PERIODIC OSCILLATIONS IN THE INTRA-DAY OPTICAL LIGHT CURVES OF THE BLAZAR S5 0716+714

We present the results of a periodicity search of 20 intra-day variable optical light curves of the blazar S5 0716+714, selected from a database of 102 light curves spanning over three years. We use a wavelet analysis technique along with a randomization test and find strong candidates for nearly periodic variations in eight light curves, with probabilities ranging from 95% to >99%. This is the first good evidence for periodic, or more precisely, quasi-periodic, components in the optical intra-day variable light curves of any blazar. Such periodic flux changes support the idea that some active galactic nuclei variability, even in blazars, is based on accretion disk fluctuations or oscillations. These intra-day variability timescales are used to estimate that the central black hole of the blazar S5 0716+714 has a mass >2.5 × 10 6 M ☉ . As we did not find any correlations between the flux levels and intra-day variability timescales, it appears that more than one emission mechanism is at work in this blazar.