arXiv subjects

D. R. Xiong

Publications and source records attributed to D. R. Xiong.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Simultaneous Multi-band Optical Follow-up Observations of a Gamma-Ray Flare in BL Lacertae

On $2024$ October $5$, BL Lacertae ($2200+420$) experienced one of its brightest gamma-ray flares. We conducted simultaneous follow-up observations in the $u$, $v$, $g$, $r$, $i$, and $z$ bands from $2024$ October $17$ to November $21$ using the Mephisto telescope and its two $50$ cm twin auxiliary photometric telescopes of Yunnan University. Intraday variability (IDV) was detected in the $g$, $r$, $i$, and $z$ bands. The IDV duty cycle increased with observing frequency across these bands. The shortest variability time-scale, derived from auto-correlation analysis, constrains the upper limit of the black hole mass to be $M_{\bullet} \lesssim 10^{8.29} M_{\odot}$ assuming a Kerr black hole, and $M_{\bullet} \lesssim 10^{8.77} M_{\odot}$ assuming a Schwarzschild black hole. The emission region responsible for the observed variability has a size of $R \le 3.51 \times 10^{14}$ cm and is located at a distance of $R_H \le 2.83 \times 10^{15}$ cm from the central supermassive black hole. This distance is approximately three orders of magnitude smaller than the typical radius of the broad-line region, indicating that the emission region lies well within it. A general bluer-when-brighter (BWB) trend was detected on intraday time-scales, suggesting that shock-accelerated relativistic electrons enhance the high-energy particle population, leading to spectral hardening. A potential quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) with a period of $\sim 100.77$ minutes was detected with $>99.99$ per cent confidence, consistent with predictions from the magnetic reconnection model. These observed optical intraday variabilities and colour variations of BL Lacertae can be well explained by the turbulent jet model.

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arXiv2024

Optical intraday variability analysis for the BL Lacertae object 1ES 1426+42.8

The observation data of blazar 1ES 1426 + 42.8 were obtained using the 1.02 m optical telescope of Yunnan Observatories during $2021$ to $2023$. Intraday variability (IDV) is detected on seven nights. We use the turbulent model to investigate the mechanism of IDV in 1ES 1426 + 42.8. The fitting light curves match the actual IDV curves well. Using this model, we obtain the parameters such as the size of turbulent cells and the width of pulses in the jet. A possible short-lived Quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) of $58.55 \pm 8.09$ minutes was detected on April 26, 2022 whose light curve exhibits eight cycles at $>3σ$ global significance and confirmed by several different techniques. Through a more detailed analysis of the light curve of this night, we find that the period is shortened from 54.23 minutes ($4σ$) to 29.71 minutes ($3σ$). The possible QPO and period shortening phenomenon are best explained by the processes of magnetic reconnections.

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arXiv2023

Multicolour Optical Variability Monitoring of Blazars with High Time Resolution

We carried out a high time-resolution, multicolour optical observing campaign for eight $γ$-ray detected blazars during 2010-2020. We analyze flux variations, correlations between magnitudes and colours on different timescales. Intraday variability (IDV) is detected in all eight sources of our sample. A bluer-when-brighter (BWB) chromatic trend is dominant on intraday timescales. On the short timescales, the BWB trend only shows up in ON 231, 3C 279, BL Lacertae and 1E 1458.8+2249. There is a BWB trend in 3C 279 on the long timescale. We estimate the upper limits of black hole mass for three blazars (i.e. ON 321, 1ES 1426+42.8, PKS 1510-089) using variability timescales. On April 13, 2010 a potential quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) with the period of $P=48.67\pm13.90$ minutes is found in 1ES 1426+42.8. The light curve on March 16, 2021 further shows the existence of the QPO phenomenon. The QPO in this target deserves further observation and confirmation.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

On the effect of turbulent anisotropy on pulsation stability of stars

Within the framework of non-local time-dependent stellar convection theory, we study in detail the effect of turbulent anisotropy on stellar pulsation stability. The results show that anisotropy has no substantial influence on pulsation stability of g modes and low-order (radial order $n_\mathrm{r}<5$) p modes. The effect of turbulent anisotropy increases as the radial order increases. When turbulent anisotropy is neglected, most of high-order ($n_\mathrm{r}>5$) p modes of all low-temperature stars become unstable. Fortunately, within a wide range of the anisotropic parameter $c_3$, stellar pulsation stability is not sensitive to the specific value of $c_3$. Therefore it is safe to say that calibration errors of the convective parameter $c_3$ do not cause any uncertainty in the calculation of stellar pulsation stability.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2018

