A SSC model for the spectral variability of the intermediate blazar ON 231

In April-May 1998 the blazar ON 231 (W Com, B2 1219+28) showed an extraordinary optical outburst alerted by the Perugia Astronomical Observatory. The source reached the most luminous state, observed at least since the beginning of the previous century. BeppoSAX observed ON 231 in the band from 0.1 up to 100 keV, detecting an X-ray spectrum with a peculiar concave profile, that could be considered as a signature of the intermediate blazar subclass. The spectral energy distributions (SED) of blazars were studied with a time dependent synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model, tested here on this object. Even with the preliminary “toy” model of a single flaring region, emitting by means of mere SSC process, the X-ray spectrum is reasonably reproduced. The SED was calculated with a hard spectrum of the injected electrons and with other physical parameters comparable to previous works, validating a base consistence of the method.