The estimations of four basic parameters for gamma-ray loud blazars

The method used in our previous papers is adopted to estimate four basic parameters （the central black hole mass （M）, the boosting factor （or Doppler factor） （6）, the propagation angle （Φ） and the distance along the axis to the site of the γ-ray production （d）） for 59 γ-ray loud blazars （20 BL Lacertae objects and 39 flat spectrum radio quasars）. The central black hole masses estimated for this sample are in a range of from 107 Me to 109 MG. In the case of black hole mass, there is no clear difference between BL Lacertae objects and flat spectrum radio quasars, which is consistent with the previous results suggesting that the central black hole masses do not play an important role in the evolutionary sequence of blazars.

Simultaneous optical g, r, i monitoring and IDV periodic analysis for quasar 3C 454.3

With the 1.26 m National Astronomical Observatory-Guangzhou University Infrared/Optical Telescope(NAGIOT) at Xinglong Station of National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, we obtained 419 groups of simultaneous observations at g, r and i bands, for the first time,targeting quasar 3 C 454.3 during 15 nights from 2016 October 23 to 2016 December 15. Based on our observations, we investigate the optical variabilities, the relation between brightness and color index, and the periodicity variability. The presented analyses demonstrate that: 1. The maximum variations at the g, r and i bands are △mg|max= 1.015 ± 0.042 mag,△mr|max= 1.188 ± 0.050 mag and △mi|max= 1.305 ± 0.057 mag respectively. 2. During our 15 night monitoring program, intra-day variability was detected on one night(Nov. 2). Also, the brightness increased by A = 15.86% over 50.8 min,then decreased by A = 22.42% over 40.1 min. After a small bright state, its brightness increased again by18.1% over 55 min at the g band. Similar phenomena happened at r and i bands. The intra-day variabilities at the three bands on 2016 November 2 indicate a period of 105 min, which implies a black hole mass of MBH =(0.3 ~ 1.85)× 10^9 M⊙. 3. There is an anti-correlation between color index and magnitude,suggesting the source becomes redder when it brightens.

Long term periodicity analysis of the spectral index of 2251+158

We analyze the radio spectral index of blazars from the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory database,and find that there exists quasiperiodic activity in 2251＋158.The long-term periodicity analysis is accomplished by three methods,which are the Jurkevich method（Jurkevich）,the discrete correlation function（DCF）,and the Periodogram method（P）.The results show that 2251＋158 has two strong periodicities,which are P1=6.3±1.1 yr and P2=3.8±1.2 yr.

The lower limit of the Doppler factor for a Fermi blazar sample

We selected 457 blazars （193 fiat spectrum radio quasars, 61 low- synchrotron peaked blazars, 69 intermediate-synchrotron peaked blazars and 134 high-synchrotron peaked blazars） from the second Fermi-LAT catalog （2FGL） of γ- ray sources, which have X-ray observations. We calculated the lower limits for their Doppler factors, δγ, and compared the lower limits with the available Doppler factors and the apparent superluminal velocities in the literature.

Optical monitoring and intra-day variabilities of BL Lac Objects OJ 287

Using the 1.26 m National Astronomical Observatory-Guangzhou University Infrared/Optical Telescope(NGT),we monitor one BL Lac object,OJ 287.For this source,we obtain 15094 gri observations(4900 at g band,5184 at r band and 5010 at i band)in 155 nights from 2014 December 13 to 2019 March15.Based on the upper observations,we obtain the following results.(1)The total variation amplitude is~2.3 mag.(2)There are intra-day variabilities(IDVs).The IDV timescales(△T)are in the range from 7.69 min(Δm=0.06±0.02 mag)to 371.09 min(Δm=0.26±0.04 mag).(3)There are strong correlations betweenΔT andΔm,△m=(2.91±0.66)×10^(-4)ΔT+(0.08±0.009),with r=0.52,p=5.33×10^(-5).(4)There are intra-day periods in this source,with the period P≈94 min on 2017 December 10.When we supplement the observations from the literature,we can obtain that the long-term period is about 12.02±0.41 yr.(5)The spectral properties of OJ 287 show the bluer-when-brighter behavior,whatever state the source is at.

Brightness temperature for 166 radio sources

Using the database of the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory （UMRAO） at three radio frequencies （4.8, 8 and 14.5 GHz）, we determined the short-term variability timescales for 166 radio sources. The timescales are 0.15d （2007＋777） to 176.17 d （0528-250） with an average timescale of Atobs = 17.1 4- 16.5 d for the whole sample. The timescales are used to calculate the brightness temperatures, TB. The value of log TB is in the range of log TB = 10.47 to 19.06 K. In addition, we also estimated the boosting factor for the sources. The correlation between the polarization and the Doppler factor is also discussed.

Optical monitoring and IDV analysis of the blazars S50716+714 and 3C 273

S50716+714 and 3C 273 are frequently studied blazars,which show obvious optical variabilities with different timescales.Using the 1.0 m telescope at the Yunnan Observatory,we monitored the two sources.For S50716+714,we report 990 observations during the monitoring duration from JD 2458536 to JD 2458540.For 3C 273,there are 884 observations during the monitoring duration from JD 2458539 to JD2458542.Based on those observations,we obtain the following results.(1)For S50716+714,there lie intraday optical variabilities(IDVs),with timescales from 0.31 hours to 2.64 hours.For 3C 273,it is possible that there lie IDVs,with timescales from 0.36 hours to 0.49 hours.(2)The time delay of S50716+714 isτRI=3.46 min between R and I bands,and the time delay of 3C273 isτIV=6.42 min between I and V bands.(3)We find that,for S50716+714,there lies a suspected intra-day period,P≈185.78 min;for 3C273,there lie intra-day periods,which are about~60 min and~80 min.

Correlation between Brightness Variability and Spectral Index Variability for Fermi Blazars

In this work,theγ-ray photon flux,photon spectral index(α_(ph)),variability index(log V.I.),and the synchrotron peak frequency(log v_(p))are compiled for 851 common blazars from the 3 FGL and 4 FGL catalogs and Fan et al.to investigate variability properties for Fermi blazars.Our calculations and analyses reach following results:(1)the averaged luminosity,spectral index,and variability index of FSRQs are higher than those of BL Lacs for the whole sample.(2)It is found that the spectral index variation is closely anti-correlated with the luminosity variation implying that the spectrum becomes harder when the source becomes brighter in theγ-ray band.(3)Positive correlations are found between the photon spectral index and bothγ-ray luminosity and variability index(log V.I.)for the whole sample,but anti-correlations are found in the two correlations for FSRQs.For BL Lac subclass,there is a marginal anti-correlation between the photon spectral index and bothγ-ray luminosity,and a positive correlation between the photon spectral index and the variability index(log V.I.).We think those two positive correlations found for the whole sample are apparent.(4)We adopted the SVM machine learning method to separate BL Lacs and FSRQs in theα_(ph)versus log L_(γ)andα_(ph)versus log V.I.plots and proposed that a BCU is an FSRQ candidate if it satisfies log V.I.>-10.119 a+24.855,orα_(ph)>-0.048 log L_(γ)+4.498,otherwise,it is a BL Lac candidate.Our classification results are quite consistent with those by Kang et al(2019).