Light Travel Time Effects in Blazar Flares

TL;DR

This paper introduces a model accounting for light travel time effects in blazar jet emissions, applicable to expanding or contracting plasma blobs, and demonstrates its application to observed flares from Mrk 421 and 3C 454.3.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel, agnostic model for light travel time effects in blazar flares, adaptable to various emission mechanisms and blob dynamics.

Findings

Applied to Mrk 421 flare observed by VERITAS and MAGIC

Analyzed 3C 454.3 flare observed by Fermi LAT

Demonstrated the model's relevance to real observational data

Abstract

I present a model for light travel time effects for emission from a plasma blob in a blazar jet. This calculation could be incorporated into more complex models with particle acceleration and radiation mechanisms, but as presented here it is a agnostic as to these mechanisms. This model includes light travel time effects for an expanding or contracting blob. As an example, this model is applied to a flare observed by VERITAS and MAGIC from Mrk 421 in 2013; and to a flare observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope from 3C 454.3 in 2010.