Turbulent convection and pulsation stability of stars - I. Basic equations for calculations of stellar structure and oscillations

Starting from hydrodynamic equations, we have established a set of hydrodynamic equations for average flow and a set of dynamic equations of auto- and cross-correlations of turbulent velocity and temperature fluctuations, following the classic Reynold's treatment of turbulence. The combination of the two sets of equations leads to a complete and self-consistent mathematical expressions ready for the calculations of stellar structure and oscillations. In this paper, non-locality and anisotropy of turbulent convection are concisely presented, together with defining and calibrating of the three convection parameters ($c_1$, $c_2$ and $c_3$) included in the algorithm. With the non-local theory of convection, the structure of the convective envelope and the major characteristics of non-adiabatic linear oscillations are demonstrated by numerical solutions. Great effort has been exercised to the choice of convection parameters and pulsation instabilities of the models, the results of which show that within large ranges of all three parameters ($c_1$, $c_2$ and $c_3$) the main properties of pulsation stability keep unchanged.

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arXiv2018

Turbulent convection and pulsation stability of stars - II. Theoretical instability strip for $δ$ Scuti and $γ$ Doradus stars

By using a non-local and time-dependent convection theory, we have calculated radial and low-degree non-radial oscillations for stellar evolutionary models with $M=1.4$--3.0\,$\mathrm{M}_\odot$. The results of our study predict theoretical instability strips for $δ$ Scuti and $γ$ Doradus stars, which overlap with each other. The strip of $γ$ Doradus is slightly redder in colour than that of $δ$ Scuti. We have paid great attention to the excitation and stabilization mechanisms for these two types of oscillations, and we conclude that radiative $κ$ mechanism plays a major role in the excitation of warm $δ$ Scuti and $γ$ Doradus stars, while the coupling between convection and oscillations is responsible for excitation and stabilization in cool stars. Generally speaking, turbulent pressure is an excitation of oscillations, especially in cool $δ$ Scuti and $γ$ Doradus stars and all cool Cepheid- and Mira-like stars. Turbulent thermal convection, on the other hand, is a damping mechanism against oscillations that actually plays the major role in giving rise to the red edge of the instability strip. Our study shows that oscillations of $δ$ Scuti and $γ$ Doradus stars are both due to the combination of $κ$ mechanism and the coupling between convection and oscillations, and they belong to the same class of variables at the low-luminosity part of the Cepheid instability strip. Within the $δ$ Scuti--$γ$ Doradus instability strip, most of the pulsating variables are very likely hybrids that are excited in both p and g modes.

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arXiv2018

Turbulent convection and pulsation stability of stars - III. Non-adiabatic oscillations of red giants

We have computed linear non-adiabatic oscillations of luminous red giants using a non-local and anisotropic time-dependent theory of convection. The results show that low-order radial modes can be self-excited. Their excitation is the result of radiation and the coupling between convection and oscillations. Turbulent pressure has important effects on the excitation of oscillations in red variables.

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arXiv2017

Search for intra-day optical variability in Mrk 501

We present our observations of the optical intra-day variability (IDV) in $γ$-ray BL Lac object Mrk 501. The observations were run with the 1.02 m and 2.4 m optical telescopes at Yunnan Observatories from 2005 April to 2012 May. The light curve at the $R$ band on 2010 May 15 passes both variability tests (the $F$ test and the ANOVA test). A flare within the light curve on 2010 May 15 has a magnitude change $Δm = 0.03 \pm 0.005_{\rm{stat}} \pm 0.007_{\rm{sys}}$ mag, \textbf{a darkening timescale of $τ_{\rm{d}}=$ 26.7 minutes}, and an amplitude of IDV $Amp=2.9\% \pm0.7\%$. A decline \textbf{described by 11 consecutive flux measurements} within the flare can be fitted linearly with a Pearson's correlation coefficient $r = 0.945$ at the confidence level of $> 99.99\%$. Under the assumptions that the IDV is tightly connected to the mass of the black hole, \textbf{and that the flare duration, being two times $τ_{\rm{d}}$, is representative of the minimum characteristic timescale, we can derive upper bounds to the mass of the black hole}. In the case of the Kerr black hole, the timescale of $Δt_{\rm{min}}^{\rm{ob}}=$ 0.89 hours gives $M_{\bullet}\la 10^{9.20} M_{\odot}$, which is consistent with measurements reported in the literature. This agreement indicates that the hypothesis about $M_{\bullet}$ and $Δt_{\rm{min}}^{\rm{ob}}$ is consistent with the measurements/data.

