Multiwavelength variability and correlation studies of Mrk 421 during historically low X-ray and $γ$-ray activity in 2015$-$2016

2 Dec 2020  ·  MAGIC Collaboration, V. A. Acciari, S. Ansoldi, L. A. Antonelli, K. Asano, A. Babić, B. Banerjee, A. Baquero, U. Barres de Almeida, J. A. Barrio, J. Becerra González, W. Bednarek, L. Bellizzi, E. Bernardini, M. Bernardos, A. Berti, J. Besenrieder, W. Bhattacharyya, C. Bigongiari, O. Blanch, G. Bonnoli, Ž. Bošnjak, G. Busetto, R. Carosi, G. Ceribella, M. Cerruti, Y. Chai, A. Chilingarian, S. Cikota, S. M. Colak, E. Colombo, J. L. Contreras, J. Cortina, S. Covino, G. D'Amico, V. D'Elia, P. Da Vela, F. Dazzi, A. De Angelis, B. De Lotto, M. Delfino, J. Delgado, C. Delgado Mendez, D. Depaoli, T. Di Girolamo, F. Di Pierro, L. Di Venere, E. Do Souto Espiñeira, D. Dominis Prester, A. Donini, M. Doro, V. Fallah Ramazani, A. Fattorini, G. Ferrara, L. Foffano, M. V. Fonseca, L. Font, C. Fruck, S. Fukami, R. J. García López, M. Garczarczyk, S. Gasparyan, M. Gaug, N. Giglietto, F. Giordano, P. Gliwny, N. Godinović, J. G. Green, D. Green, D. Hadasch, A. Hahn, L. Heckmann, J. Herrera, J. Hoang, D. Hrupec, M. Hütten, T. Inada, S. Inoue, K. Ishio, Y. Iwamura, J. Jormanainen, L. Jouvin, Y. Kajiwara, M. Karjalainen, D. Kerszberg, Y. Kobayashi, H. Kubo, J. Kushida, A. Lamastra, D. Lelas, F. Leone, E. Lindfors, S. Lombardi, F. Longo, M. López, R. López-Coto, A. López-Oramas, S. Loporchio, B. Machado de Oliveira Fraga, C. Maggio, P. Majumdar, M. Makariev, M. Mallamaci, G. Maneva, M. Manganaro, L. Maraschi, M. Mariotti, M. Martínez, D. Mazin, S. Mender, S. Mićanović, D. Miceli, T. Miener, M. Minev, J. M. Miranda, R. Mirzoyan, E. Molina, A. Moralejo, D. Morcuende, V. Moreno, E. Moretti, P. Munar-Adrover, V. Neustroev, C. Nigro, K. Nilsson, D. Ninci, K. Nishijima, K. Noda, S. Nozaki, Y. Ohtani, T. Oka, J. Otero-Santos, M. Palatiello, D. Paneque, R. Paoletti, J. M. Paredes, L. Pavletić, P. Peñil, C. Perennes, M. Persic, P. G. Prada Moroni, E. Prandini, C. Priyadarshi, I. Puljak, W. Rhode, M. Ribó, J. Rico, C. Righi, A. Rugliancich, L. Saha, N. Sahakyan, T. Saito, S. Sakurai, K. Satalecka, B. Schleicher, K. Schmidt, T. Schweizer, J. Sitarek, I. Šnidarić, D. Sobczynska, A. Spolon, A. Stamerra, D. Strom, M. Strzys, Y. Suda, T. Surić, M. Takahashi, F. Tavecchio, P. Temnikov, T. Terzić, M. Teshima, N. Torres-Albà, L. Tosti, S. Truzzi, J. van Scherpenberg, G. Vanzo, M. Vazquez Acosta, S. Ventura, V. Verguilov, C. F. Vigorito, V. Vitale, I. Vovk, M. Will, D. Zarić, FACT collaboration, :, A. Arbet-Engels, D. Baack, M. Balbo, M. Beck, N. Biederbeck, A. Biland, T. Bretz, K. Bruegge, J. Buss, D. Dorner, D. Elsaesser, D. Hildebrand, R. Iotov, M. Klinger, K. Mannheim, D. Neise, A. Neronov, M. Noethe, A. Paravac, W. Rhode, B. Schleicher, V. Sliusar, F. Theissen, R. Walter, MWL Collaborators, :, J. Valverde, D. Horan, M. Giroletti, M. Perri, F. Verrecchia, C. Leto, A. C. Sadun, J. W. Moody, M. Joner, A. P. Marscher, S. G. Jorstad, A. Lähteenmäki, M. Tornikoski, V. Ramakrishnan, E. Järvelä, R. J. C. Vera, S. Righini, A. Y. Lien ·

We report a characterization of the multi-band flux variability and correlations of the nearby (z=0.031) blazar Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) using data from Mets\"{a}hovi, Swift, Fermi-LAT, MAGIC, FACT and other collaborations and instruments from November 2014 till June 2016. Mrk 421 did not show any prominent flaring activity, but exhibited periods of historically low activity above 1 TeV (F$_{>1\mathrm{TeV}}<$ 1.7$\times$10$^{-12}$ ph cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$) and in the 2-10 keV (X-ray) band (F$_{2-10 \mathrm{keV}}<$3.6$\times$10$^{-11}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$), during which the Swift-BAT data suggests an additional spectral component beyond the regular synchrotron emission. The highest flux variability occurs in X-rays and very-high-energy (E$>$0.1 TeV) $\gamma$-rays, which, despite the low activity, show a significant positive correlation with no time lag. The HR$_\mathrm{keV}$ and HR$_\mathrm{TeV}$ show the harder-when-brighter trend observed in many blazars, but the trend flattens at the highest fluxes, which suggests a change in the processes dominating the blazar variability. Enlarging our data set with data from years 2007 to 2014, we measured a positive correlation between the optical and the GeV emission over a range of about 60 days centered at time lag zero, and a positive correlation between the optical/GeV and the radio emission over a range of about 60 days centered at a time lag of $43^{+9}_{-6}$ days.This observation is consistent with the radio-bright zone being located about 0.2 parsec downstream from the optical/GeV emission regions of the jet. The flux distributions are better described with a LogNormal function in most of the energy bands probed, indicating that the variability in Mrk 421 is likely produced by a multiplicative process.

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High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena