A thirteen-year-long broadband view of BL Lac

Abstract

We present the results of an extensive analysis of the optical, ultraviolet, X-ray and $γ$-ray data collected from the observations of the BL Lac objects prototype BL Lacertae carried out over a period of nearly 13 years, between August 2008 and March 2021. The source is characterized by strongly variable emission at all frequencies, often accompanied by spectral changes. In the $γ$-ray band several prominent flares have been detected, the largest one reaching the flux of $F_{\rm γ}(>196.7\: {\rm MeV})=(4.39\pm1.01)\times10^{-6}\:{\rm photon\:cm^{-2}\:s^{-1}}$. The X-ray spectral variability of the source during the brightest flare on MJD 59128.18 (06 October 2020) was characterized by a softer-when-brighter trend due to a shift of the synchrotron peak to $\sim 10^{16}$ Hz, well into the HBL domain. The widely changing multiwavelength emission of BL Lacertae was systematically investigated by fitting leptonic models that include synchrotron self-Compton and external Compton components to 511 high-quality and quasi-simultaneous broad-band spectral energy distributions (SEDs). The majority of selected SEDs can be adequately fitted within a one-zone model with reasonable parameters. Only 46 SEDs with soft and bright X-ray spectra and when the source was observed in very high energy $γ$-ray bands can be explained in a two-zone leptonic scenario. The HBL behaviour observed during the brightest X-ray flare is interpreted as due to the emergence of synchrotron emission from freshly accelerated particles in a second emission zone located beyond the broad line region.