Fermi-LAT Observation of Non-Blazar AGNs

TL;DR

This study analyzes 7 years of Fermi LAT data to investigate gamma-ray emission from 26 non-blazar AGNs, revealing spectral features, variability patterns, and luminosity ranges, enhancing understanding of their high-energy behaviors.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spectral and variability analysis of a large sample of non-blazar AGNs using extensive Fermi LAT data, identifying spectral curvature and variability characteristics.

Findings

Spectral curvature observed in several sources.

Detection of gamma-ray flux variability in multiple AGNs.

Range of gamma-ray luminosities from 10^41 to 10^47 erg/s.

Abstract

We report on a detailed investigation of the $\gamma$-ray emission from 26 non-blazar AGNs based on the Fermi LAT data accumulated for 7 years. The photon index of non-blazar AGNs changes in the range of 1.84-2.86 and the flux varies from a few times $10^{-9} photon\: cm^{-2} s^{-1}$ to $10^{-7} photon\: cm^{-2}s^{-1}$. Over long time periods, power-law provides an adequate description of the $\gamma$-ray spectra of almost all sources. Significant curvature is observed in the $\gamma$-ray spectra of NGC 1275, NGC 6251, SBS 0846+513 and PMN J0948+0022 and their spectra are better described by log-parabola or power-law with exponential cut-off models. The $\gamma$-ray spectra of PKS 0625-25 and 3C 380 show a possible deviation from a simple power-law shape, indicating a spectral cutoff around the observed photon energy of $E_{cut}=131.2\pm88.04$ GeV and $E_{cut}=55.57\pm50.74$ GeV, respectively. Our analysis confirms the previous finding of an unusual spectral turnover in the $\gamma$-ray spectrum of Cen A: the photon index changes from $2.75\pm0.02$ to $2.31\pm0.1$ at $2.35\pm0.08$ GeV. In the $\Gamma-L_{\gamma}$ plane, the luminosity of non-blazar AGNs is spread in the range of $10^{41}-10^{47}\: erg\: s^{-1}$, where the lowest luminosity have FRI radio galaxies (but typically appear with a harder photon index) and the highest- SSRQs/NLSY1s (with softer photon indexes). We confirm the previously reported short-timescale flux variability of NGC 1275 and 3C 120. The $\gamma$-ray emission from NLSY1s, 1H 0323+342, SBS 0846+513 and PMN J0948+0022, is variable, showing flares in short scales sometimes accompanied by a moderate hardening of their spectra (e.g., on MJD 56146.8 the $\gamma$-ray photon index of SBS 0846+513 was $1.73\pm0.14$). 3C 111, Cen A core, 3C 207, 3C 275.1, 3C 380, 4C+39.23B, PKS 1502+036 and PKS 2004-447 show a long-timescale flux variability in the $\gamma$-ray band.