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arXiv2016

Curvature of the spectral energy distribution, the dominant process for inverse Compton component and other jet properties in Fermi 2LAC blazars

We fit the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of members of a large sample of Fermi 2LAC blazars to synchrotron and inverse Compton (IC) models. Our main results are as follows. (i) As suggested by previous works, the correlation between peak frequency and curvature can be explained by statistical or stochastic particle acceleration mechanisms. For BL Lacs, we find a linear correlation between synchrotron peak frequency and its curvature. The slope of the correlation is consistent with the stochastic acceleration mechanisms and confirm previous studies. For FSRQs, we also find a linear correlation, but its slope cannot be explained by previous theoretical models. (ii) We find a significant correlation between IC luminosity and synchrotron luminosity. The slope of the correlation of FSRQs is consistent with the EC process. And the slope of the correlation of BL Lac is consistent with the SSC process. (iii) We find several significant correlations between IC curvature and several basic parameters of blazars (black hole mass, broad line luminosity, the Lorentz factor of jet). We also find significant correlations between bolometric luminosity and these basic parameters of blazars which suggest that the origin of jet is a mixture of the mechanisms proposed by Blandford $\&$ Znajek and by Blandford $\&$ Payne.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

The physical properties of \textit{Fermi} TeV BL Lac objects jets

We investigate the physical properties of \textit{Fermi} TeV BL Lac objects jets by modeling the quasi-simultaneous spectral energy distribution of 29 \textit{Fermi} TeV BL Lacs in the frame of a one-zone leptonic synchrotron self-Compton model. Our main results are the following: (i) There is a negative correlation between $B$ and $δ$ in our sample, which suggests that $B$ and $δ$ are dependent on each other mainly in Thomson regime. (ii) There are negative correlations between $ν_{\text{sy}}$ and $r$, the $ν_{\text{IC}}$ and $r$, which is a signature of the energy-dependence statistical acceleration or the stochastic acceleration. There is a significant correlation between $r$ and $s$, which suggests that the curvature of the electron energy distribution is attributed to the energy-dependence statistical acceleration mechanism. (iii) By assuming one proton per relativistic electron, we estimate the jet power and radiative power. A size relation $P_{\text{e}} \sim P_{\text{p}} > P_{\text{r}} \gtrsim P_{\text{B}}$ is found in our sample. The $P_{\text{e}}>P_{\text{B}}$ suggests that the jets are particle dominated, and the $P_{\text{e}}\sim P_{\text{p}}$ means that the mean energy of relativistic electrons approaches $m_{\text{p}}/m_{\text{e}}$. There are not significant correlations between $P_{\text{jet}}$ and black hole mass in high or low state with a sub-sample of 18 sources, which suggests that the jet power weakly depends on the black hole mass. (iv) There is a correlation between the changes in the flux density at 1 TeV and the changes in the $γ_{\text{peak}}$, which suggests the change/evolution of electron energy distribution may be mainly responsible for the flux variation.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2007

How to define the boundaries of a convective zone and how extended is overshooting?

Under nonlocal convection theory, convection extends without limit therefore no apparent boundary can be defined clearly as in the local theory. From the requirement of a similar structure for both local and non-local models having the same depth of convection zone, and taking into account the driving mechanism of turbulent convection, we argue that a proper definition of the boundary of a convective zone should be the place where the convective energy flux (i.e. the correlation of turbulent velocity and temperature) changes its sign. Therefore, it is convectively unstable region when the flux is positive, and it is convective overshooting zone when the flux becomes negative. The physical picture of the overshooting zone drawn by the usual non-local mixing-length theory is not correct. In fact, convection is already sub-adiabatic ($\nabla<\nabla_{ad}$) far before reaching the unstable boundary; while in the overshooting zone below the convective zone, convection is sub-adiabatic and super-radiative ($\nabla_{rad}<\nabla<\nabla_{ad}$). The transition between the adiabatic temperature gradient and the radiative one is continuous and smooth instead of a sudden switch. In the unstable zone the temperature gradient is approaching radiative rather than going to adiabatic. We would like to claim again that, the overshooting distance is different for different physical quantities......

