Gamma-ray quasi-periodicities of blazars. A cautious approach

TL;DR

This study analyzes decade-long Fermi satellite data of blazars to investigate claims of quasi-periodicities, finding no strong evidence for such periodicities and suggesting red-noise processes dominate the observed variability.

Contribution

It provides a homogeneous analysis of blazar light curves, critically assessing previous claims of periodicities and emphasizing the importance of cautious interpretation.

Findings

No strong evidence for year-long quasi-periodicities in analyzed blazars

Power spectral densities are consistent with red-noise processes

Highlights limitations of current analysis methods

Abstract

The availability of about a decade of uninterrupted sky monitoring by the Fermi satellite has made possible to study long-term quasi-periodicities for high-energy sources. It is therefore not a surprise that for several blazars in the recent literature claims for such periodicities, with various level of confidence, have been reported. The confirmation of these findings could be of tremendous importance for the physical description of this category of sources and have consequences for the gravitational wave background interpretation. In this work we carry out a temporal analysis of the Fermi light curves for several of the sources mentioned in recent literature by means of a homogeneous procedure and find that, globally, no strong cases for blazar year-long quasi-periodicities can be confirmed. The computed power spectral densities are all essentially consistent with being generated by red-noise only. We further discuss the meaning and the limitations of the present analysis.