Optical-NIR variability of blazars on diverse timescales

TL;DR

This study presents extensive optical and near-infrared monitoring of blazars over multiple timescales, revealing flux and color variability and exploring their spectral energy distributions to understand underlying physical mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides a large dataset of optical observations of blazars and analyzes their variability across diverse timescales and wavelengths, offering insights into their spectral behavior.

Findings

Detected flux and color variability on multiple timescales

Analyzed spectral energy distribution across optical and near-infrared bands

Discussed physical causes of spectral variability

Abstract

To search for optical variability on a wide range of timescales, we have carried out photometric monitoring of 3C 454.3, 3C 279 and S5 0716+714. CCD magnitudes in B, V, R and I pass-bands were determined for $\sim$ 7000 new optical observations from 114 nights made during 2011 - 2014, with an average length of $\sim$ 4 h each, at seven optical telescopes. We measured multiband optical flux and colour variations on diverse timescales. We also investigated its spectral energy distribution using B, V, R, I, J and K pass-band data. We discuss possible physical causes of the observed spectral variability.