The spectral shape of the unresolved emission from different classes of gamma-ray emitters can be used to disentangle the contributions from these populations to the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGRB). We present a calculation of the unabsorbed spectral shape of the unresolved blazar contribution to the EGRB starting from the spectral index distribution (SID) of resolved EGRET blazars derived through a maximum-likelihood analysis accounting for measurement errors. In addition, we explicitly calculate the uncertainty in this theoretically predicted spectral shape, which enters through the spectral index distribution parameters. We find that: (a) the unresolved blazar emission spectrum is only mildly convex, and thus, even if blazars are shown by GLAST to be a dominant contribution to the ERGB at lower energies, they may be insufficient to explain the EGRB at higher energies; (b) the theoretically predicted unresolved spectral shape involves significant uncertainties due to the limited constraints provided by EGRET data on the SID parameters, which are comparable to the statistical uncertainties of the observed EGRET EGRB at high energies; (c) the increased number statistics which will be provided by GLAST will be sufficient to reduce this uncertainty by at least a factor of three.
We study several properties of blazars detected in the gamma-ray energy range by comparing the EGRET sources with a sample of radio blazars which can be considered possible gamma-ray candidates. We define three classes: non-gamma-ray blazars, blazars with quasi-steady gamma-ray emission, and gamma-ray blazars with substantial activity level. By combining the information of detected and candidate AGNs, we characterise the blazar activity, including the discovery of a region of consistency between the gamma-ray flaring duty-cycle and the recurrence time between flares. We also find a possible re…
A large fraction of the AGNs detected by EGRET exhibit strong variability in many wavebands- from radio to the highest energy gamma-rays observed. The origin of the transient emission in blazars is presumably associated with relativistic jets. In this talk plausible variability mechanisms that may operate in blazars are discussed.
We describe the properties of the blazars detected by EGRET and summarize the results on the calculations of the evolution and luminosity function of these sources. Of the large number of possible origins of extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray emission, it has been postulated that active galaxies might be one of the most likely candidates. However, some of our recent analyses indicate that only 25 percent of the diffuse extragalactic emission measured by SAS-2 and EGRET can be attributed to unresolved gamma-ray blazars. Therefore, other sources of diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray emission must exis…
We present the results of a new model calculation of the gamma-ray background produced by unresolved blazars, using the second EGRET catalogue and taking account of flaring. These results are compared to the preliminary gamma-ray background spectrum reported recently by the EGRET team. We find that blazars can account for the entire extragalactic gamma-ray background observed by EGRET. In addition, the EGRET spectrum shows some evidence of a signature for the blazar background, in the form of a concavity in the spectrum.
Gamma rays with energy above 10 GeV interact with optical-UV photons resulting in pair production. Therefore, a large sample of high redshift sources of these gamma rays can be used to probe the extragalactic background starlight (EBL) by examining the redshift dependence of the attenuation of the flux above 10 GeV. GLAST, the next generation high-energy gamma-ray telescope, will have the unique capability to detect thousands of gamma-ray blazars to redshifts of at least z=4, with sufficient angular resolution to allow identification of a large fraction of their optical counterparts. By combin…
Relativistic black-hole jet sources are leading candidates for high energy (>> TeV) neutrino production. The relations defining (a) efficient photopion losses of cosmic-ray protons on target photons and (b) gamma-gamma opacity of gamma rays through that same target photon field imply clear multiwavelength predictions for when and at what energies blazars and GRBs should be most neutrino bright and gamma-ray dim. The use of multiwavelength observations to test the standard relativistic jet model for these source is illustrated.
Although the gamma-ray emission in blazars dominates the power output, there are crucial informations carried by the X-rays. Indeed, their paucity, together with the short variability timescales observed both at X and gamma-ray energies constrains the location, along the jet, of the active region responsible for most of the emission. Furthermore, the knowledge of the X-ray flux and spectrum helps in defining the overall spectral energy distribution (SED) of blazars, allowing to discriminate between models.
We describe the emission properties of blazars, i.e. the AGNs that, due to their peculiar orientation w.r.t. the observer, allow the most penetrating and direct view of their central engine. After showing that the extragalactic GeV-TeV sky is dominated by blazars of various types, we discuss the kind of blazars that are likely to be jointly detected by AGILE and MAGIC.
