Abstract:
We report the first extensive optical flux and spectral variability study of the TeV blazar TXS 0506 + 056 on intranight to
long-term time-scales using BVRI data collected over 220 nights between 2017 January 21 to 2022 April 9 using eight optical
ground-based telescopes. In our search for intraday variability (IDV), we have employed two statistical analysis techniques, the
nested ANOVA test and the power enhanced F-test. We found the source was variable in 8 nights out of 35 in the R-band and
in 2 of 14 in the V-band yielding duty cycles (DC) of 22.8 per cent and 14.3 per cent, respectively. Clear colour variation in V
− R was seen in only 1 out of 14 observing nights, but no IDV was found in the more limited B, I, and B − I data. During our
monitoring period the source showed a 1.18 mag variation in the R-band and similar variations are clearly seen at all optical
wavelengths. We extracted the optical (BVRI) SEDs of the blazar for 44 nights when observations were carried out in all four of
those wavebands. The mean spectral index (α) was determined to be 0.897 ± 0.171.
