Highly Variable $\gamma$-Ray Emission of CTD 135 and Implications for its Compact Symmetric Structure

TL;DR

This study reveals that CTD 135, a compact symmetric object, exhibits highly variable gamma-ray emission similar to blazars, with evidence of a quasi-periodic oscillation and a jet structure likely driven by the Eddington ratio.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of gamma-ray variability and jet properties of CTD 135, linking its emission features to blazar-like activity and episodic central engine activity.

Findings

Detected significant gamma-ray variability with a high variation index.

Identified a quasi-periodic oscillation of approximately 460 days.

Modeled the SED indicating gamma-rays originate from the core region with relativistic jets.

Abstract

The $\gamma$-ray emission properties of CTD 135, a typical compact symmetric object (CSO), are investigated with $\sim$11-year Fermi/LAT observations. We show that it has bright and significantly variable GeV emission, with the $\gamma$-ray luminosity of $L_{\gamma}\sim10^{47}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and a variation index of TS$_{\rm var}=1002$. A quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) with a periodicity of $\sim$460 days is detected in the global 95\% false-alarm level. These $\gamma$-ray emission features are similar to that of blazars. Its broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) can be attributed to the radiations of the relativistic electrons accelerated in the core region and the extended region. The SED modeling shows that the $\gamma$-rays are from the core region, which has a Doppler boosting factor of $\delta\sim10.8$ and relativistically moves with a small viewing angle, being similar to blazar jets. On the base of the analysis results, we propose that the episodic activity of the central engine in CTD 135 results in a blazar-like jet and the bubble-like lobes as the Fermi bubbles in the Galaxy. The strong $\gamma$-ray emission with obvious variability is from the jet radiations and the symmetric radio structure is attributed to the bubbles. The jet radiation power and disk luminosity in units of Eddington luminosity of CTD 135 follow the same relation as other young radio galaxies, indicating that its jet radiation may be also driven by the Eddington ratio.