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arXiv2006

Non-adiabatic Oscillations of Red Giants

Using our non-local time-dependent theory of convection, the linear non-adiabatic oscillations of 10 evolutionary model series with masses of 1--3M$_\odot$ are calculated. The results show that there is a red giant instability strip in the lower temperature side of the Hertzsprung-Russel (HR) diagram which goes along the sequences of the red giant branch (RGB) and the asymptotic giant branch (AGB). For red giants of lower luminosities, pulsation instability are found at high order overtones, the lower order modes from the fundamental to the second overtone are stable. Towards higher luminosity and lower effective temperature, instability moves to lower order modes, and the amplitude growth rate of oscillations also grows. At the high luminosity end of the strip, the fundamental and the first overtone become unstable, while all the modes above the 4th order become stable. The excitation mechanism have been sdudied in detail. It is found that turbulent pressure plays a key role for excitating of red variables. The frozen convecttin approximation is unavailaable for the low temperature stars with extended convective envelopes. In any case, this approximation can explain neither the red edge of the Cepheid instability strip, nor the blue edge of the pulsating red giant instability strip. An analytic expression of a pulsation constant as a function of stellar mass, luminosity and effective temperature is presented from this work.

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arXiv1997

Turbulent Convection and pulsational Stability of Variable Stars I. Oscillations of Long-Period Variables

We have performed a linear pulsational stability survey of 6 series of long period variable models with M=1.0 Msun, L=3000 - 8000Lsun, and (X,Z)= (0.700,0.020),(0.735,0.005). The dynamic and thermodynamic couplings between convection and oscillations are treated by using a statistical theory of nonlocal and time-dependent convection. The results show that the fundamental and all the low overtones are always pulsationally unstable for the low temperature models when the coupling between convection and oscillations is ignored. When the coupling is considered, there is indeed a "Mira" pulsationally instability region outside of the Cepheid instability strip on the H-R diagram. The coolest models near the Hayashi track are pulsationally stable. Towards high temperature the fundamental mode first becomes unstable, and then the first overtone. Some one of the 2nd -4th overtone may become unstable for the hotter models. All the modes higher than 4th (n > 4) are pulsationally stable. The position and the width of such an instability region on the H-R diagram critically depends on the mass, luminosity and metal abundance of the star.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1997

Turbulent Convection and Pulsational Stability of Variable Stars II. Oscillations of RR Lyrae and Horizontal Branch Red Variable Stars

Using a nonlocal time-dependent theory of convection, we have calculated the linear non-adiabatic oscillations of the Horizontal Branch (HB) stars, with both the dynamic and thermodynamic coupling between convection and oscillations carefully treated. Turbulent pressure and turbulent viscosity have been included consistently in our equations of non-adiabatic pulsation. When the coupling between convection and oscillations is ignored, for all models with Teff <= 7350, the fundamental through the second overtone are pulsationally unstable; while for Teff <= 6200 all the models are unstable up to (at least) the 9th overtone. When the coupling between convection and oscillations is included, the RR Lyrae instability strip is very well predicted. Within the strip the most models are pulsationally unstable only for the fundamental and the first few overtones. The turbulent viscosity is an important damping mechanism. Being exclusively distinct from the luminous red variables (long period variables), the HB stars to the right of the RR strip are pulsationally stable for the fundamental and low-order overtones, but become unstable for some oen of the high-order overtones. This may provide a valuable clue for the short period, low amplitude red variables found outside the red edge of the RR strip on the H-R diagram of globular clusters. Moreover, we present a new radiation modulated excitation mechanism functioning in a zone of radiation flux gradient. The effects of nonlocal convection and the dynamic coupling between convection and oscillations are discussed. The spatial oscillations of the thermal variables in the pulsational calculations have been effectively suppressed.

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