Spectral Variations of $\gamma$-rays in Mrk 421

TL;DR

This paper analyzes 17 years of Fermi-LAT data on Mrk 421, revealing significant spectral variability, flux changes up to a factor of ten daily, and complex spectral shapes suggesting multiple emission regions, challenging simple models.

Contribution

It provides a detailed spectral and flux variability analysis of Mrk 421, proposing that complex integrated spectra result from superposed flux states and indicating different origins for GeV and TeV emissions.

Findings

Significant variability in flux and spectral shape over 17 years.

Flux follows a lognormal distribution, spectral index fits well with lognormal or Gaussian.

Complex spectra imply multiple emission regions, challenging one-zone models.

Abstract

We present a comprehensive analysis of the 17-year Fermi-LAT observational data of Mrk 421 to investigate the spectral variations in the $\gamma$-ray bands. The light curve of the source in the 0.1--1000 GeV band with a 14-day time bin exhibits significant variability at a confidence level exceeding 5$\sigma$, which is accompanied by spectral variation, displaying a {\it harder-when-brighter} behavior. Moreover, its flux variation can reach up to one order of magnitude within one day, with a daily flux up to $(1.19\pm0.84)\times10^{-8}~{\rm erg~cm^{-2}~s^{-1}}$ on MJD 56152. The 17-year integrated spectrum of Mrk 421 necessitates a complex model for explanation, whereas its time-resolved spectra over one-day or several-day time intervals can be well fitted by a power-law model. We propose that the complex spectral shape of the 17-year integrated spectrum stems from the superposition of different spectral shapes in different flux states. By generating the GeV spectra that are simultaneously observed with the archived TeV observations and constructing the combined GeV--TeV spectra, we find that some combined GeV--TeV spectral shapes clearly imply different radiation origins for the GeV and TeV emissions, challenging the one-zone leptonic model. It is found that the flux follows a lognormal distribution, while the photon spectral index distributions can be well fitted by either a lognormal or a Gaussian functions. The possible nature of the $\gamma$-ray variability in Mrk 421 is discussed.