drive the ultraviolet/optical variations. However, the medium energy X-ray NVA is 2-4 times that in the ultraviolet, and the single-epoch, absorption-corrected X-ray/γ-ray luminosity is only about 1/3 that of the ultraviolet/optical/infrared, suggesting that at most ∼1/3 of the total low-energy flux could be reprocessed high-energy emission.The strong wavelength dependence of the ultraviolet NVAs is consistent with an origin in an accretion disk, with the variable emission coming from the hotter inner regions and non-variable emission from the cooler outer regions. These data, when combined with the results of disk fits, indicate a boundary between these regions near a radius of order R ≈ 0.07 lt-day. No interband lag would be expected as reprocessing (and thus propagation between regions) need not occur, and the orbital time scale of ∼1 day is consistent with the observed variability time scale. However, such a model does not immediately explain the good correlation between ultraviolet and X-ray variations.
In Spring 2005, the blazar 3C 454.3 underwent a dramatic outburst at all wavelengths from mm to X-rays. This prompted INTEGRAL observations, accomplished in 15−18 May 2005. The source was detected by the INTEGRAL instruments from 3 to 200 keV in a bright state (∼5 × 10 −10 erg s −1 cm −2 ), at least a factor of 2−3 higher than previously observed. This is one of the brightest blazar detections achieved by INTEGRAL. During the 2.5 days of INTEGRAL monitoring, we detected a ∼20% decrease in the hard X-rays (20−40 keV), indicating that we have sampled the decaying part of the flare. The decrease is less apparent in the soft X-rays (5−15 keV). The simultaneous optical variations are weakly correlated with those at soft X-rays, and not clearly correlated with those at hard X-rays. The spectral energy distribution exhibits two components, as typically seen in blazars, which can be modeled with synchrotron radiation and inverse Compton scattering occurring in a region external to the broad line region.
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