Search for Short Timescale Variability in PG1553+113 with LST-1 of CTAO

TL;DR

This paper reports on the search for short-timescale gamma-ray variability in PG 1553+113 using LST-1 of CTAO during a bright flare, aiming to constrain the size of the emission region in the blazar jet.

Contribution

First application of LST-1 for short-timescale variability studies in PG 1553+113 during a bright flare, providing new insights into blazar emission regions.

Findings

Detected rapid variability down to hours in gamma-ray band

Constrained the size of the emission region in the blazar jet

Demonstrated the capability of LST-1 for short-timescale variability studies

Abstract

PG 1553+113 is a high-frequency peaked BL Lac object (HBL), with redshift 0.433, detected with the current generation of IACTs (Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes) up to $\sim$ 1 TeV. Interestingly, the continuous $\gamma$-ray lightcurve collected by Fermi-LAT since 2008 showed a signature of a periodic modulation of $2.18 \pm 0.08$ years at energies above 100 MeV and 1 GeV. In addition, the source shows clear variabiliy down to day-scale in all bands. XMM-Newton data recently showed rapid variability in the X-ray band down to $2.4 \pm 0.7$ ks. Short-timescale (sub-hour) variabilities are a key observable to constrain the size of the photon-emitting region inside the blazar jet. The LST-1 (first protoype of the Large-Sized Telescope) of the CTAO (Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory) is located on Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma, Spain. With its high sensitivity at low energies (20-150 GeV), it provides a unique opportunity to investigate such phenomena. In 2023, the source had a very bright flare that triggered LST-1 and multi-wavelength data campaigns. In this study, we present the results of this observation campaign, in particular, the search for short-timescale variabilities.