$ week scale possible recurrent rise with five complete cycles, while in QP-1, we could identify 2 sub-phases (Q1, and Q2). Q1 phase shows a period of $\sim$ 104 days with six complete cycles. Q2 phase also shows QPO but with only $\sim$3.7 cycles. We discuss the possible origin and argue that the current driven kink instability and curved jet model seem the most likely cause for shorter and longer QPOs., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

Purpose: In the context of a COVID pandemic in 2020-21, this paper attempts to capture the interconnectedness and volatility transmission dynamics. The nature of change in volatility spillover effects and time-varying conditional correlation among the G7 countries and India is investigated. Methodology: To assess the volatility spillover effects, the bivariate BEKK and t- DCC (1,1) GARCH (1,1) models have been used. Our research shows how the dynamics of volatility spillover between India and the G7 countries shift before and during COVID-19. Findings: The findings reveal that the extent of volatility spillover has altered during COVID compared to the pre-COVID environment. During this pandemic, a sharp increase in conditional correlation indicates an increase in systematic risk between countries. Originality: The study contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of volatility spillover between G7 countries and India. Asset managers and foreign corporations can use the changing spillover dynamics to improve investment decisions and implement effective hedging measures to protect their interests. Furthermore, this research will assist financial regulators in assessing market risk in the future owing to crises like as COVID-19.

We report the results from our study of the blazar S5 1803+784 carried out using the quasi-simultaneous $B$, $V$, $R$, and $I$ observations from May 2020 to July 2021 on 122 nights. Our observing campaign detected the historically bright optical flare during MJD 59063.5$-$MJD 59120.5. We also found the source in its brightest ($R_{mag}$= 13.617) and faintest ($R_{mag}$= 15.888) states till date. On 13 nights, covering both flaring and non-flaring periods, we searched for the intraday variability using the power-enhanced $F-$test and the nested ANOVA test. We found significant variability in 2 out of these 13 nights. However, no such variability was detected during the flaring period. From the correlation analysis, we observed that the emission in all optical bands were strongly correlated with a time lag of $\sim$ 0 days. To get insights into its dominant emission mechanisms, we generated the optical spectral energy distributions of the source on 79 nights and estimated the spectral indices by fitting the simple power law. Spectral index varied from 1.392 to 1.911 and showed significant variations with time and $R-$band magnitude. We have detected a mild bluer-when-brighter trend (BWB) during the whole monitoring period while a much stronger BWB trend during the flare. We also carried out a periodicity search using four different methods and found no significant periodicity during our observation duration. Based on the analysis during the flaring state of the source one can say that the emissions most likely originate from the jet rather than the accretion disk., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ)

4C+28.07 is a $\gamma$-ray Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar (FSRQ) type source. It is often monitored at different frequencies, though long-term multi-wavelength data of this source have not been modelled in detail before. We have analyzed $\sim 12$ years (Aug, 2008 - May, 2020) of Fermi-LAT data with a binning of 10 days time scale and observed three distinctive flaring states. Each flaring state consists of different phases of activity, namely, pre-flare, flare \& post-flare regions. $\gamma$-ray spectral analysis of these different activity phases has been performed and the best fit model for its spectra is found to be a Log-parabola model. We have also studied the correlation of simultaneous $\gamma$-ray light curves with the optical \& radio counterparts in these flaring states and report the DCF with a 95\% significance level. A large time delay is found between radio and gamma-ray data for two flares, indicating two zones of emission. We have fitted the multi-wavelength data with a two-zone leptonic model. In our two-zone leptonic model, the maximum required power in the jet is 9.64 $\times$ 10$^{46}$ erg sec$^{-1}$, which is lower than its Eddington luminosity $2.29\times 10^{47}$ erg sec$^{-1}$., Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ

A detailed study of the BL Lacertae PKS 0903-57 has been done for the first time with 12 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data. We have identified two bright gamma-ray flares in 2018 and 2020. Many sub-structures were observed during multiple time binning of these flares. We have performed detailed temporal and spectral study on all the sub-structures separately. A single-zone emission model is used for time-dependent leptonic modeling of the multi-wavelength spectral energy distributions. Our estimated values of variability time scale, magnetic field in the emission region, jet power obtained from leptonic modeling of PKS 0903-57 are presented in this work. Currently, we have a minimal number of observations in X-rays and other bands. Hence, more simultaneous multi-wavelength monitoring of this source is required to have a better understanding of the physical processes happening in the jet of the blazar PKS 0903-57., Comment: 29 pages, 22 figures, 14 tables, Accepted for Publication in ApJ

Previous research has showcased that the characterization of surface cracks is one of the key steps towards understanding the durability of strain hardening cementitious composites (SHCCs). Under laboratory conditions, surface crack statistics can be obtained from images of specimen surfaces through manual inspection or image processing techniques. Since these techniques require optimal lighting conditions, proper surface treatment, and prior (manual) selection of the correct region for proper inference, they are strenuous and time-consuming. Through this work, we explored and tailored deep convolutional networks (DCCNs) for the rapid characterization of cracks in SHCC from various kinds of photographs. The results from the controlled study suggest that the inference ability of the tailored DCCN (TDCNN) is quite good, resilient against epistemic uncertainty, and tunable for completely independent but adverse observations. From the crack pattern computed using TDCCN, average crack width (ACW) and crack density (CD) can be calculated to facilitate durability design and conditional assessment in a practical environment.

3C 454.3 is frequently observed in flaring state. The long term light curve of this source has been analysed with 9 year (August 2008 - July 2017) data from Fermi LAT detector. We have identified five flares and one quiescent state. The flares have sub-structures with many peaks during flaring phase. We have estimated the rise and decay time of the flares and compared with flares of other similar sources. The modeling of gamma ray spectral energy distributions shows in most cases Log parabola function gives the best fit to the data. We have done time dependent leptonic modeling of two of the flares, for which simultaneous multi-wavelength data are available. These two long lasting flares Flare-2A and Flare-2D continued for 95 days and 133 days respectively. We have used the average values of Doppler factor, injected luminosity in electrons, size of the emission region and the magnetic field in the emission region in modeling these flares. The emission region is assumed to be in the broad line region in our single zone model. The energy losses (synchrotron, synchrotron self-Compton, external Compton) and escape of electrons from the emission region have been included while doing the modelling. Although, the total jet powers required to model these flares with leptonic model are higher compared to other sources, they are always found to be lower than the Eddington's luminosity of 3C 454.3. We also select some flaring peaks and show that time variation of the Doppler factor or the injected luminosity in electrons over short time scales can explain their light curves., Comment: 51 pages, 55 figures, 34 tables, Accepted for Publication in ApJS