arXiv subjects

Agniva Roychowdhury

Publications and source records attributed to Agniva Roychowdhury.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

First Detection of Radio Polarization During Jet Formation in the Changing-Look AGN 1ES 1927+654

We present a multiwavelength radio study of the changing-look AGN 1ES 1927+654 following its renewed X-ray brightening since mid-2022, combining VLBA imaging with multi-band and time-resolved VLA observations. Our main results are: (i) VLBA observations continue to reveal the bipolar jet structure first reported in Meyer et al. (2025), with new X-band detections confirming the morphology at larger separation and K-band imaging revealing a bridge of emission consistent with a continuous outflow; (ii) the VLBA core exhibits a GHz-peaked spectrum, and VLA/VLITE observations from 340 MHz to 45 GHz show emission from an inhomogeneous synchrotron source, self-absorbed below ~3 GHz and optically thin above; (iii) VLA and VLBA flux densities are consistent above 8 GHz, indicating emission dominated by a compact core; (iv) linear polarization is detected above ~3 GHz, with fractional polarization increasing with frequency from ~0.2% to ~6% and EVPAs exhibiting non-linear lambda^2 behavior; (v) long-term VLA X-band monitoring reveals a large, smooth rotation of the EVPA of ~137 degrees over ~81 days in 2026, followed by a partial return, at stable total intensity and suppressed fractional polarization <~1.4%, consistent with a propagating disturbance crossing the compact emitting region; and (vi) circular polarization is not detected at any epoch. These observations demonstrate that 1ES 1927+654 has transitioned from an X-ray-dominated, non-jetted state to a radio-loud AGN (Laha et al. 2025) hosting a newly launched relativistic jet, a unique laboratory for studying jet birth and early magnetic field evolution.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Reconnection-driven State Transitions in Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars

We extend the work of Roychowdhury (2026) on skewness variations of the logarithmic flux, driven by large GeV flares in FSRQs, to a sample of 18 FSRQs. We find that they can be categorized into three groups, one where the skewness attains a persistent lower value after a large flare, one where it increases, and those where change in skewness is not significant. To provide a theoretical ground for these results, we use the statistical plasmoid model of Fermo et al. (2010) that self-consistently produces large plasmoids through merging which, when gain energy from the reconnection event and are Doppler aligned, produce large flares. We find that a downsampling of our simulation of 1500 runs to 18 statistically reproduces the observed distribution in p-values for change in skewness. We further compute the ensemble Shannon entropy of the system and the skewness, where the entropy is found to decrease at a $3σ$ level in both the groups where skewness either increases or decreases, as a direct evidence of increase in order in the system caused by a flare. We find that the power spectral densities of the simulated light curves are broken-power-laws, resembling a white noise+red noise broken by the typical cooling timescale in our system, in accordance with known blazar variability. We find that our results are robust to a $200-300\%$ change in several fiducial parameters of the simulation. Our stochastic simulation of plasmoids inside a blazar jet is consistent with key observable statistical properties of blazar GeV light curves.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

Parameter Estimation Limits in Blazars

Parameter degeneracy in blazar spectral energy distributions (SEDs) is known but rarely quantified. This paper introduces a Fisher Information approach to determine theoretical limits to information extraction in the context of one-zone models. By evaluating the total Fisher Information by varying $δ$, $B$, $p$, $γ_{\rm min}$ and $γ_{\rm max}$, we find that EC models encode Fisher information $\gtrsim10^4$ times less than that in SSC models, establishing differences in limits of physical information extraction even in the case of perfect sampling. Moreover, the Fisher information in both SSC and EC models exhibit strong fluctuations across the parameter space, but since the magnitudes are orders of magnitude lower in EC, limits of parameter inference are expected to be worse in FSRQ SEDs than BL Lacs. We also find that the Doppler factor $δ$ carries at least $10^{2-3}$ more Fisher information than that for $p$ and $B$ in both EC and SSC, making $δ$ the most constrained SED parameter. Applying our Fisher Information motivated framework to real flaring SEDs of Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs) CTA 102 and 3C 279, we show that mild variations in $δ$ and $p$ can appreciably produce the flaring SEDs starting from the quiescent model, while two other flares in 3C 279 simple geometric and spectral considerations cannot reproduce the flares, reducing the efficacy of one-zone models. We propose that time-resolved SED models are indispensable to constraining physical parameters in EC-dominated blazars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2026

