The knowledge of the structure of the magnetic field inside a blazar jet, as deduced from polarization observations at radio to optical wavelengths, is closely related to the formation and propagation of relativistic jets that result from accretion onto supermassive black holes. However, a largely unexplored aspect of the theoretical understanding of radiation transfer physics in blazar jets has been the magnetic field geometry as revealed by the polarized emission and the connection between the variability in polarization and flux across the spectrum. Here, we explore the effects of various magnetic geometries that can exist inside a blazar jet: parallel, oblique, toroidal, and tangled. We investigate the effects of changing the orientation of the magnetic field, according to the above-mentioned geometries, on the resulting high-energy spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and spectral variability patterns (SVPs) of a typical blazar. We use the MUlti-ZOne Radiation Feedback (MUZORF) model of Joshi et al. (2014) to carry out this study and to relate the geometry of the field to the observed SEDs at X-ray and gamma-ray energies.
One of the goals of the study is to understand the relationship between synchrotron and inverse Compton peaks in blazar SEDs and the reason for the appearance of gamma-ray "orphan flares" observed in some blazars. This can be associated with the directionality of the magnetic field, which creates a difference in the radiation field as seen by an observer versus that seen by the electrons in the emission region.
It is known that the blazar jet emissions are dominated by non-thermal radiation while the accretion disk jets are normally dominated by thermal emission. In this work, our aim is to study the connection between the two types of emission by investigating the correlation between the blazar emission line intensity property, which embodies the nature of accretion disk, and the $γ$-ray flux property, which is the representative of jet emission. We compiled a sample of 656 blazars with available emission line equivalent widths ($EW$), the GeV $γ$-ray flux, and the SED information from the literatur…
A non-zero intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) would potentially produce detectable effects on cascade emission from blazars. Depending on the strength of the IGMF, the cascade emission may be time delayed or angularly broadened compared to the blazar's primary, unscattered emission. Ground-based imaging atmospheric-Cherenkov telescopes, such as VERITAS, have the precise angular resolution needed to search for magnetically-broadened emission. We present the latest VERITAS results on the search for extended gamma-ray emission, based on observations of a number of strongly-detected TeV blazars a…
Non-variable TeV emission from the extended jet of a blazar in the stochastic acceleration scenario: the case of the hard TeV emission of 1ES 1101-232
对耀变体和射电星系千秒差距尺度喷流X射线辐射的探测表明，这些喷流中可能存在高能电子，这些电子通过逆康普顿（IC）过程产生高能辐射。本文研究了耀变体的硬TeV不变辐射。多波段辐射由两部分组成：一部分是来自内部喷流的传统同步辐射自康普顿（SSC）辐射，另一部分是随机加速情况下扩展喷流中相对论电子对宇宙微波背景（CMB）光子和河外背景光（EBL）光子的SSC和IC散射产生的辐射。这样的模型被应用于1 ES 1101-232。结果表明：（1）利用多普勒因子的三个特征值可以很好地再现1 ES 1101-232的硬TeV不变辐射，这种辐射主要是来自扩展喷流的IC/CMB辐射（$δ_{\rm D}=5,10,15$）用于扩展喷流中的TeV发射区;（2）在$δ_{\rm D}=15$和10的情况下，物理参数可以达到均分相对论性电子和磁场之间的（或准均分）;相反，对于$δ_{\rm D}=5$的情况，物理参数很大程度上偏离均分。因此，1 ES 1101-232在扩展喷流中的TeV发射区应该是中等或高度束流。
Recently reported coincidences between high-energy neutrino events and major blazar outbursts reinforce the relevance of lepto-hadronic emission models for blazars. We study the influence of physical parameters on the neutrino output modeling blazar spectral energy distributions self-consistently assuming a relativistically propagating acceleration zone surrounded by a larger cooling zone. We find that the gross features of the spectral energy distribution can readily be explained with the model. A rigorous test requires time-resolved measurements of blazar spectral energy distributions during…
We report radio imaging and monitoring observations in the frequency range 0.235 - 2.7 GHz during the flaring mode of PKS 2155-304, one of the brightest BL Lac objects. The high sensitivity GMRT observations not only reveal extended kpc-scale jet and FRI type lobe morphology in this erstwhile `extended-core' blazar but also delineate the morphological details, thanks to its arcsec scale resolution. The radio light curve during the end phase of the outburst measured in 2008 shows high variability (8.5%) in the jet emission in the GHz range, compared to the lower core variability (3.2%) seen at …
Secondary γ-rays from intergalactic cascades may contribute to observable spectra of blazars, also modifying observable angular and temporal distributions. In this paper we briefly review basic features of intergalactic electromagnetic cascade physics, suggest a new approximation for γ-ray mean free path, consider angular patterns of magnetically broadened cascade emission, and present an example of a fit to the observable blazar spectrum.
