The VLBA-BU-BLAZAR Multi-Wavelength Monitoring Program

We describe a multiwavelength program of monitoring of a sample of bright γ-ray blazars, which the Boston University (BU) group has being carrying out since June 2007. The program includes monthly monitoring with the Very Long Baseline Array at 43 GHz, optical photometric and polarimetric observations, construction and analysis of UV and X-ray light curves obtained with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and Swift satellites, and construction and analysis of γ-ray light curves based on data provided by the Large Area Telescope of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. We present general results about the kinematics of parsec-scale radio jets, as well as the connection between γ-ray outbursts and jet events.

[1]  D. L. Bertsch,et al.  The Third EGRET Catalog of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sources , 1998 .

[2]  M. Sikora,et al.  CONSTRAINING THE LOCATION OF GAMMA-RAY FLARES IN LUMINOUS BLAZARS , 2014, 1405.7694.

[3]  A. Readhead,et al.  The CJF Survey - First Results on Superluminal Motion , 1999 .

[4]  Paul S. Smith,et al.  Polarimetric Observations of 15 Active Galactic Nuclei at High Frequencies: Jet Kinematics from Bimonthly Monitoring with the Very Long Baseline Array , 2005, astro-ph/0502501.

[5]  Paul S. Smith,et al.  COMPREHENSIVE MONITORING OF GAMMA-RAY BRIGHT BLAZARS. I. STATISTICAL STUDY OF OPTICAL, X-RAY, AND GAMMA-RAY SPECTRAL SLOPES , 2014, 1406.2719.

[6]  Robert P. Johnson,et al.  THE FIRST CATALOG OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI DETECTED BY THE FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE , 2010, 1002.0150.

[7]  M. Aloy,et al.  Simulations of Precessing Jets , 2003 .

[8]  M. Lister,et al.  A CONNECTION BETWEEN APPARENT VLBA JET SPEEDS AND INITIAL ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS DETECTIONS MADE BY THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY OBSERVATORY , 2009, 0902.2087.

[9]  A. Marscher,et al.  Connections between millimetre continuum variations and VLBI structure in 27 AGN , 2002 .

[10]  et al,et al.  FERMI/LARGE AREA TELESCOPE BRIGHT GAMMA-RAY SOURCE LIST , 2009, 0902.1340.

[11]  G. Schmidt,et al.  The Hubble Space Telescope Northern-Hemisphere Grid of Stellar Polarimetric Standards , 1992 .

[12]  Jet Stability and the Generation of Superluminal and Stationary Components , 2001, astro-ph/0101188.

[13]  Paul S. Smith,et al.  A TIGHT CONNECTION BETWEEN GAMMA-RAY OUTBURSTS AND PARSEC-SCALE JET ACTIVITY IN THE QUASAR 3C 454.3 , 2013, 1307.2522.

[14]  Astronomy,et al.  Multiepoch Very Long Baseline Array Observations of EGRET-detected Quasars and BL Lacertae Objects: Superluminal Motion of Gamma-Ray Bright Blazars , 2001, astro-ph/0101570.

[15]  H. R. Miller,et al.  Correlated Multi-Wave Band Variability in the Blazar 3C 279 from 1996 to 2007 , 2008, 0808.2194.

[16]  A. Marscher.  TURBULENT, EXTREME MULTI-ZONE MODEL FOR SIMULATING FLUX AND POLARIZATION VARIABILITY IN BLAZARS , 2013, 1311.7665.

[17]  Paul S. Smith,et al.  A MULTI-WAVELENGTH POLARIMETRIC STUDY OF THE BLAZAR CTA 102 DURING A GAMMA-RAY FLARE IN 2012 , 2015, 1508.07254.

[18]  Yasuyuki T. Tanaka,et al.  THE THIRD CATALOG OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI DETECTED BY THE FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE , 2015, 1501.06054.

[19]  G. Ghisellini,et al.  Constraining the location of the emitting region in Fermi blazars through rapid γ-ray variability , 2010, 1003.3475.

[20]  E. Ros,et al.  THE RELATION BETWEEN AGN GAMMA-RAY EMISSION AND PARSEC-SCALE RADIO JETS , 2009, 0902.2085.

[21]  J. Chiang,et al.  THE LARGE AREA TELESCOPE ON THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY SPACE TELESCOPE MISSION , 2009, 0902.1089.