Comptonization of diffuse ambient radiation by a relativistic jet: The source of gamma rays from blazars?

Sikora, Marek; Begelman, Mitchell C.; Rees, M. J.

doi:10.1086/173633

Cited by 1,250 publications

(1,143 citation statements)

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“…Indeed, we expect that the observed strong variability in the X-ray band, as well as the possible contribution of emission not due to SSC (see e.g. Sikora et al 1994), would introduce large uncertainties. § Because of the large scatter found and the corresponding weak correlation, we instead consider the ratio between the kinetic and broad line luminosities to determine if this shows any interesting average property.…”

Section: Luminosity Correlationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Jets and accretion processes in active galactic nuclei: further clues

Celotti¹,

Padovani²,

Ghisellini³

1997

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

261

289

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We present evidence in favour of a link between the luminosity radiatively dissipated in the central engine of radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei and the kinetic power in their jets. This piece of evidence is based on the relation we find between the luminosity in broad emission lines and the kinetic power in pc-scale radio jets, for a sample of radio-loud quasars for which suitable data are available in the literature. We find that the ionizing luminosity and the kinetic one are of the same order of magnitude, suggesting that the processes responsible for them are somehow related. A strong magnetic field in equipartition with the radiation field could be responsible for regulating both processes. BL Lac objects seem to follow a similar behaviour, but with comparatively fainter broad line emission.

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Section: Luminosity Correlationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Jets and accretion processes in active galactic nuclei: further clues

Celotti¹,

Padovani²,

Ghisellini³

1997

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

261

289

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show abstract

“…Several papers have demonstrated that the observed polarization signatures may indicate a helical magnetic structure (Lyutikov et al 2005;Pushkarev et al 2005;Zhang et al 2015). The high-energy component, from X-rays to γ-rays, is usually interpreted as originating from inverse Compton scattering by the same nonthermal electrons of soft seed photons (e.g., Marscher & Gear 1985;Dermer et al 1992;Sikora et al 1994), but a hadronic origin cannot be ruled out (e.g., Mannheim & Biermann 1992;Mücke & Protheroe 2001;Böttcher et al 2013). Both spectral components of blazars exhibit fast variability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polarization Signatures of Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Shocks in the Blazar Emission Region. I. Force-Free Helical Magnetic Fields

Zhang

Deng

et al. 2016

ApJ

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The optical radiation and polarization signatures in blazars are known to be highly variable during flaring activities. It is frequently argued that shocks are the main driver of the flaring events. However, the spectral variability modelings generally lack detailed considerations of the self-consistent magnetic field evolution modeling; thus, so far the associated optical polarization signatures are poorly understood. We present the first simultaneous modeling of the optical radiation and polarization signatures based on 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of relativistic shocks in the blazar emission environment, with the simplest physical assumptions. By comparing the results with observations, we find that shocks in a weakly magnetized environment will largely lead to significant changes in the optical polarization signatures, which are seldom seen in observations. Hence an emission region with relatively strong magnetization is preferred. In such an environment, slow shocks may produce minor flares with either erratic polarization fluctuations or considerable polarization variations, depending on the parameters; fast shocks can produce major flares with smooth polarization angle rotations. In addition, the magnetic fields in both cases are observed to actively revert to the original topology after the shocks. All these features are consistent with observations. Future observations of the radiation and polarization signatures will further constrain the flaring mechanism and the blazar emission environment.

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“…The seed photons for ICs can originate from synchrotron photons (Maraschi et ⋆ Corresponding author. E-mail: ynzyg@ynu.edu.cn Bloom & Marscher 1996), accretion disk photons (Dermer et al 1992;Dermer & Schlickeiser 1993) and accretion disk photons re-scattered by the broad-line region clouds/interclouds medium (Sikora et al 1994;Blandford & Levinson 1995), or infrared radiation from a torus (Sikora et al 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the multi-wavelength emission of flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C 279

Zheng

Yang

2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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We employ a length-dependent conical jet model for the jet structure and emission properties of flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 279 in the steady state. In the model, ultrarelativistic leptons are injected at the base of jet and propagate along the jet structure, non-thermal photons are produced by both synchrotron emission and inverse Comtpon scattering off synchrotron photons and external soft photons at each segment of jet. We derive the total energy spectra contribution through integrating every segment. We apply the model to the quasi-simultaneous multi-wavelength observed data of two quiescent epoches. Using the observed radio data of source, we determine the length of jet L ∼ 100 pc, and magnetic field B 0 ∼ 0.1 − 1 G at the base of jet. Assuming a steady geometry of the jet structure and suitable physical parameters, we reproduce the multi-wavelength spectra during two quiescent observed epoches, respectively. Our results show that the initial γ-ray emission site takes place at ∼ 0.5 pc from black hole.

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Comptonization of diffuse ambient radiation by a relativistic jet: The source of gamma rays from blazars?

Cited by 1,250 publications

References 0 publications

Jets and accretion processes in active galactic nuclei: further clues

Jets and accretion processes in active galactic nuclei: further clues

Polarization Signatures of Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Shocks in the Blazar Emission Region. I. Force-Free Helical Magnetic Fields

Modelling the multi-wavelength emission of flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C 279

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