High-energy emission from blazars is produced by electrons which are either accelerated directly (the assumption of leptonic models of blazar activity) or produced in interactions of accelerated protons with matter and radiation fields (the assumption of hadronic models). The hadronic models predict that gamma-ray emission is accompanied by neutrino emission with comparable energy flux but with a different spectrum. We derive constraints on the hadronic models of activity of blazars imposed by non-detection of neutrino flux from a population of gamma-ray emitting blazars. We stack the gamma-ra…
Both leptonic and hadronic emission processes may contribute to blazar jet emission; which dominates in blazars's high energy emission component remains an open question. Some intermediate synchrotron peaked blazars transition from their low to high energy emission components in the X-ray band making them excellent laboratories to probe both components simultaneously, and good targets for the newly launched Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. We characterize the spectral energy distributions for three such blazars: CGRaBS~J0211+1051, TXS~0506+056, and S5~0716+714, predicting their X-ray polari…
The current generation of Cherenkov telescopes, together with Fermi-LAT, have greatly increased our knowledge of $γ$-ray blazars. Among them, the high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object (HBL) PKS1424+240 (z $\simeq$ 0.6) is the farthest persistent emitter of very-high-energy (VHE; E $\geq$ 100 GeV) $γ$-ray photons. Current emission models can satisfactorily reproduce typical blazar emission assuming that the dominant emission process is synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) in HBLs; and external-inverse-Compton (EIC) in LBLs and FSRQs. Hadronic models are also able to correctly reproduce the $γ$-ray…
The Fermi-LAT revealed that the census of the gamma-ray sky is dominated by blazars. Looking for a possible connection between radio and gamma-ray emission is a central issue for understanding the blazar physics, and various works were dedicated to this topic. However, while a strong and significant correlation was found between radio and gamma-ray emission in the 0.1-100 GeV energy range, the connection between radio and very high energy (VHE, E>0.1 TeV) emission is still elusive. The main reason is the lack of a homogeneous VHE sky coverage, due to the operational mode of the imaging atmosph…
Extreme high-energy peaked BL Lac objects (EHBLs) are a new emerging class of blazars. The typical two-hump structured spectral energy distribution (SED) is shifted to higher energies with respect to other more established classes of blazars. Multi-wavelength observations allow us to constrain their synchrotron peak in the medium and hard X-ray bands. Their gamma-ray emission dominates above the GeV gamma-ray band, and in some objects it extends up to several TeV (e.g. 1ES 0229+200). Their hard TeV spectrum is also interesting for the implications on the extragalactic background light indirect…
The jet composition and energy dissipation mechanism of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and Blazars are fundamental questions which remain not fully understood. One plausible model is to interpret the $γ$-ray emission of GRBs and optical emission of blazars as synchrotron radiation of electrons accelerated from the collision-induced magnetic dissipation regions in Poynting-flux-dominated jets. The polarization observation is an important and independent information to test this model. Based on our recent 3D relativistic MHD simulations of collision-induced magnetic dissipation of magnetically dominate…
Blazars are a sub-category of radio-loud active galactic nuclei with relativistic jets pointing towards the observer. They exhibit non-thermal variable emission, which practically extends over the whole electromagnetic spectrum. Despite the plethora of multi-wavelength observations, the origin of the emission in blazar jets remains an open question. In this work, we construct a two-zone leptonic model: particles accelerate in a small region and lose energy through synchrotron radiation and inverse Compton Scattering. Consequently, the relativistic electrons escape to a larger area where the am…
Synchrotron pair halo and echo emission from blazars in the cosmic web: application to extreme TeV blazars
