Vol 23, No 9

A Quasi-periodic Oscillation of ∼4.6 yr in the Radio Light Curves of Blazar PKS 0607-157

Xiao-Pan Li, Hai-Yan Yang, Yan Cai, Xie-Fei Song, Hai-Tao Yang and Yu-Qiong Shan

Abstract

We present periodicity search analyses on long-term radio light curves at 4.8, 8, and 14.5 GHz of blazar PKS 0607–157 observed by the University of Michigan Radio Astronomical Observatory telescope. The highly variable radio emissions are approximately distributed as a log-normal probability distribution function. The Power Spectral Density for the radio light curves can be well characterized by a power-law model. Using the Weighted Wavelet Z-transform and Lomb-Scargle periodogram methods, significant Quasi-periodic Oscillation (QPO) of ∼4.6 yr in the radio light curve has been observed above the 3σ confidence level, which presents an interesting case among blazar QPO phenomena. We explore three plausible physical models to explain the observed QPOs: a supermassive binary black hole system, Lense-Thirring precession of the disk, and helical motion of plasma blobs within the jet.

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