Abstract Details

Name: Bhoomika
Affiliation: Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Conference ID: ASI2017_802
Title : The connection between optical and GeV flux variations in blazars
Authors and Co-Authors : C .S. Stalin and Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Abstract Type : Poster
Abstract Category : Extragalactic astronomy
Abstract : The extragalactic gamma-ray sky is dominated by the blazar class of active galactic nuclei (AGN). These sources with their relativistic jets pointed close to be observer show flux variations over the entire accessible electromagnetic spectrum. By studying flux variations over multiple wavelengths one can probe the multi-wavelength emission sites in blazar jets. According to the leptonic model, the flux variations in the optical and GeV bands of blazars need to the correlated. Alternatively, in the hadronic scenario of emission from blazar jets, a correlation between flux variations in the optical and GeV bands is not expected. To probe the possible connection between optical and GeV emission mechanism in blazar jets (leptonic v/s hadronic scenario), we are carrying out a systematic study on the optical and GeV flux variations on a large sample of blazars detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Our preliminary results indicate that blazars show a wide range of variability patterns such as (a) correlated optical and GeV flux variations with/without time lag (b) optical flares with no GeV counterparts and (c) GeV flares with no optical counterparts. Details of the results will be presented.