A long-term multiwavelength study of the flat spectrum radio quasar OP 313

TL;DR

This study analyzes 15 years of multiwavelength data of the blazar OP 313, linking gamma-ray flares to jet activity and modeling the emission mechanisms, revealing that new jet components trigger the recent gamma-ray activity.

Contribution

It provides the first long-term multiwavelength analysis of OP 313, linking jet ejections to gamma-ray flares and modeling the spectral energy distribution during active periods.

Findings

Jet components emerge prior to gamma-ray flares.

Gamma-ray emission is mainly from inverse Compton scattering of dusty torus photons.

The first flare is less Compton-dominated than subsequent flares.

Abstract

The Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar OP 313 is a high-redshift (z = 0.997) blazar that entered an intense gamma-ray active phase from November 2023 to March 2024, as observed by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. We present a multiwavelength analysis covering 15 years of data, from August 2008 to March 2024, to contextualize this period of extreme gamma-ray activity within the long-term emission of the source. We analyzed a long-term, comprehensive, multiwavelength dataset from different facilities and projects from radio to gamma-rays. We identified the 7 most intense gamma-ray flaring periods and performed a kinematic analysis of Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) data to determine whether new jet components emerged before or during these flares. For 2 of these flaring periods, we performed the modeling of the spectral energy distribution (SED). The VLBA-BU-BLAZAR and MOJAVE datasets reveal a new jet component appearing in both visibility datasets prior to the onset of one of the strongest gamma-ray flares. By comparing the timing of the VLBA-BU-BLAZAR knots ejection with the gamma-ray flaring periods, we constrained the setup of the SED modeling. We also found that the first gamma-ray flaring period is less Compton-dominated than the others. Our results suggest that the recent activity of OP 313 is triggered by new jet components emerging from the core and interacting with a standing shock. The {\gamma}-ray emission likely arises from dusty torus photons upscattered via Inverse Compton (IC) by relativistic jet electrons. The SED modeling indicates that this component is less dominant during the first {\gamma}-ray flaring period than the later ones.