An Afterglow Study of the "New Year's Burst" GRB 220101A

We present a detailed broadband afterglow study of GRB 220101A ($10^4\lesssimΔT\lesssim10^7$ s) combining multi-wavelength data from soft X-rays until 6 GHz. The afterglow light curves in both X-ray and optical show distinct steepening around $\sim9$ days, followed by a sharp post-break decay index of $\sim2.99\pm0.10$. We fit the light curves using the afterglow modelling package \texttt{afterglowpy} for both Top-hat and Gaussian jets for different values of the electronic participation fraction $ξ$ from 0.01 to 1.0 and find that, although the radio behavior is well described by the $ξ=1.0$ case, the required circumburst medium (CBM) densities are very low, $<10^{-4}$ cm$^{-3}$. However, the resulting energy requirements are modest, $\sim10^{52}$ erg, with an electron energy distribution (EED) index $p\sim2.05$. Similar results are also obtained from an analytic model fit to the light curve, except the predicted $p$ is higher, $\sim2.40$. The observed post-break decay index of $2.99$ is at least 5$σ$ away from $p$, which is one of the steepest observed so far. We also find that when ignoring the radio observations, the CBM density is raised by a few orders of magnitude to $\sim0.01$ cm$^{-3}$ for $ξ=1.0$, still far from the expected ISM density ($>1$ cm$^{-3}$) of GRB environments, which are highly star forming regions. Similarly low ISM densities have been seen in modeling of other LAT GRBs as well, especially ones with reverse-shock features (e.g., GRBs 130427A, 160509A and 160625B), thereby hinting at either an issue with the standard model or possible evacuated cavities where GRBs explode.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2025

Minijets and Broken Stationarity in a Blazar : Novel Insights into the Origin of $γ$-ray Variability in CTA 102

High-energy blazar light curves, in X-rays and beyond, have historically preferred a log-normal flux distribution, signifying multiplicative processes either in the jet itself or due to connection(s) with accretion. Here we present 18 year archival Fermi-LAT light curves (0.1-100 GeV) of the flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) CTA 102 from August 2008 to November 2025, which underwent a huge flare in 2017, with a $\sim$ factor of 100 jump in $γ$-ray flux, along with similar flaring in X-rays. Our statistical analyses confirm that neither the pre nor the post-flare total GeV light curves follow a strictly log-normal distribution. Instead, we observe a statistically significant reduction in skewness from the pre to the post-flare light curves, which implies the blazar transitioned from an energetic state with frequent flaring to a more plateaued state with occasional flaring. We further find that this state transition can be explained through magnetic relaxation, where many reconnection events caused the 2017 flare, after which the magnetic field was ordered and its energy reached a minimum. To explain this further, we use a Monte Carlo simulation of a modified minijets-in-a-jet model where GeV flares are produced only when a maximum number of minijets move toward the broad line region and towards the line of sight, in the context of an external Compton model. The flux distributions (both observed and simulated) could be fit by a modified log-normal power-law distribution, implying our minijets model can reproduce the GeV flares in CTA 102 as well as their flux distributions.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

Late-time radio brightening and emergence of a radio jet in the changing-look AGN 1ES 1927+654

We present multi-frequency (5-345 GHz) and multi-resolution radio observations of 1ES 1927+654, widely considered one of the most unusual and extreme changing-look active galactic nuclei (CL-AGN). The source was first designated a CL-AGN after an optical outburst in late 2017 and has since displayed considerable changes in X-ray emission, including the destruction and rebuilding of the X-ray corona in 2019-2020. Radio observations prior to 2023 show a faint and compact radio source typical of radio-quiet AGN. Starting in February 2023, 1ES 1927+654 began exhibiting a radio flare with a steep exponential rise, reaching a peak 60 times previous flux levels, and has maintained this higher level of radio emission for over a year to date. The 5-23 GHz spectrum is broadly similar to gigahertz-peaked radio sources, which are understood to be young radio jets less than ~1000 years old. Recent high-resolution VLBA observations at 23.5 GHz now show resolved extensions on either side of the core, with a separation of ~0.15 pc, consistent with a new and mildly relativistic bipolar outflow. A steady increase in the soft X-ray band (0.3-2 keV) concurrent with the radio may be consistent with jet-driven shocked gas, though further observations are needed to test alternate scenarios. This source joins a growing number of CL-AGN and tidal disruption events which show late-time radio activity, years after the initial outburst.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

