The optical intra-day variability of BL laceratae object 2200 + 420

Abstract

ABSTRACT We observed the blazar 2200 + 420 in the I, R, and V bands using the 1.0 m telescope at Weihai Observatory of Shandong University on eight nights in October 2022 and obtained over 3800 data points. Using the F-test and ANOVA test, we analysed the light curves and found intra-day (IDV) variability every night. We found that all variability amplitudes (Amp) are over 10 per cent, except for 2022 October 22, with four nights having amplitudes above 20 per cent and the maximum amplitude reaching over 42 per cent. Additionally, we discovered a minimal variability time-scale of 24.6 min and a bluer-when-brighter (BWB) trend on intra-day for this object. No significant time lag between different bands was detected during the eight nights of observation. Based on the shortest variability time-scale and a model assuming the variations arise close to the central black hole that are adverted into the jet, we estimated the upper limits of the black hole mass to be MBH = 8.6 × 107 M⊙. The BWB trend on intra-day supports the shock-in-jet model, which can also explain the IDV of blazars.