Shot Analysis of Kepler Blazar W2R 1926+42

TL;DR

This study analyzes rapid intraday variations in the blazar W2R 1926+42 using Kepler data, revealing a sharp, asymmetric peak component indicative of high-energy particle acceleration in the jet.

Contribution

First application of shot analysis to Kepler blazar data revealing detailed intraday variability components.

Findings

Identified a sharp, asymmetric peak component in blazar variability.

Measured rise and decay timescales of rapid variations.

Suggests high-energy particle acceleration as the origin of intraday variations.

Abstract

Blazars show rapid and violent variabilities, which timescale are often less than a day. We studied intraday variations by applying a shot analysis technique to Kepler monitoring of blazar W2R 1926+42 in Quarter 14. We obtained a mean profile calculated from 195 rapid variations. The mean profile shows three components; one is a sharp structure distributed within $\pm$0.1 day of the peak, and two slow-varying components. This spiky-peak component reflects features of rapid variations directly. The profile of peak component shows an exponential rise and decay of which timescales are different, 0.0416 and 0.0588 day respectively. This component is too sharp to represent a standard function which is often used to express blazar variations. This asymmetric profile at the peak is difficult to be explained by a simple variation of the Doppler factor by changing a geometry of the emitting region. This result indicates that intraday variations arise from a production of high-energy accelerated particles in the jet.