Observations of IntraDay Variable sources with the Effelsberg and Urumqi Radio Telescopes

Abstract

A sample of classical IntraDay Variable (IDV) and IDV candidate sources has been monitored with the Urumqi 25m telescope and the Effelsberg 100m telescope. Aim of the project is to investigate the origin of IntraDay Variability, a phenomenon which has been observed in about 30% of flat spectrum radio quasars. Simultaneous Effelsberg-Urumqi observations demonstrated that the Urumqi antenna, although relatively small in diameter, is well suitable for IDV experiments. A few Urumqi datasets, however, turned out to be affected by a spurious $\sim 24$ hours modulation, an effect which has been removed by means of a new procedure for data reduction. In about 14 months, 12 epochs of observation have been collected, for a total observing time of more than 45 days. The epochs are regularly distributed over the whole year, in order to check for the presence of systematic annual changes in the variability time scales - a crucial test for verifying the consistency of source-extrinsic models of the variability. Preliminary time-analysis of the monitored sources revealed some hint for a slowing down of the characteristic time scales of S5 0716+714, a result that, if confirmed, would be compatible with a source-extrinsic origin of the variability, in contrast to previous IDV studies. No significant modulation of the time scales has been detected for S4 0954+658.