Gopal Bhatta (Institute of Astronomy, University of Zielona Góra)
X-ray emission from blazars provides crucial insights into the underlying AGN processes, as it can arise from synchrotron and inverse-Compton mechanisms in leptonic models, or be part of particle cascades produced in hadronic models. Here we present multi-instrument, multi-epoch investigations of several prominent blazars (OJ 287, PKS 2155–304, 3C 273, and Mrk 421 and samples of other blazars) with a particular focus on their X-ray variability and spectral properties. We perform comprehensive timing and spectral analyses covering intraday to decadal timescales, using long-term observations from Swift, XMM-Newton, NICER, and NuSTAR spanning more than two decades. During the period, the sources consistently display strong variability, with X-ray flux changes reaching factors of ~10–200 during major flares. Timing analysis, including fractional variability, flux and rms distributions, PSD slopes, and rms–flux relations, reveal a combination of normal, lognormal, and bimodal flux states, indicating complex, multiplicative variability processes and transitions between distinct emission states. Spectral analyses using power-law, log-parabola, and broken power-law models demonstrate that log-parabolic or broken spectra best represent the majority of observations, pointing to curvature in the underlying electron energy distributions. Several sources show clear flux-dependent spectral evolution, including “harder-when-brighter’’ behavior and strong correlations between synchrotron peak energy, curvature parameters, and X-ray flux. In OJ 287, broad-band spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling highlights systematic transitions between inverse-Compton–dominated quiescent states and synchrotron-dominated flaring states. Collectively, the observed properties such as Gaussian and non-Gaussian flux distributions, variable PSD slopes, and evolving spectral curvature supports scenarios involving energy-dependent particle acceleration, turbulence, and/or magnetic reconnection within the jet.
