24 research outputs found
Transformation Properties of External Radiation Fields, Energy-Loss Rates and Scattered Spectra, and a Model for Blazar Variability
We treat transformation properties of external radiation fields in the proper
frame of a plasma moving with constant speed. The specific spectral energy
densities of external isotropic and accretion-disk radiation fields are derived
in the comoving frame of relativistic outflows, such as those thought to be
found near black-hole jet and gamma-ray burst sources. Nonthermal electrons and
positrons Compton-scatter this radiation field, and high-energy protons and
ions interact with this field through photomeson and photopair production. We
revisit the problem of the Compton-scattered spectrum associated with an
external accretion-disk radiation field, and clarify a past treatment by the
authors. Simple expressions for energy-loss rates and Thomson-scattered spectra
are given for ambient soft photon fields consisting either of a surrounding
external isotropic monochromatic radiation field, or of an azimuthally
symmetric, geometrically thin accretion-disk radiation field. A model for
blazar emission is presented that displays a characteristic spectral and
variability behavior due to the presence of a direct accretion-disk component.
The disk component and distinct flaring behavior can be bright enough to be
detected from flat spectrum radio quasars with {\it GLAST}. Spectral states of
blazars are characterized by the relative importance of the accretion-disk and
scattered radiation fields and, in the extended jet, by the accretion disk,
inner jet, and cosmic microwave background radiation fields.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures, ApJ, in press; includes improvements in
response to referee report, added references, section of detectability with
GLAS
Gamma Rays from Compton Scattering in the Jets of Microquasars: Application to LS 5039
Recent HESS observations show that microquasars in high-mass systems are
sources of VHE gamma-rays. A leptonic jet model for microquasar gamma-ray
emission is developed. Using the head-on approximation for the Compton cross
section and taking into account angular effects from the star's orbital motion,
we derive expressions to calculate the spectrum of gamma rays when nonthermal
jet electrons Compton-scatter photons of the stellar radiation field.
Calculations are presented for power-law distributions of nonthermal electrons
that are assumed to be isotropically distributed in the comoving jet frame, and
applied to -ray observations of LS 5039. We conclude that (1) the TeV
emission measured with HESS cannot result only from Compton-scattered stellar
radiation (CSSR), but could be synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission or a
combination of CSSR and SSC; (2) fitting both the HESS data and the EGRET data
associated with LS 5039 requires a very improbable leptonic model with a very
hard electron spectrum. Because the gamma rays would be variable in a leptonic
jet model, the data sets are unlikely to be representative of a simultaneously
measured gamma-ray spectrum. We therefore attribute EGRET gamma rays primarily
to CSSR emission, and HESS gamma rays to SSC emission. Detection of periodic
modulation of the TeV emission from LS 5039 would favor a leptonic SSC or
cascade hadron origin of the emission in the inner jet, whereas stochastic
variability alone would support a more extended leptonic model. The puzzle of
the EGRET gamma rays from LS 5039 will be quickly solved with GLAST. (Abridged)Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, ApJ, in press, June 1, 2006, corrected eq.
Gamma Ray Burst Neutrinos Probing Quantum Gravity
Very high energy, short wavelength, neutrinos may interact with the
space-time foam predicted by theories of quantum gravity. They would propagate
like light through a crystal lattice and be delayed, with the delay depending
on the energy. This will appear to the observer as a violation of Lorenz
invariance. Back of the envelope calculations imply that observations of
neutrinos produced by gamma ray bursts may reach Planck-scale sensitivity. We
revisit the problem considering two essential complications: the imprecise
timing of the neutrinos associated with their poorly understood production
mechanism in the source and the indirect nature of their energy measurement
made by high energy neutrino telescopes.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure
Analyzing the Multiwavelength Spectrum and Variability of BL Lacertae During the July 1997 Outburst
The multiwavelength spectrum of BL Lacertae during its July 1997 outburst is
analyzed in terms of different variations of the homogeneous leptonic jet model
for the production of high-energy radiation from blazars. We find that a
two-component gamma-ray spectrum, consisting of a synchrotron self-Compton and
an external Compton component, is required in order to yield an acceptable fit
to the broadband spectrum. Our analysis indicates that in BL Lac, unlike other
BL Lac objects, the broad emission line region plays an important role for the
high-energy emission. Several alternative blazar jet models are briefly
discussed. In the appendix, we describe the formalism in which the process of
Comptonization of reprocessed accretion disk photons is treated in the
previously developed blazar jet simulation code which we use.Comment: Now accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.
