Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
2010-08-19
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
8 pages, 6 figures, apjgalley format, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal
Scientific paper
We report on the findings of a 364 ksec observation of the BL LAC object Mrk 421 with the X-ray observatory Suzaku. The analysis in this paper uses fluxes and hardness ratios in the broad energy range from 0.5 keV to 30 keV. During the course of the observation, the 0.5 keV - 30 keV flux decreased by a factor of $\sim$2 and was accompanied by several large flares occurring on timescales of a few hours. We find that fitting a broken power model to spectra from isolated epochs during the observation describes the data well. Different flares exhibit different spectral and hardness ratio evolutions. The cumulative observational evidence indicates that the particle acceleration mechanism in the Mrk 421 jet produces electron energy distributions with a modest range of spectral indices and maximum energies. We argue that the short-timescale X-ray spectral variability in the flares can be attributed mostly to intrinsic changes in the acceleration process, dominating other influences such as fluctuations in the Doppler beaming factor, or radiative cooling in or outside the acceleration zone.
Baring Matthew G.
Garson III Alfred B.
Krawczynski Henric
No associations
LandOfFree
A Suzaku X-Ray Study of the Particle Acceleration Processes in the Relativistic Jet of Blazar Mrk 421 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with A Suzaku X-Ray Study of the Particle Acceleration Processes in the Relativistic Jet of Blazar Mrk 421, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Suzaku X-Ray Study of the Particle Acceleration Processes in the Relativistic Jet of Blazar Mrk 421 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-135595