High-energy properties of the high-redshift flat spectrum radio quasar PKS 2149-306

TL;DR

This paper studies the extreme gamma-ray and X-ray emission of the high-redshift quasar PKS 2149-306, revealing a major flare, rapid variability, and spectral features that shed light on jet physics and black hole activity in distant blazars.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of gamma-ray flaring and spectral properties of PKS 2149-306 at high redshift, highlighting its extreme luminosity and rapid variability.

Findings

Detected a gamma-ray flare with peak flux of (301±36)×10⁻⁸ ph/cm²/s.

Observed flux variations on a 6-hour timescale, indicating rapid variability.

X-ray spectra are well described by a broken power-law with a very hard spectrum below 3 keV.

Abstract

We investigate the gamma-ray and X-ray properties of the flat spectrum radio quasar PKS 2149-306 at redshift z = 2.345. A strong gamma-ray flare from this source was detected by the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope satellite in 2013 January, reaching on January 20 a daily peak flux of (301$\pm$36)$\times$10$^{-8}$ ph/cm$^2$/s in the 0.1-100 GeV energy range. This flux corresponds to an apparent isotropic luminosity of (1.5$\pm$0.2)$\times$10$^{50}$ erg/s, comparable to the highest values observed by a blazar so far. During the flare the increase of flux was accompanied by a significant change of the spectral properties. Moreover significant flux variations on a 6-h time-scale were observed, compatible with the light crossing time of the event horizon of the central black hole. The broad band X-ray spectra of PKS 2149-306 observed by Swift-XRT and NuSTAR are well described by a broken power-law model, with a very hard spectrum ($\Gamma$$_1$ $\sim$ 1) below the break energy, at E$_{\rm\,break}$ = 2.5-3.0 keV, and $\Gamma$$_2$ $\sim$ 1.4-1.5 above the break energy. The steepening of the spectrum below $\sim$ 3 keV may indicate that the soft X-ray emission is produced by the low-energy relativistic electrons. This is in agreement with the small variability amplitude and the lack of spectral changes in that part of the X-ray spectrum observed between the two NuSTAR and Swift joint observations. As for the other high-redshift FSRQ detected by both Fermi-LAT and Swift-BAT, the photon index of PKS 2149-306 in hard X-ray is 1.6 or lower and the average gamma-ray luminosity higher than 2$\times$10$^{48}$ erg/s.