Rest Frame Variability Characteristics of Blazars

John P. McFarland

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Georgia State University


Blazars are the most extreme type of active galactic nuclei (AGN) known. They are characterized by a featureless continuum, high polarization, and variability at all wavelengths and time-scales.  These characteristics are consistent with a supermassive black hole accreting matter at the heart of the host galaxy.  Various tools can be employed to study blazar variability, including structure function analysis, power density spectra (PDS), and construction of simple light curves.  By transforming observed measurements into the rest frame of the object, the intrinsic variability properties can be revealed.  These variability characteristics of blazars, as seen in their rest frame, will be discussed in addition to their general characteristics and classification schemes.