高频率峰值的高红移耀变体是极端的，因为它们的光谱特别硬，峰值在TeV能量处。标准的轻子场景需要特殊的源参数和/或特殊的设置，以解释这些观测。假设星系间磁场很低，也有人提出了由超高能宇宙射线（UHECR）在星系间介质中播种的电磁级联。在这里，我们研究了同步辐射的UHECR秒产生的耀变体位于磁化环境中，并表明它可以提供一个替代的解释，这些挑战的渠道，为源嵌入结构区域的磁场强度的顺序为$10^{-7}$ G。为了证明这一点，我们集中在三个极端的耀变体：1 ES 0229+200，RGB J 0710 +591和1 ES 1218+304。我们通过结合数值蒙特卡罗模拟和求解模拟中粒子的动力学方程来模拟来自这些源的预期伽马射线信号，并探索UHECR源和星系际介质参数空间以测试发射的鲁棒性。我们表明，所产生的同步对晕/回波通量在峰值能量是不敏感的整体IGMF强度的变化。与逆康普顿对晕/回波强度相比，该信号是不可避免的，鉴于大尺度结构的空隙中的IGMF的大不确定性，逆康普顿对晕/回波强度是有吸引力的。它还表明，耀变体γ射线发射可以容纳的同步辐射UHE中性光束的二次产品的发射，如果这些是由UHECR加速器内磁化区域发出。
A time-dependent emission model for blazar jets, taking acceleration due to Fermi-I and Fermi-II processes for electrons and protons as well as all relevant radiative processes self-consistently into account, is presented. The presence of highly relativistic protons within the jet extends the simple synchrotron self-Compton case not only in the very high energy radiation of blazars, but also in the X-ray regime, introducing non-linear behaviour in the emitting region of the model by photon-meson production and emerging electron positron pair cascades. We are able to investigate the variability…
The potential association between the blazar TXS 0506+056 and the neutrino event IceCube-170922A provides a unique opportunity to study the possible physical connection between the high-energy photons and neutrinos. We explore the correlated electromagnetic and neutrino emissions of blazar TXS 0506+056 by a self-consistent leptonic-hadronic model, taking into account particle stochastic acceleration and all relevant radiative processes self-consistently. The electromagnetic and neutrino spectra of blazar TXS 0506+056 are reproduced by the proton synchrotron and hybrid leptonic-hadronic models …
A two-component model of radio emission has been used to explain some radio observational properties of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) and, in particular, of blazars. In this work, we extend the two-component idea to the $γ$-ray emission and assume that the total $γ$-ray output of blazars consists of relativistically beamed and unbeamed components. The basic idea leverages the correlation between the radio core-dominance parameter and the $γ$-ray beaming factor. To do so, we evaluate this correlation for a large sample of 584 blazars taken from the fourth source catalog of the Fermi Large Area …
We present the results of a photon cluster search in the gamma-ray sky observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope, using the new Pass 8 dataset, at energies higher than 10 GeV. By means of the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) algorithm, we found 25 clusters associated with catalogued blazars not previously known as gamma-ray emitters. The properties of these sources are discussed.
Beaming effect is important for the observational properties of blazars. In this work, we collect 91 $Fermi$ blazars with available radio Doppler factors. $γ$-ray Doppler factors are estimated and compared with radio Doppler factors for some sources. The intrinsic (de-beamed) $γ$-ray flux density ($f^{\rm in}_γ$), intrinsic $γ$-ray luminosity ($L^{\rm in}_γ$), and intrinsic synchrotron peak frequency ($ν_{\rm p}^{\rm in}$) are calculated. Then we study the correlations between $f^{\rm in}_γ$ and redshift and find that they follow the theoretical relation: $\log f = -2.0 \log z + {\rm const}$. …
A high-energy neutrino event detected by IceCube on 22 September 2017 was coincident in direction and time with a gamma-ray flare from the blazar TXS 0506+056. Prompted by this association, we investigated 9.5 years of IceCube neutrino observations to search for excess emission at the position of the blazar. We found an excess of high-energy neutrino events with respect to atmospheric backgrounds at that position between September 2014 and March 2015. Allowing for time-variable flux, this constitutes 3.5σ evidence for neutrino emission from the direction of TXS 0506+056, independent of and pri…
We present two ways of modeling the spectral energy distribution of blazars in the hadronic context and discuss the predictions of each "hadronic variant" on the spectral shape, the multi-wavelength variability, the cosmic-ray flux, and the high-energy neutrino emission. Focusing on the latter, we then present an application of the hadronic model to individual BL Lacs that were recently suggested to be the counterparts of some of the IceCube neutrinos, and conclude by discussing the contribution of the whole BL Lac class to the observed neutrino background.
