A new method for studying the blazar variability on the shortest time scales and its application to S5 1803+784

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method for analyzing blazar brightness variability on short timescales, applying it to TESS data of S5 1803+784, revealing correlations between variability amplitude and timescale.

Contribution

The paper presents a new technique for studying blazar variability evolution on hourly to daily scales, applied to TESS data for the first time.

Findings

A correlation between variability amplitude and characteristic time was identified.

Variability on short timescales is influenced by differing Doppler factors across the emission region.

Spectral index shows minimal variation despite brightness changes.

Abstract

We propose a new method for investigating the evolution of the properties of the blazar brightness variability on timescales from a few hours to a few days. Its essence lies in detecting sequentially located time intervals along the entire light curve, within which it is possible to determine the characteristic time of variability using the structure function. We applied this method to a uniform data series lasting several days provided by the TESS mission for blazar S5 1803+784. Then, we analyzed the found time parameters of variability coupled with the data of B-, V-, R-, and I-photometric observations. A correlation was found between the amplitude and the characteristic time of variability. The relation of these values with the spectral index of radiation has not been revealed. We conclude that the variability on a short time scale is formed due to the different Doppler factors for having different volume parts of the optical emitting region. At the same time, the radiation spectrum deflects slightly from the power-law.