Search results for "Blazar"

TANAMI: Tracking Active Galactic Nuclei with Austral Milliarcsecond Interferometry - II. Additional Sources

2018

TANAMI is a multiwavelength program monitoring active galactic nuclei (AGN) south of -30deg declination including high-resolution Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) imaging, radio, optical/UV, X-ray and gamma-ray studies. We have previously published first-epoch 8.4GHz VLBI images of the parsec-scale structure of the initial sample. In this paper, we present images of 39 additional sources. The full sample comprises most of the radio- and gamma-ray brightest AGN in the southern quarter of the sky, overlapping with the region from which high-energy (>100TeV) neutrino events have been found. We characterize the parsec-scale radio properties of the jets and compare with the quasi-simu…

Multi-frequency properties of synthetic blazar radio light curves within the shock-in-jet scenario

2015

Blazars are among the most powerful extragalactic objects, as a sub-class of active galactic nuclei. They launch relativistic jets and their emitted radiation shows strong variability across the entire electro-magnetic spectrum. The mechanisms producing the variability are still controversial and different models have been proposed to explain the observed variations in multi-frequency blazar light curves.We investigate the capabilities of the classical shock-in-jet model to explain and reconstruct the observed evolution of flares in the turnover frequency turnover flux density plane and their frequency-dependent light curve parameters. With a detailed parameter space study we provide the fr…

A sample of weak blazars at milli-arcsecond resolution

2015

We started a follow-up investigation of the Deep X-ray Radio Blazar Survey objects with declination >-10 deg. We undertook a survey with the EVN at 5GHz to make the first images of a complete sample of weak blazars, aiming at a comparison between high- and low-power samples of blazars. All of the 87 sources observed were detected. Point-like sources are found in 39 cases, and 48 show core-jet structure. According to the spectral indices previously obtained, 58 sources show a flat spectral index, and 29 sources show a steep spectrum or a spectrum peaking at a frequency around 1-2 GHz. Adding to the DXRBS objects we observed those already observed with ATCA in the southern sky, we found th…

Numerical simulations of the internal shock model in magnetized relativistic jets of blazars

2015

The internal shocks scenario in relativistic jets is used to explain the variability of the blazar emission. Recent studies have shown that the magnetic field significantly alters the shell collision dynamics, producing a variety of spectral energy distributions and light-curves patterns. However, the role played by magnetization in such emission processes is still not entirely understood. In this work we numerically solve the magnetohydodynamic evolution of the magnetized shells collision, and determine the influence of the magnetization on the observed radiation. Our procedure consists in systematically varying the shell Lorentz factor, relative velocity, and viewing angle. The calculatio…

Probing the innermost regions of AGN jets and their magnetic fields with RadioAstron II. Observations of 3C 273 at minimum activity

2017

RadioAstron is a 10 m orbiting radio telescope mounted on the Spektr-R satellite, launched in 2011, performing Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (SVLBI) observations supported by a global ground array of radio telescopes. With an apogee of about 350 000 km, it is offering for the first time the possibility to perform {\mu}as-resolution imaging in the cm-band. We present observations at 22 GHz of 3C 273, performed in 2014, designed to reach a maximum baseline of approximately nine Earth diameters. Reaching an angular resolution of 0.3 mas, we study a particularly low-activity state of the source, and estimate the nuclear region brightness temperature, comparing with the extreme one det…

F-GAMMA: On the phenomenological classification of continuum radio spectra variability patterns of Fermi blazars

2012

The F-GAMMA program is a coordinated effort to investigate the physics of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) via multi-frequency monitoring of Fermi blazars. In the current study we show and discuss the evolution of broad-band radio spectra, which are measured at ten frequencies between 2.64 and 142 GHz using the Effelsberg 100-m and the IRAM 30-m telescopes. It is shown that any of the 78 sources studied can be classified in terms of their variability characteristics in merely 5 types of variability. It is argued that these can be attributed to only two classes of variability mechanisms. The first four types are dominated by spectral evolution and can be described by a simple two-component syst…

The blazar-like radio structure of the TeV source IC310

2012

Context. The radio galaxy IC310 in the Perseus cluster has recently been detected in the gamma-ray regime at GeV and TeV energies. The TeV emission shows time variability and an extraordinarily hard spectrum, even harder than the spectrum of the similar nearby gamma-ray emitting radio galaxy M87. Aims. High-resolution studies of the radio morphology help to constrain the geometry of the jet on sub-pc scales and to find out where the high-energy emission might come from. Methods. We analyzed May 2011 VLBA data of IC310 at a wavelength of 3.6 cm, revealing the parsec-scale radio structure of this source. We compared our findings with more information available from contemporary single-dish fl…

Numerical study of broadband spectra caused by internal shocks in magnetized relativistic jets of blazars

2013

The internal-shocks scenario in relativistic jets has been used to explain the variability of blazars' outflow emission. Recent simulations have shown that the magnetic field alters the dynamics of these shocks producing a whole zoo of spectral energy density patterns. However, the role played by magnetization in such high-energy emission is still not entirely understood. With the aid of \emph{Fermi}'s second LAT AGN catalog, a comparison with observations in the $\gamma$-ray band was performed, in order to identify the effects of the magnetic field.

ERRATUM: “MOJAVE: MONITORING OF JETS IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI WITH VLBA EXPERIMENTS. VII. BLAZAR JET ACCELERATION” (2009, ApJ, 706, 1253)

2014

Evidence for shock-shock interaction in the jet of CTA 102

2010

We have found evidence for interaction between a standing and a traveling shock in the jet of the blazar CTA 102. Our result is based in the study of the spectral evolution of the turnover frequency-turnover flux density plane. The radio/mm light curves were taken during a major radio outburst in April 2006.