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) with relativistic jets are the most powerful persistent astrophysical sources of electromagnetic radiation in the Universe. Blazars are the most extreme subclass of AGN with jets directed along the line of sight of the observer. Their high-energy photon emission dominates the extragalactic gamma-ray sky and reaches multi-TeV energies. This demonstrates that blazars accelerate particles to very high energies. It has long been suspected that blazars may also accelerate protons to very high energies and thus be cosmic neutrino sources. Being extremely rare objects in …
There are still some important unanswered questions about the detailed particle acceleration and escape occurring during the quiescent epoches. As a result, the particle distribution that is adopted in the blazar quiescent spectral model have numerous unconstrained shapes. To help remedy this problem, we introduce a analytical particle transport model to reproduce quiescent broadband spectral energy distribution of blazar. In this model, the exact electron distribution is solved from a generalized transport equation that contains the terms describing first-order and secondary-order \emph{Fermi…
Kink instabilities are likely to occur in the current-carrying magnetized plasma jets. Recent observations of the blazar radiation and polarization signatures suggest that the blazar emission region may be considerably magnetized. While the kink instability has been studied with first-principle magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, the corresponding time-dependent radiation and polarization signatures have not been investigated. In this paper, we perform comprehensive polarization-dependent radiation modeling of the kink instability in the blazar emission region based on relativistic MHD (RMH…
Extremely High Synchrotron Peak (EHSP) blazars are observed to form a small population of sources with high energy hump peaking at TeV energies in their broad-band spectral energy distributions. The observed gamma-ray emission from these sources at GeV-TeV energies is described by unusual hard spectral indices. The observed spectral and temporal characteristics of these sources challenge the standard leptonic models for the broad-band emissions from blazars. Therefore, such sources provide astrophysical sites to investigate directly the particle acceleration, cooling of relativistic particles …
The characteristic two-component blazar spectral energy distribution (SED) can be of either leptonic and/or hadronic origins. The potential association of the high-energy neutrino event IceCube-170922A with the flaring blazar TXS~0506+056 indicates that hadronic processes may operate in a blazar jet. Despite multi-wavelength follow-ups of the event and extensive theoretical modelings, the radiation mechanisms and the underlying magnetic field strength and configuration remain poorly understood. In this paper, we consider generic leptonic and hadronic blazar spectral models with distinct magnet…
OVRO 40 m Blazar Monitoring Program: Location of the gamma-ray emission region in blazars by the study of correlated variability at radio and gamma-rays
We develop a model for a possible origin of hard very high energy spectra from a distant blazar. In the model, both the primary photons produced in the source and secondary photons produced outside the source contribute to the observed high energy $γ$-rays emission. That is, the primary photons are produced in the source through the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) process, and the secondary photons are produced outside the source through high energy protons interaction with the background photons along the line of sight. We apply the model to a characteristic case was the very high energy (VHE)…
The observation of a very-high-energy neutrino by IceCube (IceCube-170922A) and its association with the flaring blazar TXS 0506+056 provided the first multimessenger observations of blazar jets, demonstrating the important role of protons in their dynamics and emission. In this paper, we present SOPRANO (https://www.amsdc.am/soprano), a new conservative implicit kinetic code which follows the time evolution of the isotropic distribution functions of protons, neutrons and the secondaries produced in photo-pion and photo-pair interactions, alongside with the evolution of photon and electron/pos…
Blazars are a sub-category of radio-loud active galactic nuclei with relativistic jets pointing towards to the observer. They are well-known for their non-thermal variable emission, which practically extends over the whole electromagnetic spectrum. Despite the plethora of multi-wavelength observations, the issue about the origin of the $γ$-ray and radio emission in blazar jets remains unsettled. Here, we construct a parametric leptonic model for studying the connection between the $γ$-ray and radio emission in both steady-state and flaring states of blazars. Assuming that relativistic electron…
After three years of polarimetric monitoring of blazars, the RoboPol project has uncovered several key characteristics of polarimetric rotations in the optical for these most variable sources. The most important of these is that polarization properties of the synchrotron emission in the optical appear to be directly linked with gamma-ray activity. In this paper, we discuss the evidence for this connection, as well as the broader features of polarimetric behavior in blazars that are key in making progress with theoretical modeling of blazar emission.
Blazars represent dominant population of the extragalactic $γ$-ray sources in the Universe. These sources exhibit some characteristic properties like strong and non-thermal continuum emission over the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio to TeV $γ$-rays with rapid variability on all timescales. The emission at radio and optical wavelengths is highly polarized with significant variation. The fastest variability in the blazar emission is observed during the flaring activity which is an important observational property of blazars. In this paper, we describe various methods to characterize t…
It is well-known that the $γ$-ray emission in blazars originate in the relativistic jet pointed at the observers. However, it is not clear whether the exact location of the GeV emission is less than a pc from the central engine, such that it may receive sufficient amount of photons from the broad line region (BLR) or farther out at 1-100 pc range. The former assumption has been successfully used to model the spectral energy distribution of many blazars. However, simultaneous detection of TeV $γ$-rays along with GeV outbursts in some cases indicate that the emission region must be outside the B…
The multi-wavelength spectral and temporal variability observed in blazars set tight constraints on current theoretical emission models. Here, we investigate the relativistic magnetic reconnection process as a source of blazar emission in which quasi-spherical plasmoids, containing relativistic particles and magnetic fields, are associated with the emission sites in blazar jets. By coupling recent two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of relativistic reconnection with a time-dependent radiative transfer code, we compute the non-thermal emission from a chain of plasmoids formed during a …
Detection of the IceCube-170922A neutrino coincident with the flaring blazar TXS 0506+056, the first and only 3-sigma high-energy neutrino source association to date, offers a potential breakthrough in our understanding of high-energy cosmic particles and blazar physics. We present a comprehensive analysis of TXS 0506+056 during its flaring state, using newly collected Swift, NuSTAR, and X-shooter data with Fermi observations and numerical models to constrain the blazar's particle acceleration processes and multimessenger (electromagnetic and high-energy neutrino) emissions. Accounting properl…
