BL Lacertae under the flare of 2024: Probing temporal and spectral dynamics
2024 年 BL Lacertae 耀发:时间与光谱动力学探测
In October 2024, the object BL Lacertae experienced the brightest flaring event in gamma-ray (>100 MeV) with a historically bright γ-ray flux of ∼2.59 <mml:math><mml:mo>×</mml:mo><mml:msup><mml:mrow><mml:mn>10</mml:mn></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mo>−</mml:mo><mml:mn>5</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msup></mml:math> erg cm<SUP>−2</SUP> s<SUP>−1</SUP> with a detection of a 175.7 GeV photon with Fermi-LAT. This event was also followed by very high-energy γ-ray detection with LHAASO, VERITAS, and MAGIC. Soon after, Swift-XRT and Swift-UVOT follow-up confirmed the concurrent flare in X-ray, UV, and optical bands. A minimum flux doubling/halving time of 1.06 ± 0.26 hour with 4σ significance has been observed with the Fermi-LAT orbit binned light curve. No compelling correlation has been found between γ-ray spectral indices and fluxes. The log-normal γ-ray flux distribution during the flare confirms the multiplicative nature of the non-linear perturbation causing the flare. We applied a one-zone leptohadronic model to fit the broadband SED during the flaring period. The broadband SED modeling reveals that the sudden enhancement of the magnetic field and bulk factor might promote the flare. The SED modeling also suggested a more compact emission region, which may be described by a shorter variability time than the observed one. The hadronic part best fitted the high energy part of the spectrum, suggesting the jets of BL Lac could provide a promising environment to accelerate the cosmic ray particles, such as protons. The jets of BL Lacertae could also be the possible source of astrophysical neutrinos, as an upper limit on neutrinos has already been reported from IceCube.
展开 ▾2024 年 10 月 BL Lacertae 出现历史最亮 γ 射线爆发,Fermi-LAT 测得 1.06±0.26 小时流强倍增/减半时标并探测到 175.7 GeV 光子;多波段 SED 用轻子-强子模型拟合,提出磁场与体洛伦兹因子突然增强驱动耀发,强子成分可解释 TeV 谱并暗示宇宙线/中微子源。
BL Lacertae 作为 BL Lac 原型,其 2020 年耀发已有 Prince 2021 的 SED 拟合提出 BLR/DT 成分,Pandey+ 2022 还报告约 1 分钟 GeV 变率,Shah 2024 对 2021–2022 年亮耀发期的多波段建模也支持这类外部辐射场。本次 2024 年历史最亮耀发中,作者以 Fermi-LAT 轨道级光变获得 1.06 小时快变时标,并联合 Swift、NuSTAR、VERITAS、MAGIC、LHAASO 构建 SED,采用含质子-质子相互作用的轻子-强子模型,类似 Sunanda+ 2022 对 TXS 0506+056 的处理;强子成分可解释 VHE 谱且喷流功率超过爱丁顿光度,与 Ouyang+ 2025 在 S5 0716+714 的结论一致。未来更高灵敏度 TeV 阵列与多信使观测有望进一步区分轻子/强子过程,并检验 BL Lac 喷流作为宇宙线与中微子源的角色。
预印本 2025-05-24 · 刊出 2025-05-28 · 收录 2026-08-20