Studies of bright flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C 454.3 at high and very-high-energies

Abstract

Blazars are the subclass of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) which includes the Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQ) and BL Lacertae (BL Lac) objects. Variability on the short- and long-time scale in all the wide energy ranges from radio up to gamma-ray emission is a special characteristic of blazars. Multi-wavelength studies of the flaring activity and variability of blazars can serve as a tool to probe the physical properties of the near the core regions and processes responsible for the observed features. 3C 454.3 is a bright FSRQ that is intensively studied through the wide range of electromagnetic spectrum. It has shown remarkably high activity since 2000. The long-term observations of 3C 454.3 at 800 GeV–100 TeV energies with the SHALON telescope were started in 1998 year. A number of activity periods were found. The most significant flaring state of 3C 454.3 at TeV energies was detected in the SHALON observational period of November–December 2010. This increase is correlated with the flares at a lower energy range in observations of Fermi-LAT. The direct association of the significant changes of gamma-ray flux with strong core radio flares are not clear but observed correlations and lags in multi-wavelength activity may point to the complexity of the emission processes in blazars connected with disturbance propagating in the jet.