Detection of Possible Quasi-periodic Oscillations in the Long-term Optical Light Curve of the BL Lac Object OJ 287

TL;DR

This study analyzes a 9.2-year optical light curve of blazar OJ 287, revealing potential quasi-periodic oscillations around 400 and 800 days, which may relate to accretion disk or jet activity.

Contribution

The paper presents the first detailed time series analysis of OJ 287's optical light curve using Lomb-Scargle and wavelet methods, identifying significant quasi-periodic signals.

Findings

Possible QPOs at ~400 and ~800 days detected

Significance of QPOs over colored noise is ≥ 99%

Supports jet modulation by magnetized accretion disks

Abstract

Detection of periodicity in the broad-band non-thermal emission of blazars has so far been proven to be elusive. However, there are a number of scenarios which could lead to quasi-periodic variations in blazar light curves. For example, orbital or thermal/viscous period of accreting matter around central supermassive black holes could, in principle, be imprinted in the multi-wavelength emission of small-scale blazar jets, carrying as such crucial information about plasma conditions within the jet launching regions. In this paper, we present the results of our time series analysis of $\sim 9.2$ year-long, and exceptionally well-sampled optical light curve of the BL Lac OJ 287. The study primarily uses the data from our own observations performed at the Mt. Suhora and Krak\'ow Observatories in Poland, and at the Athens Observatory in Greece. Additionally, SMARTS observations were used to fill in some of the gaps in the data. The Lomb-Scargle Periodogram and the Weighted Wavelet Z-transform methods were employed to search for the possible QPOs in the resulting optical light curve of the source. Both the methods consistently yielded possible quasi-periodic signal around the periods of $\sim 400$ and $\sim 800$ days, the former one with a significance (over the underlying colored noise) of $\geq 99\%$. A number of likely explanations for such are discussed, with a preference given to a modulation of the jet production efficiency by highly magnetized accretion disks. This supports the previous findings and the interpretation reported recently in the literature for OJ 287 and other blazar sources.