A new generation DIFMAP for Modelfitting Interferometric Data and Estimating Variances, Biases and Correlations

We present the program `Catalogue of proper motions in extragalactic jets from Active galactic Nuclei with Very large Array Studies' or CAgNVAS, with the objective of using archival and new VLA observations to measure proper motions of jet components beyond hundred parsecs. This objective requires extremely high accuracy in component localization. Interferometric datasets are noisy and often lack optimal coverage of the visibility plane, making interpretation of subtleties in deconvolved imaging inaccurate. Fitting models to complex visibilities, rather than working in the imaging plane, is generally preferred as a solution when one needs the most accurate description of the true source structure. In this paper, we present a new generation version of $\texttt{DIFMAP}$ (\texttt{ngDIFMAP}) to model and fit interferometric closure quantities developed for the CAgNVAS program. \texttt{ngDIFMAP} uses a global optimization algorithm based on simulated annealing, which results in more accurate parameter estimation especially when the number of parameters is high. Using this package we demonstrate the ramifications of amplitude and phase errors, as well as loss of $u-v$ coverage, on parameters estimated from visibility data. The package can be used to accurately predict variance, bias, and correlations between parameters. Our results demonstrate the limits on information recovery from noisy interferometric data, with a particular focus on the accurate reporting of errors on measured quantities.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

Proper Motions in the sub-kiloparsec Jet of 3C 78: Novel Constraints on the Physical Nature of Relativistic Jets

Jets from active galactic nuclei are thought to play a role in the evolution of their host and local environments, but a detailed prescription is limited by the understanding of the jets themselves. Proper motion studies of compact bright components in radio jets can be used to produce model-independent constraints on their Lorentz factor, necessary to understand the quantity of energy deposited in the inter-galactic medium. We present our initial work on the jet of radio-galaxy 3C~78, as part of CAgNVAS (Catalogue of proper motions in Active galactic Nuclei using Very Large Array Studies), with a goal of constraining nature of jet plasma on larger ($>100$ parsec) scales. In 3C~78 we find three prominent knots (A, B and C), where knot B undergoes subluminal longitudinal motion ($\sim0.6c$ at $\sim$ 200 pc), while knot C undergoes extreme (apparent) backward motion and eventual forward motion ($\sim-2.6c$, $0.5c$, at $\sim$ 300 pc). Assuming knots are shocks, we infer the bulk speeds from the pattern motion of Knots B and C. We model the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the large-scale jet and observe that a physically motivated two-zone model can explain most of the observed emission. We also find that the jet profile remains approximately conical from parsec to kiloparsec scales. Using the parsec-scale speed from VLBI studies ($\sim0.1c$) and the derived bulk speeds, we find that the jet undergoes bulk acceleration between the parsec and the kiloparsec scales providing the first direct evidence of jet acceleration in a conical and matter-dominated jet.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

A re-emerging bright soft-X-ray state of the changing-look Active Galactic Nucleus 1ES~1927+654: a multi-wavelength view

