Studies of optical/gamma-ray flares of blazar 4C+01.02: recent updates from the 2016-2017 observations

Abstract

The flat spectrum radio quasar 4C +01.02 became one of the brightest active galactic nuclei detected at high redshift (z = 2.1) in gamma rays when it underwent a series of outbursts during several months in 2016. We monitored this source in gamma rays using the Large Area Telescope onboard of the Fermi spacecraft (Fermi-LAT), and in optical using the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO). The highest peak flux detected was F(E > 100 MeV) = (2.8 +/- 0.3) 10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1 on 10 July 2016 (MJD 57579, daily average). We also obtained optical spectropolarimetry with the Robert Stobie Spectrograph on the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT-RSS) and observed a degree of linear polarisation of up to 10% during flaring states, and ~1% during a quiescent period. We report recent updates we obtained in our time-domain and spectral studies of this source in July-August 2016, November-December 2016, and July 2017