2014MNRAS.444.1077K

We present the results of our monitoring of the high-energy peaked BL Lac object PKS 2155-304 by the Swift/X-Ray Telescope (XRT) during 2005-2012. Our timing study shows that the source was highly variable both on longer (weeks-to-months) and intra-day time-scales, up to a factor of 7 in flux, and 30 per cent in fractional variability amplitudes, with no periodic variations. The X-ray spectra are mainly curved with broad ranges of photon index, curvature parameter, and hardness ratio which exhibit significant variability with the flux on different time-scales. Our study of multi-wavelength cross-correlations has revealed that the one-zone SSC scenario seems to be valid for the most optical-to-gamma-ray flares observed during 2006-2012. An `orphan' X-ray flare with no counterpart in other spectral bands suggests the existence of different electron populations. Based on the absence of a correlation between photon index and curvature parameter (expected from the energy-dependent acceleration probability scenario), the observed distribution of curvature parameter from the XRT spectra peaking at b = 0.37, and the observed anti-correlation between the curvature parameter and the 0.3-10 keV flux (i.e. lower curvatures in flaring states), we conclude that the most likely mechanism responsible for producing X-ray emission during the flares is the stochastic acceleration of the electrons.