We will present a summary of the observations of blazars by the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO). EGRET has detected high energy gamma-ray emission at energies greater than 100 MeV from more that 50 blazars. These sources show inferred isotropic luminosities as large as $3\times 10^{49}$ ergs s$^{-1}$. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the EGRET observations is that the gamma-ray luminosity often dominates the bolometric power of the blazar. A few of the blazars are seen to exhibit variability on very short time-scales of …
Blazars, the extreme family of AGN, can be strong gamma-ray emitters and constitute the largest fraction of identified point sources of EGRET. The next Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) is a high energy (30MeV-300GeV) gamma-ray astronomy mission, planned for launch at the end of 2006. GLAST performances will allow to detect few thousands of gamma-ray blazars, with a broad band coverage and temporal resolution, also in quiescent emission phases, providing probably many answers about these sources.
Published EGRET spectra from blazars extend only to 10 GeV, yet EGRET has detected approximately 2000 gamma-rays above 10 GeV of which about half are at high Galactic latitude. We report a search of these high-energy gamma-rays for associations with the EGRET and TeV detected blazars. Because the point spread function of EGRET improves with energy, only ~2 gamma-rays are expected to be positionally coincident with the 80 blazars searched, yet 23 gamma-rays were observed. This collection of > 10 GeV sources should be of particular interest due to the improved sensitivity and lower energy thresh…
The extragalactic gamma-ray sky is dominated by two classes of sources: Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and radio loud active galactic nuclei whose jets are pointing at us (blazars). We believe that the radiation we receive from them originates from the transformation of bulk relativistic energy into random energy. Although the mechanisms to produce, collimate and accelerate the jets in these sources are uncertain, it is fruitful to compare the characteristics of both classes of sources in search of enlightening similarities. I will review some general characteristics of radio loud AGNs and GRBs and I…
Blazars, a beamed population of active galactic nuclei, radiate high-energy gamma-rays, and thus are a good target for the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST). As the blazars trace the large-scale structure of the universe, one may observe spatial clustering of blazars. We calculate the angular power spectrum of blazars that would be detected by GLAST. We show that we have the best chance of detecting their clustering at large angular scales, θ>~ 10 deg, where shot noise is less important, and the dominant contribution to the correlation comes from relatively low redshift, z <~ 0.1. T…
Since 2002, the number of detected blazars at E_γ> 100 GeV has more than doubled. I study all currently known BL Lac-type objects with published energy spectra. Their intrinsic energy spectra are reconstructed by removing extragalactic background light attenuation effects. The emission properties are then compared and correlated among each other, with X-ray data, and with the individual black hole masses. In addition, I consider temporal properties of the very high energy gamma-ray flux. Key findings concern the flux--black hole mass and variability scale--black hole mass connections and the c…
Preliminary results of a systematic study on the simultaneous optical-to-X-rays variability in blazars are presented. Data from Swift observations of four bright gamma-ray blazars (3C 279, ON+231, S5 0716+71, PKS 2155-304) have been analyzed, compared, and discussed. Specifically, 3C 279 shows a variable flattening in the low energy part of the X-ray spectrum that appears to be confined in a specific X-ray vs optical/UV fluxes region. Some implications are shortly analyzed.
We have begun to examine the EGRET database for short term variations in the fluxes of blazars and unidentified sources at high Galactic latitude. We find that several AGN show previously unreported variability. Such variations are consistent with inverse Compton scattering processes in a shock propagating through a relativistic jet.
We present a comprehensive study for the gamma-ray luminosity function (GLF) of blazars and their contribution to the extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray background (EGRB). Radio and gamma-ray luminosity correlation is introduced to take into account the radio detectability which is important for the blazar identification. Previous studies considered only pure luminosity evolution (PLE) or pure density evolution, but we introduce the luminosity dependent density evolution (LDDE) model, which is favored from the evolution of X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of AGNs. The model parameters are constrai…
We take into account the constraints from the observed extragalactic gamma-ray background to estimate the maximum duty cycle allowed for a selected sample of WMAP Blazars, in order to be detectable by AGILE and GLAST gamma-ray experiments. For the nominal sensitivity values of both instruments, we identify a subset of sources which can in principle be detectable also in a steady state without over-predicting the extragalactic background. This work is based on the results of a recently derived Blazar radio LogN-LogS obtained by combining several multi-frequency surveys.