1ES1927+654 is a nearby active galactic nucleus that has shown an enigmatic outburst in optical/UV followed by X-rays, exhibiting strange variability patterns at timescales of months-years. Here we report the unusual X-ray, UV, and radio variability of the source in its post-flare state (Jan 2022- May 2023). Firstly, we detect an increase in the soft X-ray (0.3-2 keV) flux from May 2022- May 2023 by almost a factor of five, which we call the bright-soft-state. The hard X-ray 2-10 keV flux increased by a factor of two, while the UV flux density did not show any significant changes ($\le 30\%$) in the same period. The integrated energy pumped into the soft and hard X-ray during this period of eleven months is $\sim 3.57\times 10^{50}$ erg and $5.9\times 10^{49}$ erg, respectively. From the energetics, it is evident that whatever is producing the soft excess (SE) is pumping out more energy than either the UV or hard X-ray source. Since the energy source presumably is ultimately the accretion of matter onto the SMBH, the SE emitting region must be receiving the majority of this energy. In addition, the source does not follow the typical disc-corona relation found in AGNs, neither in the initial flare (in 2017-2019) nor in the current bright soft state (2022-2023). We found that the core (<1 pc) radio emission at 5 GHz gradually increased till March 2022 but showed a dip in August 2022. The Güdel Benz relation ($L_{\rm radio}/L_{\rm X-ray}\sim 10^{-5}$), however, is still within the expected range for radio-quiet AGN and further follow-up radio observations are currently being undertaken.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

A Multi-Wavelength Study of Multiple Spectral Component Jets in AGN: Testing the IC/CMB Model for the Large-Scale-Jet X-ray Emission

Over 150 resolved, kpc-scale X-ray jets hosted by active galactic nuclei have been discovered with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. A significant fraction of these jets have an X-ray spectrum either too high in flux or too hard to be consistent with the high-energy extension of the radio-to-optical synchrotron spectrum, a subtype we identify as Multiple Spectral Component (MSC) X-ray jets. A leading hypothesis for the origin of the X-rays is the inverse-Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background by the same electron population producing the radio-to-optical synchrotron spectrum (known as the IC/CMB model). In this work, we test the IC/CMB model in 45 extragalactic X-ray jets using observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to look for the expected high level of gamma-ray emission, utilizing observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) when possible to best constrain the predicted gamma-ray flux. Including this and previous works, we now find the IC/CMB model to be ruled out in a total of 24/45 MSC X-ray jets due to its overprediction for the observed MeV-to-GeV gamma-ray flux. We present additional evidence against the IC/CMB model, including the relative X-ray-to-radio relativistic beaming in these sources, and the general mismatch between radio and X-ray spectral indexes. Finally, we present upper limits on the large scale bulk-flow Lorentz factors for all jets based on the Fermi upper limits, which suggest that these jets are at most mildly relativistic.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

A radio, optical, UV and X-ray view of the enigmatic changing look Active Galactic Nucleus 1ES~1927+654 from its pre- to post-flare states

The nearby type-II AGN 1ES1927+654 went through a violent changing-look (CL) event beginning December 2017 during which the optical and UV fluxes increased by four magnitudes over a few months, and broad emission lines newly appeared in the optical/UV. By July 2018 the X-ray coronal emission had completely vanished, only to reappear a few months later. In this work we report the evolution of the radio, optical, UV and X-rays from the pre-flare state through mid-2021 with new and archival data from the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), the European VLBI Network, the Very Large Array (VLA), the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), The Neil Gehrels Swift observatory and XMM-Newton. The main results from our work are: (1) The source has returned to its pre-CL state in optical, UV, and X-ray; the disk-corona relation has been re-established as has been in the pre-CL state, with an $α_{\rm OX}\sim 1.02$. The optical spectra are dominated by narrow emission lines. (2) The UV light curve follows a shallower slope of $\propto t^{-0.91\pm 0.04}$ compared to that predicted by a tidal disruption event. We conjecture that a magnetic flux inversion event is the possible cause for this enigmatic event. (3) The compact radio emission which we tracked in the pre-CL (2014), during CL (2018) and post-CL(2021) at spatial scales $<1$ pc was at its lowest level during the changing look event in 2018, nearly contemporaneous with a low $2-10$ keV emission. The radio to X-ray ratio of the compact source $L_{\rm Radio}/L_{\rm X-ray}\sim 10^{-5.5}$, follows the Gudel-Benz relation, typically found in coronally active stars, and several AGN. (4) We do not detect any presence of nascent jets at the spatial scales of $\sim 5-10$ pc.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Circumnuclear Dust in AP Librae and the source of its VHE emission

