The variability of a 3C 454.3 blazar over a 40-year period

Variations in the radio flux of 3C 454.3 on various time scales from decades to a year are analyzed using long-term monitoring data at five frequencies from 4.8 to 36.8 GHz obtained at the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. A spectral analysis of the light curves at the various frequencies reveals the presence of five periodic components. The long-and short-period components of the variability are compared using models for the precessional and orbital periods for motion in the system. The parameters for the supposed binary black-hole system are determined: the dimensions of the orbit and masses of the central black holes. The dynamics of the powerful flare in 2005-2006 are examined, and the time delays for its development from the optical to the radio and between radio frequencies are determined. The different frequency spectra of different individual flares can be explained in a model with a moving, expanding cloud that is first optically thick, then becomes optically thin at successively lower frequencies as it expands.