Smarts optical and infrared monitoring of 12 gamma-ray bright blazars

Abstract

We present multiwavelength data for 12 blazars observed from 2008 to 2010 as part of an ongoing optical-infrared photometric monitoring project. Sources were selected to be bright, southern (δ < 20°) blazars observed by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. Light curves are presented for the 12 blazars in BVRJK at near-daily cadence. We find that optical and infrared fluxes are well correlated in all sources. Gamma-ray bright flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) in our sample have optical/infrared emission correlated with gamma-rays consistent with inverse Compton-scattering models. In FSRQs, variability amplitude increases toward IR wavelengths, consistent with the presence of a thermal accretion disk varying on significantly longer timescales than the jet. In BL Lac objects, variability is mainly constant, or increases toward shorter wavelength. FSRQs have redder optical-infrared colors when they are brighter, while BL Lac objects show no such trend. Several objects show complicated color-magnitude behavior: AO0235+164 appears in two different states depending on its gamma-ray intensity. OJ287 and 3C279 show some hysteresis tracks in their color-magnitude diagrams. Individual flares may be achromatic or otherwise depart from the trend, suggesting different jet components becoming important at different times. We present a time-dependent spectral energy distribution of the bright FSRQ 3C454.3 during its 2009 December flare, which is well fit by an external Compton model in the bright state, although day-to-day changes pose challenges to a simple one-zone model. All data from the SMARTS monitoring program are publicly available on our Web site. © © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..