Testing the inverse-Compton catastrophe scenario in the intra-day variable blazar S5 0716+71. I. Simultaneous broadband observations during November 2003

TL;DR

This study conducted simultaneous broadband observations of blazar S5 0716+71 to search for inverse-Compton catastrophe signatures, finding no evidence despite extremely high brightness temperatures, thus constraining models of relativistic beaming and emission processes.

Contribution

First comprehensive multi-wavelength campaign targeting inverse-Compton catastrophe signatures in S5 0716+71, providing constraints on Doppler factors and emission models.

Findings

Brightness temperature > 2.1x10^{14} K from radio variability

No detection of inverse-Compton avalanche signatures in high-energy bands

Constraints on Doppler factor > 8 for the source

Abstract

Some intra-day variable, compact extra-galactic radio sources show brightness temperatures severely exceeding 10^{12} K, the limit set by catastrophic inverse-Compton (IC) cooling in sources of incoherent synchrotron radiation. The violation of the IC limit, possible under non-stationary conditions, would lead to IC avalanches in the soft-gamma-ray energy band during transient periods. For the first time, broadband signatures of possible IC catastrophes were searched for in S5 0716+71. A multifrequency observing campaign targetting S5 0716+71 was carried out in November 2003 under the framework of the European Network for the Investigation of Galactic nuclei through Multifrequency Analysis (ENIGMA) together with a campaign by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT), involving a pointing by the soft-gamma-ray satellite INTEGRAL, optical, near-infrared, sub-millimeter, millimeter, radio, and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) monitoring. S5 0716+71 was very bright at radio frequencies and in a rather faint optical state during the INTEGRAL pointing; significant inter-day and low intra-day variability was recorded in the radio regime, while typical fast variability features were observed in the optical band. No correlation was found between the radio and optical emission. The source was not detected by INTEGRAL, neither by the X-ray monitor JEM-X nor by the gamma-ray imager ISGRI, but upper limits to the source emission in the 3-200 keV energy band were estimated. A brightness temperature Tb>2.1x10^{14} K was inferred from the radio variability, but no corresponding signatures of IC avalanches were recorded at higher energies. The absence of IC-catastrophe signatures provides either a lower limit delta>8 to the Doppler factor affecting the radio emission or strong constraints for modelling of the Compton catastrophes in S5 0716+71.