Does the gamma-ray flux of the blazar 3C 454.3 vary on sub-hour timescales?

TL;DR

This study used Fermi telescope data to investigate gamma-ray flux variability of blazar 3C 454.3 on hourly and sub-hourly timescales, finding variability on hours but not on shorter timescales.

Contribution

First analysis of sub-hour gamma-ray variability in 3C 454.3 during a major outburst using Fermi data.

Findings

Variability detected on a few hours timescale.

No significant variability observed on sub-hour timescales.

Further observations needed for conclusive results.

Abstract

In the early days of April 2010, the blazar 3C 454.3 (z=0.859) underwent a strong gamma-ray outburst, reaching fluxes (E > 100 MeV) in excess of 10^-5 ph cm^-2 s^-1. The Fermi Gamma ray Space Telescope performed a 200 ks long pointed observation starting from 5 April 2010 19:38 UTC. This allowed us to try probing the variability of the gamma-ray emission on timescales of hours or less. We found the variability on a few hours timescale. On sub-hour timescale we found no evidence of significant variability, although the present statistics is not yet conclusive and further observations are needed.