Computer Science
Scientific paper
May 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999phdt.........3g&link_type=abstract
Thesis (PhD). BOSTON UNIVERSITY, Source DAI-B 59/11, p. 5893, May 1999, 193 pages.
Computer Science
Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars, Bl Lacertae
Scientific paper
Blazars are the most extreme class of active galactic nuclei. Their observed luminosity can reach 1049 erg s-1 and they emit significantly over the entire spectrum from radio waves up to TeV energies. They are divided into flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQ) and BL Lacertae objects (BL). I develop a time-dependent model for an accelerating relativistic jet and I use the model to argue that the two BL subclasses, the X-ray discovered (XBL) and radio discovered (RBL) BLs, can be unified under a self-similar jet description in which the luminosity of the source scales as the square of the characteristic source size. In this framework the previously puzzling observation of a deficit of XBLs at high redshifts arises naturally. I also show that the increasing strength of the observed broad emission lines (BEL) as we move from XBL to RBL to FSRQ is a natural consequence of this scaling. I use the model to reproduce the observed variability of the XBL PKS 2155-304. I propose future monitoring of a source at two neighboring frequencies during intervals of mild activity as a diagnostic tool for blazar jets. I show that the most important source of inverse Compton scattering (IC) seed photons for FSRQs are probably the BEL photons, while for BLs the synchrotron produced photons in the jet dominate. I calculate the IC electron energy loss rate and the emission coefficient for an anisotropic seed photon field. Based on these considerations, I develop a time-dependent jet model that calculates the synchrotron and IC emission due to the BEL photons. I argue that both the model results and recent observations point towards a picture where the GeV γ-rays in FSRQs are due to BEL seed photons, while the hard X-rays are due to synchrotron seed photons. I show that the same self-similar scaling can explain the increase of the IC to synchrotron luminosity ratio as the source bolometric luminosity increases. I model the variability of the FSRQ 3C 279, and I reproduce the small time delays between the optical and the γ-ray flares that have been observed in blazars.
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