Detection of periodicity in the broad-band non-thermal emission of blazars has so far been proven to be elusive. However, there are a number of scenarios which could lead to quasi-periodic variations in blazar light curves. For example, orbital or thermal/viscous period of accreting matter around central supermassive black holes could, in principle, be imprinted in the multi-wavelength emission of small-scale blazar jets, carrying as such crucial information about plasma conditions within the jet launching regions. In this paper, we present the results of our time series analysis of ∼ 9.2 year-long, and exceptionally well-sampled optical light curve of the BL Lac OJ 287. The study primarily uses the data from our own observations performed at the Mt. Suhora and Kraków Observatories in Poland, and at the Athens Observatory in Greece. Additionally, SMARTS observations were used to fill in some of the gaps in the data. The Lomb-Scargle Periodogram and the Weighted Wavelet Z-transform methods were employed to search for the possible QPOs in the resulting optical light curve of the source. Both the methods consistently yielded possible quasi-periodic signal around the periods of ∼ 400 and ∼ 800 days, the former one with a significance (over the underlying colored noise) of ≥ 99%. A number of likely explanations for such are discussed, with a preference given to a modulation of the jet production efficiency by highly magnetized accretion disks. This supports the previous findings and the interpretation reported recently in the literature for OJ 287 and other blazar sources.

We present an in-depth and systematic analysis of a sample of 20 powerful blazars, including 12 BL Lacs and 8 flat spectrum radio quasars, utilizing Fermi/LAT observations from the period 2008-2018 using various analysis tools such as flux distribution, symmetry analysis, and time series analysis. Results show that blazars with steeper γ-ray spectral indexes are found to be more variable; and the γ-ray flux distribution closely resemble both normal and lognormal probability distribution functions. The statistical variability properties of the sources as studied by power spectral density analysis are consistent with flicker noise (P (ν) ∝ 1/ν) -an indication of long-memory processes at work. Statistical analysis of the distribution of flux rise and decay rates in the light curves of the sources, aimed at distinguishing between particle acceleration and energy dissipation timescales, counter-intuitively suggests that both kinds of rates follow a similar distribution and the derived mean variability timescales are in the order of a few weeks. The corresponding emission region size is used to constrain location of γ-ray production sites in the sources to be a few parsecs. Additionally, using Lomb-Scargle periodogram aided with extensive Monte Carlo simulations, we detected year timescale quasi-periodic oscillations in the sources S5 0716+714, Mrk 421, ON +325, PKS 1424-418 and PKS 2155-304; and the detection significance was computed taking proper account of the red-noise and other artifacts inherent in the observations. We explain our results in the light of current blazar models with relativistic shocks propagating down the jet viewed close to the line of sight.

In this work, we explore the long-term variability properties of the blazar PKS 0219-164 in the radio and the γ-ray regime, utilizing the OVRO 15 GHz and the Fermi/LAT observations from the period 2008-2017. We found that γ-ray emission is more variable than the radio emission implying that γ ray emission possibly originated in more compact regions while the radio emission represented continuum emission from the large scale jets. Also, in γ-ray the source exhibited spectral variability characterized by the softer-when-brighter trend, a less frequently observed feature in the high energy emission by BL Lacs. In radio, using Lomb-Scargle periodogram and weighted wavelet z-transform, we detected a strong signal of quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) with a periodicity of 270 ± 26 days with possible harmonics of 550 ± 42 and 1150 ± 157 days periods. At a time when detections of QPOs in blazars are still under debate, the observed QPO with high statistical significance ( ∼ 97% -99% global significance over underlying red-noise processes) and persistent over nearly 10 oscillations could make one of the strongest cases for the detection of QPOs in blazar light curves. We discuss various blazar models that might lead to the γ-ray and radio variability, QPO, and the achromatic behavior seen in the high energy emission from the source.

Context. The international Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) consortium planned and carried out three days of intensive micro-variability observations of S5 0716+714 from February 22, 2009 to February 25, 2009. This object was chosen due to its bright apparent magnitude range, its high declination, and its very large duty cycle for micro-variations. Aims. We report here on the long continuous optical micro-variability light curve of 0716+714 obtained during the multi-site observing campaign during which the Blazar showed almost constant variability over a 0.5 mag range. The resulting light curve is presented here for the first time.Observations from participating observatories were corrected for instrumental differences and combined to construct the overall smoothed light curve. Methods. Thirty-six observatories in sixteen countries participated in this continuous monitoring program and twenty of them submitted data for compilation into a continuous light curve. The light curve was analyzed using several techniques including Fourier transform, Wavelet and noise analysis techniques. Those results led us to model the light curve by attributing the variations to a series of synchrotron pulses. Results. We have interpreted the observed microvariations in this extended light curve in terms of a new model consisting of individual stochastic pulses due to cells in a turbulent jet which are energized by a passing shock and cool by means of synchrotron emission. We obtained an excellent fit to the 72-hour light curve with the synchrotron pulse model.

Here we report on the results of the WEBT photo-polarimetric campaign targeting the blazar S5 0716+71, organized in March 2014 to monitor the source simultaneously in BVRI and near IR filters. The campaign resulted in an unprecedented dataset spanning ∼ 110 h of nearly continuous, multi-band observations, including two sets of densely sampled polarimetric data mainly in R filter. During the campaign, the source displayed pronounced variability with peak-to-peak variations of about 30% and "bluer-when-brighter" spectral evolution, consisting of a day-timescale modulation with superimposed hourlong microflares characterized by ∼ 0.1 mag flux changes. We performed an in-depth search for quasi-periodicities in the source light curve; hints for the presence of oscillations on timescales of ∼ 3 h and ∼ 5 h do not represent highly significant departures from a pure rednoise power spectrum. We observed that, at a certain configuration of the optical polarization angle relative to the positional angle of the innermost radio jet in the source, changes in the polarization degree led the total flux variability by about 2 h; meanwhile, when the relative configuration of the polarization and jet angles altered, no such lag could be noted. The microflaring events, when analyzed as separate pulse emission components, were found to be characterized by a very high polarization degree (> 30%) and polarization angles which differed substantially from the polarization angle of the underlying background component, or from the radio jet positional angle. We discuss the results in the general context of blazar emission and energy dissipation models.