We develop a general expression for the gamma-gamma absorption coefficient for gamma-rays propagating in an arbitrary direction at an arbitrary point in space above an X-ray emitting accretion disk. The X-ray intensity is assumed to vary as a power law in energy and radius between the outer disk radius and the inner radius, which is the radius of marginal stability for a Schwarzschild black hole. We use our result for the absorption coefficient to calculate the gamma-gamma optical depth for gamma-rays created at an arbitrary height and propagating at an arbitrary angle relative to the disk axi…
Most models for blazars and gamma-ray bursts involve relativistic plasma outflows powered by accretion processes onto black holes. The blast wave physics developed for cosmological models of GRBs is reviewed. Two points relevant for blazar modeling are made: (1) The injection of nonthermal relativistic particles in the comoving frame is simply treated though a process of energizing the plasma as it sweeps up material from the surrounding medium. (2) The primary energy source of blazar radiation derives from the bulk kinetic energy of the outflowing plasma. Thus deceleration of the plasma blast…
(Abridged) We present a new model of the blazar gamma-ray luminosity function (GLF) and the spectrum of the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGRB), which is consistent with the observed distributions of EGRET blazars. The unified sequence of blazar spectral energy distribution (SED) is taken into account to make a non-trivial prediction for the EGRB spectrum and more realistic comparison with the data than previous studies. We then try to explain the EGRB data by the two AGN populations: one is blazars, and the other is non-blazar AGNs that are responsible for the EGRB in the MeV band. We f…
The EGRET instrument onboard of CGRO detected a number of gamma-ray flares from blazars, and it is expected that GLAST, to be launched in 2006, should detect many more such flares. These flares should be preceded by X-ray precursors, and the MAXI All-Sky Monitor, to be deployed around the time of launch of GLAST, is likely to detect such precursors. This paper highlights the interesting new insights into the structure of jets in blazars that may result from simultaneous X-ray and gamma-ray observations. In particular, it addresses the expected temporal relationship between the precursors and f…
The energy spectra of TeV gamma-rays from blazars, after being corrected for intergalatic absorption in the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL), appear unusually hard, a fact that poses challenges to the conventional models of particle acceleration in TeV blazars and/or to the EBL models. In this paper we show that the internal absorption of gamma-rays caused by interactions with dense narrow-band radiation fields in the vicinity of compact gamma-ray production regions can lead to the formation of gamma-ray spectra of an almost arbitrary hardness. This allows significant relaxation of the cur…
The gamma-ray emission of the blazar Markarian 421 above 250 GeV has been observed by the CAT Cherenkov imaging telescope since December, 1996. We report here results on the source variability up to April, 1998, with emphasis on the 1998 campaign. For the flaring periods of this year, the energy spectrum was derived from 330 GeV up to 5.2 TeV: it is very well represented by a simple power law, with a differential spectral index of 2.96 +/- 0.13.
We analyse the photodisintegration of nuclei near the center of blazars, in particular PKS 0528+134. We show that this process could explain the recent observation of a high Al/Si ratio in a cloud on the line of sight of a distant quasar and we calculate the effect of this gamma irradiation on the abundance of deuterium, an isotope of the highest cosmological interest since it is sensitive to the baryon density of the universe. The process has interesting consequences and deserves to be inserted in a consistent scenario of the early evolution of the universe.
The blazar 1ES 1959+650 was observed in a flaring state with the Whipple 10 m Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope during May of 2002. A spectral analysis has been carried out on the data from that time period and the resulting very high energy gamma-ray spectrum ($E \geq 316$ GeV) can be well fit by a power-law of differential spectral index α= 2.78 +/- 0.12_{stat.} +/- 0.21_{sys.}. On June 4th 2002, the source flared dramatically in the gamma-ray range without any coincident increase in the X-ray emission, providing the first unambiguous example of an `orphan' gamma-ray flare from a blaza…
We demonstrate that the spectral differences between Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQ) with steep gamma-ray spectra (MeV-blazars) and FSRQ with flat gamma-ray spectra (GeV-blazars) can be explained by assuming that in the MeV-blazars, the production of gamma-rays is dominated by Comptonization of infrared radiation of hot dust, whereas in the GeV-blazars -- by Comptonization of broad emission lines. Additional ingredient, required to reach satisfactory unification, is an assumption that the radiating electrons are accelerated via a two step process, in the lower energy range -- following inst…
Blazar emission of gamma rays and cosmic ray production of gamma rays in gas-rich clusters have been proposed recently as alternative sources of the high energy extragalactic diffuse gamma ray background radiation. We show that these sources also produce a very different high energy extragalactic diffuse neutrino background radiation. This neutrino background may be detected by the new generation of large neutrino telescopes under construction and may be used to trace the origin of the extragalactic gamma radiation.