The broad high-energy spectral component in blazars is usually attributed to various inverse Compton scattering processes in the relativistic jet, but has not been clearly identified in most cases due to degeneracies in physical models. AP Librae, a low-synchrotron-peaking BL Lac object (LBL) detected in 2015 by H.E.S.S. at very high energies (VHE; $>$ 0.5 TeV), has an extremely broad high-energy spectrum, covering $\sim$ 9 decades in energy. Standard synchrotron self-Compton models generally fail to reproduce the VHE emission, which has led to the suggestion that it might arise not from the blazar core, but on kiloparsec scales from inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons by a still-relativistic jet (IC/CMB). IC/CMB models for the TeV emission of AP Librae in prior works have implied a high level of infrared emission from the kpc-scale jet. With newly obtained Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we obtain a deep upper limit on the kpc-scale jet emission at 1.6 $μ$m, well below the expected level. High-resolution ALMA imaging in bands 3-9 reveals a residual dust disk signature after core subtraction, with a clearly thermal spectrum, and an extent ($\sim$500 pc) which matches with a non-jet residual emission seen after PSF subtraction in our 1.6 $μ$m HST imaging. We find that the unusually broad GeV and VHE emission in AP Librae can be reproduced through the combined IC scattering of photons from the CMB and the dust disk, respectively, by electrons in both the blazar core and sub-kpc jet.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Exploring the Voids: Luminosity Functions and Magnetic Field

We present semi-analytical models for magnetisation of the void inter-galactic medium (IGM) by outflows from void galaxies. The number density of dark matter haloes in an under-dense region (i.e., void) is obtained using the excursion set method extended for such low density environment. The star formation in such haloes has been estimated, taking account of the negative feedback by supernovae. The galaxy formation/evolution model is tuned to provide the $r$-band luminosity function, the stellar mass function and also the color of void galaxies as obtained from recent observations. This star formation model is used to study possible outflows from void galaxies driven by the hot thermal gas and cosmic ray pressures. These outflows drag the magnetic fields present in those galaxies to the void IGM. We show that such a model can magnetise $\sim 30\%$ of the void IGM with the magnetic field strength of $10^{-12}-10^{-10}$ G while considering only magnetic flux freezing condition. Along with this, the megapersec size of individual outflows can explain the non-detection of GeV photons in TeV blazars that put a lower limit of $10^{-16}$ G for void IGM magnetic field with a Mpc coherent length scale.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Time-rescaling of Dirac dynamics: shortcuts to adiabaticity in ion traps and Weyl semimetals

Only very recently, rescaling time has been recognized as a way to achieve adiabatic dynamics in fast processes. The advantage of time-rescaling over other shortcuts to adiabaticity is that it does not depend on the eigenspectrum and eigenstates of the Hamiltonian. However, time-rescaling requires that the original dynamics are adiabatic, and in the rescaled time frame the Hamiltonian exhibits non-trivial time-dependence. In this work, we show how time-rescaling can be applied to Dirac dynamics, and we show that all time-dependence can be absorbed into the effective potentials through a judiciously chosen unitary transformation. This is demonstrated for two experimentally relevant scenarios, namely for ion traps and adiabatic creation of Weyl points.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Possible Accretion Disk Origin of the Emission Variability of a Blazar Jet

We analyze X-ray light curves of the blazar Mrk 421 obtained from the Soft X-ray Imaging Telescope and the Large Area X-Ray Proportional Counter instrument onboard the Indian space telescope $AstroSat$ and archival observations from $Swift$. We show that the X-ray power spectral density (PSD) is a piece-wise power-law with a break, i.e., the index becomes more negative below a characteristic "break-timescale". Galactic black hole X-ray binaries and Seyfert galaxies exhibit a similar characteristic timescale in their X-ray variability that is proportional to their respective black hole mass. X-rays in these objects are produced in the accretion disk or corona. Hence, such a timescale is believed to be linked to the properties of the accretion flow. Any relation observed between events in the accretion disk and those in the jet can be used to characterize the disk-jet connection. However, evidence of such link have been scarce and indirect. Mrk 421 is a BL Lac object which has a prominent jet pointed towards us and a weak disk emission, and it is assumed that most of its X-rays are generated in the jet. Hence, existence of the break in its X-ray PSD may indicate that changes in the accretion disk, which may be the source of the break timescale are translating into the jet, where the X-rays are produced.

astro-ph.HE↗