Issue |
A&A
Volume 457, Number 1, October I 2006
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 133 - 144 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20065317 | |
Published online | 12 September 2006 |
Disentangling the synchrotron and inverse Compton variability in the X-ray emission of the intermediate BL Lacertae object S5 0716+71
Landessternwarte Heidelberg, Königstuhl, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany e-mail: eferrero@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de
Received:
29
March
2006
Accepted:
30
June
2006
Context.The possibility to detect simultaneously in the X-ray band the synchrotron and Inverse Compton (IC) emission of intermediate BL Lac objects offers the unique opportunity to study contemporaneously the low- and high-energy tails of the electron distribution in the jets of these sources.
Aims.We attempted to disentangle the X-ray spectral variability properties of both the low- and high-energy ends of the synchrotron and Inverse Compton emission of the intermediate BL Lac object S5 0716+71.
Methods.We carried out spectral, temporal and cross-correlation analyses of the data from a long XMM-Newton pointing of S5 0716+71 and we compared our findings with previous results from past X-ray observations.
Results.Strong variability was detected during the XMM exposure.
Both the synchrotron and Inverse Compton components were found to vary
on time scales of hours, implying a size of the emitting region
of light-hours.
The synchrotron emission
was discovered to become dominant during
episodes of flaring activity,
following a harder-when-brighter trend. Tight
correlations were observed between variations in different energy bands.
Upper limits on time lags
between the soft and hard X-ray light curves are of the order of a few
hundred seconds.
Key words: galaxies: active / galaxies: BL Lacertae objects: general / galaxies: BL Lacertae objects: individual: S5 0716+71 / X-rays: individuals: S5 0716+71 / radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
© ESO, 2006
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