X-ray flaring activity in BL Lac
ATel #15730; Raj Prince (CFT)
on 30 Oct 2022; 06:46 UT
Credential Certification: Aditi Agarwal (aditiagarwal.phy@gmail.com)
Subjects: Optical, X-ray, Gamma Ray, AGN, Black Hole, Blazar
Following the flaring activity in gamma-ray (Atel #15688) and radio (Atel #15705, #15709) we performed the target of opportunity observation using the Swift-XRT in X-ray on October 22, 23, 25, and 29, 2022. Here we report the X-ray flaring activity in BL Lac.
Preliminary analysis was performed using the online tool (Evans et al. 2009) and 0.3-10.0 keV unabsorbed flux was estimated by using the power-law spectral model. On October 22, 23, and 25, the flux was estimated as (4.80+/-0.50)X10^-11, (3.74+/-0.27)X10^-11, and (3.50+/-0.40)X10^-11 erg/cm^2/s suggesting a high flux state with photon index 2.02+/-0.18, 1.59+/-0.15, 1.54+/-0.23 showing a softer-when-brighter trend. On October 29, the flux increased by almost a factor of two, reaching (6.75+/-0.77)X10^-11 erg/cm^2/s with a photon index of 2.09+/-0.23. The reported X-ray flux is very similar to what it was during the 2021 flare (Atel #14774). The increase in the X-ray flux also coincides with optical brightening as reported on October 27, 2022, in Atel #15725 suggesting simultaneous flaring activity in the source.
Our proposed ToO monitoring will continue to monitor this source till Nov 07, 2022. We encourage further multi-wavelength monitoring of this object. We would also like to thank the Swift Team for the extremely rapid and efficient scheduling of the ToO observations.
