Long-term multiwavelength view of the blazar 1ES 1218+304

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this work, we present a multiwavelength study of the blazar 1ES 1218+304 using near simultaneous observations over 10 yr during the period 2008 September 1 to 2018 August 31 (MJD 54710–58361). We have analysed data from Swift-UVOT, Swift-XRT, and Fermi-LAT to study the long term behaviour of 1ES 1218+304 in different energy bands over the last decade. We have also used the archival data from OVRO, MAXI, and Swift-BAT available during the above period. The near simultaneous data on 1ES 1218+304 suggest that the long term multiwavelength emission from the source is steady and does not show any significant change in the source activity. The optical/UV fluxes are found to be dominated by the host galaxy emission and can be modelled using the pegase code. However, the time averaged X-ray and γ-ray emissions from the source are reproduced using a single zone leptonic model with log-parabolic distribution for the radiating particles. The intrinsic very high energy γ-ray emission during a low activity state of the source is broadly consistent with the predictions of the leptonic model for blazars. We have investigated the physical properties of the jet and the mass of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the host galaxy using long term X-ray observations from the Swift-XRT which is in agreement with the value derived using blackbody approximation of the host galaxy. We also discuss the extreme nature of the source on the basis of X-ray and γ-ray observations.