Probable low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in blazars from the ZTF survey [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.07266


We investigate the possible presence of quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) signals in 2103 blazars from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) time-domain survey. We detect a low frequency QPO signal in five blazars observed over these 3.8 year long optical r-band ZTF light curves. These periods range from 144 days to 196 days detected at $\gtrsim4\sigma$ significance levels in both the Lomb-Scargle periodogram and Weighted Wavelet Z-transform analyses. A similar peak is detected in the g-band light-curve at a slightly lower significance of 3$\sigma$. Such nearly periodic signals on these timescales in optical wavebands most likely originate from a precessing jet with high Lorentz factor, closely aligned to the observer’s line of sight, or the movement of plasma blobs along a helical structure in the jet.

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A. Banerjee, V. Negi, R. Joshi, et. al.
Mon, 17 Oct 22
34/56

Comments: Submitted to MNRAS, 14 pages, 10 figures, 1 table