Observations of very-high-energy (VHE, E > 250 GeV) gamma-ray emission from several blazars at z > 0.1 have placed stringent constraints on the elusive spectrum and intensity of the intergalactic infrared background radiation (IIBR). Correcting their observed VHE spectrum for gamma-gamma absorption even by the lowest plausible level of the IIBR provided evidence for a very hard (photon spectral index Gamma_{ph} < 2) intrinsic source spectrum out to TeV energies. Such a hard VHE gamma-ray spectrum poses a serious challenge to the conventional synchrotron-self-Compton interpretation of the VHE e…
Compton scattering of external radiation by nonthermal particles in outflowing blazar jets is dominated by accretion-disk photons rather than scattered radiation to distances $\sim 0.01-0.1$ pc from the central engine for standard parameters, thus clarifying the limits of validity of the model by the present authors and the model of Sikora, Begelman, \& Rees. On the basis of contemporaneous Ginga X-ray and EGRET gamma-ray observations, we estimate the radius of 3C 279's gamma-ray photosphere to be smaller than estimated by Blandford. There is thus no need to require that the acceleration and e…
I describe a model of energetic gamma ray and neutrino emission in blazars which is consistent with most of the gamma-ray observations, and use this model to estimate the diffuse intensity of high energy neutrinos from blazars.
In September 2005, the observing program of the Whipple 10 m gamma-ray telescope was redefined to be dedicated almost exclusively to AGN monitoring. Since then the five Northern Hemisphere blazars that had already been detected at Whipple are monitored routinely each night that they are visible. Thanks to the efforts of a large number of multiwavelength collaborators, the first year of this program has been very successful. We report here on the analysis of Markarian 421 observations taken from November, 2005 to May, 2006 in the gamma-ray, X-ray, optical and radio bands.
In recent years, blazar surveys at radio and X-ray energies have greatly increased our understanding of this type of active galaxy. The combination of multi-wavelength data has shown that blazars follow a well defined sequence in terms of their broad band spectral properties. Together with increasingly detailed emission models, this information has provided not only tools with which to identify potential sources of TeV emission but also predictions of their gamma-ray flux. A list of such candidates has been used in this work to investigate the best targets for TeV observations. Observations re…
The distribution of TeV spectral slopes versus redshift for currently known TeV blazars (16 sources with z<0.21, and one with z>0.25) is essentially a scatter plot with hardly any hint of a global trend. We suggest that this is the outcome of two combined effects of intergalactic gamma-gamma absorption, plus an inherent feature of the SSC (synchro-self-Compton) process of blazar emission. First, flux dimming introduces a bias that favors detection of progressively more flaring sources at higher redshifts. According to mainstream SSC models, more flaring source states imply sources with flatter…
Proton acceleration in nearby blazars can be diagnosed measuring their intense TeV $γ$-ray emission. Flux predictions for 1101+384 (Mrk421) and 1219+285 (ON231), both strong EGRET sources (0.1-10 GeV), are obtained from model spectra of unsaturated synchrotron pair cascades fitted to publicly available multifrequency data. An experimental effort to confirm the predicted emission in the range 1-10 TeV would be of great importance for the problems of the origin of cosmic rays, the era of galaxy formation and the cosmological distance scale.
Since 2002, the number of detected blazars at gamma-ray energies above 100 GeV has more than doubled. I study 17 blazars currently known to emit E>100 GeV gamma rays. Their intrinsic energy spectra are reconstructed by removing extragalactic background light attenuation effects. Luminosity and spectral slope in the E>100 GeV region are then compared and correlated among each other, with X-ray, optical and radio data, and with the estimated black hole (BH) masses of the respective host galaxies. According to expectations from synchrotron self-Compton emission models, a correlation on the 3.6-si…
This review paper discusses the past and present observations of gamma-ray blazars with both space and ground-based gamma-ray telescopes (such as EGRET and current TeV telescopes), and with the VLBA. I also discuss the more sensitive gamma-ray telescopes such as AGILE and GLAST that will become available over the next several years, and how observations with these telescopes, together with improved VLBA observations, can increase our understanding of blazar physics.
