Simultaneous X-ray and optical observations of S5 0716+714 after the outburst of March.pdf

a r X i v : a s t r o - p h / 0 6 0 4 6 0 0 v 2 2 1 J u n 2 0 0 6 Astronomy Astrophysics manuscript no. 4959 February 5, 2008 (DOI: will be inserted by hand later) Simultaneous X-ray and optical observations of S5 0716+714 after the outburst of March 2004 ? L. Foschini 1 , G. Tagliaferri 2 , E. Pian 3 , G. Ghisellini 2 , A. Treves 4 , L. Maraschi 2 , F. Tavecchio 2 , G. Di Cocco 1 , S.R. Rosen 5 1 INAF/IASF-Bologna, Via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna (Italy) 2 INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Brera 28, 20121 Milano (Italy) 3 INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via Tiepolo 11, 34131, Trieste (Italy) 4 Dipartimento di Scienze, Universita? degli Studi dell’Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, 22100, Como (Italy) 5 Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College of London Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6NT, UK Received 3 February 2006; Accepted 26 April 2006 Abstract. At the end of March 2004, the blazar S5 0716 + 714 underwent an optical outburst that prompted for quasi- simultaneous target-of-opportunity observations with the INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton satellites. In this paper, we report the results of the XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL OMC data analysis. The X-ray spectrum is well-represented by a concave broken power-law model, with the break at about 2 keV. In the framework of the synchrotron self-Compton model, the softer part of the spectrum, which is described by a power law of index α ? 1.8 (fν ∝ ν ?α ), is probably due to synchrotron emission, while the harder part of the spectrum, which has α ? 1, is due to inverse Compton emission. The blazar shows the long and short-term variability typical of low-frequency peaked BL Lac (LBL): the former is manifested by a gradual decrease in the optical flux from the peak as observed by ground telescopes at the end of March 2004, while the latter is characterized by soft X-ray and optical flares on time scales from a few thousand seconds to few hours. We can follow spectral variations on sub-hour time scal