The gamma-ray flaring properties of the blazar 3C 454.3

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the extreme gamma-ray variability of blazar 3C 454.3 over four years, highlighting its intense flares, multi-wavelength behavior, and the significance of two major super-flares in 2009 and 2010.

Contribution

It provides a detailed characterization of 3C 454.3's gamma-ray flaring activity and interprets its long- and short-term variability, especially during major super-flares.

Findings

Extreme flux variability with a factor of 20 within 24-48 hours

Repeated flares over more than a year

Two major super-flares in 2009 and 2010

Abstract

3C 454.3 is the most variable and intense extragalactic gamma-ray blazar detected by AGILE and Fermi during the last 4 years. This remarkable source shows extreme flux variability (about a fact or of 20) on a time-scale of 24-48 hours, as well as repeated flares on a time-scale of more than a year. The dynamic range, from the quiescence up to the most intense gamma-ray super-flare, is of about two orders of magnitude. We present the gamma-ray properties of 3C 454.3, comparing both the characteristics of flares at different levels and their multi-wavelength behavior. Moreover, an interpretation of both the long- and short-term properties of 3C 454.3 is reviewed, with particular emphasis on the two gamma-ray super-flares observed in 2009 and 2010, when 3C 454.3 became the brightest source of the whole gamma-ray sky.