We present new Chandra and HST data for four gamma-ray blazars selected on the basis of radio morphology with the aim of revealing X-ray and optical emission from their jets at large scales. All the sources have been detected. Spectral Energy Distributions of the large scale jets are obtained as well as new X-ray spectra for the blazar cores. Modeling for each object the core (sub-pc scale) and large-scale (>100 kpc) jet SEDs, we derive the properties of the same jet at the two scales. The comparison of speeds and powers at different scales supports a simple scenario for the dynamics and propa…
Starting in 1991 we have performed a regular monitoring of EGRET sources with the Effelsberg 100-m telescope and the IRAM 30-m at Pico Veleta. In comparison with data on a sample of flat-spectrum quasars which have not been seen by EGRET we search for correlations of any kind in the behaviour of FSRQ's in the radio and gamma-ray regime. While there is no radio-to-gamma-ray luminosity correlation for these sources, it seems that gamma-ray high states coincide with increased activity in the radio regime with a strong tendency that gamma-ray outbursts precede radio outbursts. The gamma-ray spectr…
The phenomenology of gamma-ray bright blazars can be accounted for by a sequence in the source power and intensity of the diffuse radiation field surrounding the relativistic jet. Correspondingly, the equilibrium particle distribution peaks at different energies. This leads to a trend in the observed properties: an increase of the observed power corresponds to: 1) a decrease in the frequencies of the synchrotron and inverse Compton peaks; 2) an increase in the ratio of the powers of the high and low energy spectral components. Objects along this sequence would be observationally classified res…
The current status of leptonic jet models for gamma-ray blazars is reviewed. Differences between the quasar and BL-Lac subclasses of blazars may be understood in terms of the dominance of different radiation mechanisms in the gamma-ray regime. Spectral variability patterns of different blazar subclasses appear to be significantly different and require different intrinsic mechanisms causing gamma-ray flares. As examples, recent results of long-term multiwavelength monitoring of PKS 0528+134 and Mrk 501 are interpreted in the framework of leptonic jet models. A simple quasi-analytic toy model fo…
Our understanding of blazars has been greatly increased in recent years by extensive multi-wavelength observations, particularly in the radio, X-ray and gamma-ray regions. Over the past decade the Whipple 10m telescope has contributed to this with the detection of 5 BL Lacertae objects at very high gamma-ray energies. The combination of multi-wavelength data has shown that blazars follow a well-defined sequence in terms of their broadband spectral properties. Together with providing constraints on emission models, this information has yielded a means by which potential sources of TeV emission …
We report on observations of Markarian 421 made with the Whipple 10m Cerenkov telescope and the RXTE satellite during a multi-wavelength campaign in December 2002 and January 2003, initiated by a Whipple target of opportunity. The observations revealed several flares with flux levels between 1 and 2 times the flux of the Crab Nebula. We will discuss the temporal properties, including evidence of X-ray/TeV gamma-ray flux correlation.
The Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission of the BL Lacertae objects Markarian 501 and Markarian 421 has been observed by the CAT Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope in 1997 and 1998. The spectrum extraction method is presented, and the spectral properties of both sources are compared in different activity states. Theoretical implications for jet astrophysics are discussed.
Very high energy gamma-rays from blazars traversing cosmological distances through the metagalactic radiation field can convert into electron-positron pairs in photon-photon collisions. The converted gamma-rays initiate electromagnetic cascades driven by inverse-Compton scattering off the microwave background photons. Using a model for the time-dependent metagalactic radiation field consistent with all currently available far-infrared-to-optical data, we calculate the cascade contribution from faint, unresolved high- and low-peaked blazars to the extragalactic gamma-ray background as measured …
We present the optical light curve for the gamma-ray blazar PKS 1510-089 with a significant variability of 2.0 mag within about 41 minutes in the R band which is the most violently rapid variability detected in our optical monitoring campaign operating since 1982. In the framework of the relativistic beaming model, the central supermassive black hole mass of PKS 1510-089 is of $(1.16-1.98)\times10^8M_\odot$. This is larger than some previous estimates for the central mass in blazars that have been based on models for nonthermal emission, but is consistent with the estimated result of the $M_\b…
A comparison of AGN detected at gamma ray energies by EGRET with flat-spectrum radio sources observed in surveys for intraday variability reveals that a remarkably high fraction of EGRET blazars show significant interstellar scintillation at centimetre wavelengths. Scintillating AGN will therefore be targets of interest for GLAST, scheduled for launch in early 2008. We suggest that the variable, scintillating flat-spectrum radio source PMN J1326-5256 is associated with the unidentified EGRET source 3EG J1316-5244. We describe the properties of PMN J1326-5256 and present recent results of monit…
