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Up: Microvariability of the

5. Discussion

Variations on timescales of minutes, hours and one day were observed in our observations. The apparent efficiency for conversion of accreted matter into energy is tex2html_wrap_inline1548 if tex2html_wrap_inline1550 within tex2html_wrap_inline1552 minutes as on 1994 November 7 (Guibin et al. 1998). If tex2html_wrap_inline1554 mag in tex2html_wrap_inline1556 minutes as on 1994 November 8, the tex2html_wrap_inline1558. No matter what the exact value of tex2html_wrap_inline1560 is, there must be relativistic beaming to explain microvariability, since tex2html_wrap_inline1560 is always larger than 0.1. The size of the emitting region corresponding to the fastest variation (in a timescale of minutes) is about tex2html_wrap_inline1564 cm in the frame of the blazar if a Doppler factor 5 is assumed (Valtaoja et al. 1994). On the basis of the smallest observed periods, the mass of central black hole is less than tex2html_wrap_inline1566, and the radius of the event horizon of central black hole is less than 1013 cm, according to the formula given by Wiita (1985). The size of the emitting region corresponding to the fastest variations is larger than the radius of event horizon of the black hole. Therefore, the rapid variability might result from vortices and magnetic flux tubes in the accretion disk, which facilitate the escape of collimated radiation from deep within the hot disk, producing rapid flux variability (Abramowicz 1992). The variations could also come from shocks within the jet. Shocks in turbulent jets will lead to variations of local emissivity and produce outbursts, due to compression of magnetic field in the shock (Hughes et al. 1985; Ktex2html_wrap_inline1570nigl & Choudhuri 1985; Jones 1988); fluctuations of injection of particles and acceleration process may give rise to rapid variability.



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