The Outburst of the Blazar S40954+658 in March-April 2011

TL;DR

This study reports multi-wavelength observations of the blazar S4 0954+658 during a major outburst in 2011, revealing correlated optical, gamma-ray, and VLBA jet activity, including superluminal motion and polarization rotation.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the connection between jet ejections, optical flares, and polarization changes during a significant outburst in S4 0954+658.

Findings

Detection of a superluminal knot with 19c apparent speed

Observation of a 0.7 mag brightness increase within 7 hours

Correlation between jet ejection and multi-waveband outburst

Abstract

We present the results of optical (R band) photometric and polarimetric monitoring and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) imaging of the blazar S4 0954+658, along with Fermi and gamma;-ray data during a multi-waveband outburst in 2011 March-April. After a faint state with a brightness level R ~17.6 mag registered in the first half of January 2011, the optical brightness of the source started to rise and reached ~14.8 mag during the middle of March, showing flare-like behavior. The most spectacular case of intranight variability was observed during the night of 2011 March 9, when the blazar brightened by ~0.7 mag within ~7 hours. During the rise of the flux the position angle of optical polarization rotated smoothly over more than 300$\deg$. At the same time, within 1$\sigma$ uncertainty a new superluminal knot appeared with an apparent speed of 19.0$\pm$0.3 c. We have very strong evidence for association of this knot with the multi-waveband outburst in 2011 March-April. We also analyze the multi-frequency behavior of S4 0954+658 during a number of minor outbursts from August 2008 to April 2012. We find some evidence of connections between at least two more superluminal ejecta and near-simultaneous optical flares.