Fermi-LAT Discovery of a Gamma-ray Outburst from the Peculiar Compact Steep Spectrum Radiogalaxy 3C 216

Abstract

3C 216 is an extragalactic radio source classified as a compact steep spectrum (CSS) object, associated with the source 4FGL J0910.0+4257 detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The source exhibits extended radio structures as well as an inner relativistic jet. In general, jets accelerated by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are efficient sources of non-thermal radiation, spanning from the radio band to X-ray and gamma-ray energies. Due to relativistic beaming, much of this radiation, particularly in the high-energy domain, is concentrated within a narrow cone aligned with the jet's direction. Consequently, high-energy emission is more easily detected in blazars, where the jet is closely aligned with the line of sight of the observer. Beginning in 2022 November, Fermi-LAT observed increased gamma-ray activity from 3C 216, culminating in a strong outburst in 2023 May. This event was followed up by observations from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory telescope. In this work, we perform a careful analysis of the multifrequency data (gamma ray, X-ray, UV, optical) collected during this observational campaign. We find that the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the flaring source evolves in a coherent way, supporting a common origin for the multifrequency emission. These results suggest that the SED observed during the outburst was dominated by a single emission zone, where synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) processes played a primary role. Since single-zone SSC models have typically fewer free parameters than multizone alternatives, they are a powerful probe of the physical conditions of the high-energy emitting regions. Therefore, observing SSC radiation even in CSS sources improves our understanding of the production of high-energy radiation in AGN jets.