Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Rest Frame Variability Characteristics Of Blazars, John Patrick Mcfarland

Physics and Astronomy Dissertations

Blazars exhibit the most extreme variability of the class of objects known asactive galactic nuclei (AGN). They are characterized by a featureless continuum, high polarization, and variability at all wavelengths and timescales. The amplitude of optical variations can range from less than 0.1 magnitude on the timescale of minutes to hours, to greater than 5.0 magnitudes on timescales of months to years, and gamma-ray variability amplitudes can span a range of as much as three orders of magnitude in a time-scale as short as a few days. These characteristics are consistent with a supermassive black hole accreting matter at the …