We report results of observations and analyses on the gamma-ray blazar PKS 1622-297, with emphasis on the COMPTEL data (0.75 - 30 MeV) collected between April 1991 and November 1997. PKS 1622-297 was detected as a source of gamma-rays by the EGRET experiment aboard CGRO in 1995 during a gamma-ray outburst at energies above 100 MeV lasting for five weeks. In this time period the blazar was significantly (~ 5.9 sigma) detected by COMPTEL at 10-30 MeV. At lower COMPTEL energies the detection is marginal, resulting in a hard MeV spectrum. The combined COMPTEL/EGRET energy spectrum shows a break at…
We analyze average gamma-ray variability statistics for the sample of blazars detected by CGRO/EGRET. We re-reduce all the available EGRET observations and analyze light curves by Monte Carlo modeling of the variability statistics including observational artifacts. We show that the observed variability behavior is dominated by the distribution of measurement errors which leads to strong systematical effects in all of the these statistics. General variability behavior detected by us is consistent with non-linear models and shows marginal correlation at long time scales in the structure function…
Only ~10 blazars have been detected in soft gamma-rays by OSSE and the PDS, often in flaring state. We investigate the impact of the imaging and spectral capabilities of the IBIS instrument on board INTEGRAL on the study of blazars. The objectives are: 1) to remove ambiguities in the identification of some blazars as soft gamma-ray emitters; 2) to determine the spectral shape of "extreme synchrotron" blazars, namely sources with high F_X/F_radio ratios, for which the synchrotron component peaks at far UV-soft X-ray frequencies. We expect that in these sources the synchrotron peak shifts to hig…
We report first results of a multifrequency campaign from radio to hard X-ray energies of the prominent gamma-ray blazar 3C 279 during the first year of the INTEGRAL mission. The variable blazar was found at a low activity level, but was detected by all participating instruments. Subsequently a multifrequency spectrum could be compiled. The individual measurements as well as the compiled multifrequency spectrum are presented. In addition, this 2003 broadband spectrum is compared to one measured in 1999 during a high activity period of 3C 279.
The observed spectra of blazars, their intrinsic emission, and the underlying populations of radiating particles are intimately related. The use of these sources as probes of the extragalactic infrared background, a prospect propelled by recent advances in TeV-band telescopes, soon to be augmented by observations by NASA's upcoming Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), has been a topic of great recent interest. Here, it is demonstrated that if particles in blazar jets are accelerated at relativistic shocks, then gamma-ray spectra with indices less than 1.5 can be produced. This, in tur…
Ongoing deep surveys of galaxy luminosity functions, spectral energy distributions and backwards evolution models of star formation rates can be used to calculate the past history of intergalactic photon densities and, from them, the present and past optical depth of the universe. This procedure can be reversed by looking for sharp cutoffs in the spectra of extragalactic gamma-ray sources at high redshifts in the multi-GeV energy range with GLAST. Determining the cutoff energies of sources with known redshifts and little intrinsic absorption can enable a more precise determination of the past …
We propose that TeV $γ$-ray emission from blazars is produced by collisions near the line of sight of high energy jet protons with gas targets (``clouds'') from the broad emission-line region (BLR). Intense TeV $γ$-ray flares (GRFs) are produced when BLR clouds cross the line of sight close to the black hole. The model reproduces the observed properties of the recently reported very short and intense TeV GRFs from the blazar Markarian 421. Hadronic production of TeV GRF from blazars implies that it is accompanied by a simultaneous emission of high energy neutrinos, and of electrons and positro…
We present a detailed study of the effects of gravitational microlensing on compact and distant $γ$-ray blazars. These objects have $γ$-ray emitting regions which are small enough as to be affected by microlensing effects produced by stars lying in intermediate galaxies. We analyze the temporal evolution of the gamma-ray magnification for sources moving in a caustic pattern field, where the combined effects of thousands of stars are taken into account using a numerical technique. We propose that some of the unidentified $γ$-ray sources (particularly some of those lying at high galactic latitud…
We address several criticisms by Amelino-Camelia of our recent analyses of two observational constraints on Lorentz violation at order E/M_{Planck}. In particular, we emphasize the role of effective field theory in our analysis of synchrotron radiation, and we strengthen the justification for the constraint coming from photon annihilation.
