Explain the scale-invariant amplitude of blazar variability

Explain the inferred scale-invariant nature of the amplitude of blazar emission variability across timescales ranging from hours to years.

Background

The paper notes that blazar variability at multiple wave bands often has a power-spectral density consistent with a simple power law. This suggests that the amplitude of variability may be approximately scale invariant over a broad range of timescales, but the physical origin of this behavior has not been established in the literature. The multi-zone model is developed primarily to reproduce variability and correlations, rather than to provide a definitive explanation of this scale-invariant behavior.

References

The power spectral density of blazar emission variability at multiple wave bands is often consistent with a simple power-law although the inferred scale-invariant nature of the amplitude of variability at a long range of timescales (hours to years) has not been explained in the literature.

— Multi-zone Modeling of Blazar Jets: Constraints from GeV-Optical Correlation and Short-Timescale Variability  (2608.18707 - Bala et al., 19 Aug 2026) in Section 1, Introduction