Significantly extended discussion w.r.t. original version. 3 Figures included
using epsf.sty, rotate.st
Modeling the Multiwavelength Spectra and Variability of BL Lacertae in 2000
BL Lacertae was the target of an extensive multiwavelength monitoring
campaign in the second half of 2000. In this paper, we are using leptonic and
hadronic jet models to fit the observed broadband spectra and spectral
variability patterns. We start out with global spectral models. Subsequently,
we investigate various flaring scenarios for comparison with the observed
short-term variability. For our leptonic jet model, we find that the short-term
variability, in particular the optical and X-ray spectral variability, can be
best represented with a flaring scenario dominated by a spectral-index change
of the spectrum of ultrarelativistic electrons injected into the jet. Based on
this result, a detailed model simulation, reproducing the observed optical and
X-ray spectral variability and broadband SED of BL Lacertae simultaneously, is
presented. Our leptonic modeling results are compared to fits using the
hadronic synchrotron-proton blazar (SPB) model. That model can reproduce the
observed SEDs of BL Lacertae in a scenario with muon-synchrotron dominated
high-energy emission. It requires a significantly higher magnetic field than
the leptonic model (~ 40 G vs. ~ 2 G in the leptonic model) and a lower Doppler
factor associated with the bulk motion of the emission region (D ~ 8 vs. D ~ 18
in the leptonic model). The hadronic model predicts a significantly larger >
100 GeV flux than the leptonic models, well within the anticipated capabilities
of VERITAS and MAGIC.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Uses AASTEX LaTeX macros.41 pages,
including 12 figure
Time-Dependent Synchrotron and Compton Spectra from Jets of Microquasars
Jet models for the high-energy emission of Galactic X-ray binary sources have
regained significant interest with detailed spectral and timing studies of the
X-ray emission from microquasars, the recent detection by the HESS
collaboration of very-high-energy gamma-rays from the microquasar LS~5039, and
the earlier suggestion of jet models for ultraluminous X-ray sources observed
in many nearby galaxies. Here we study the synchrotron and Compton signatures
of time-dependent electron injection and acceleration, adiabatic and radiative
cooling, and different jet geometries in the jets of Galactic microquasars.
Synchrotron, synchrotron-self-Compton, and external-Compton radiation processes
with soft photons provided by the companion star and the accretion disk are
treated. An analytical solution is presented to the electron kinetic equation
for general power-law geometries of the jets for Compton scattering in the
Thomson regime. We pay particular attention to predictions concerning the rapid
flux and spectral variability signatures expected in a variety of scenarios,
making specific predictions concerning possible spectral hysteresis, similar to
what has been observed in several TeV blazars. Such predictions should be
testable with dedicated monitoring observations of Galactic microquasars and
ultraluminous X-ray sources using Chandra and/or XMM-Newton.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 37 manuscript pages, including 10
eps figures; uses AASTeX macro
Does the Blazar Gamma-Ray Spectrum Harden with Increasing Flux? Analysis of 9 Years of EGRET Data
The Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma-Ray
Observatory (CGRO) discovered gamma-ray emission from more than 67 blazars
during its 9 yr lifetime. We conducted an exhaustive search of the EGRET
archives and selected all the blazars that were observed multiple times and
were bright enough to enable a spectral analysis using standard power-law
models. The sample consists of 18 flat-spectrum radio quasars(FSRQs), 6
low-frequency peaked BL Lac objects (LBLs) and 2 high-frequency peaked BL Lac
objects (HBLs). We do not detect any clear pattern in the variation of spectral
index with flux. Some of the blazars do not show any statistical evidence for
spectral variability. The spectrum hardens with increasing flux in a few cases.
There is also evidence for a flux-hardness anticorrelation at low fluxes in
five blazars. The well-observed blazars (3C 279, 3C 273, PKS 0528+134, PKS
1622-297 PKS 0208-512) do not show any overall trend in the long-term spectral
dependence on flux, but the sample shows a mixture of hard and soft states. We
observed a previously unreported spectral hysteresis at weekly timescales in
all three FSRQs for which data from flares lasting for ~(3-4) weeks were
available. All three sources show a counterclockwise rotation, despite the
widely different flux profiles. We analyze the observed spectral behavior in
the context of various inverse Compton mechanisms believed to be responsible
for emission in the EGRET energy range. Our analysis uses the EGRET skymaps
that were regenerated to include the changes in performance during the mission
The beaming pattern and spectrum of inverse Compton radiation in blazars
By including Klein-Nishina effects, we generalize previous calculations of
the beaming pattern of photons produced by inverse Compton scattering. For an
isotropic distribution of soft photons upscattered by nonthermal electrons with
a power-law density distribution embedded in a plasma moving with relativistic
bulk speed we show that the observed radiation intensity is proportional to
D^(3+p), where D is the Doppler boosting factor, and p the electron
distribution index. This agrees with previous computations performed in the
Thomson limit, where the observed spectral index is a=(p-1)/2 and the beaming
pattern D^(4+2a). Independent of D, Klein-Nishina effects limit the location of
the peak energy of the observed spectral energy distribution such that e_{peak}
less than 1/e_0, where e_0 is the energy of the seed photons in units of mc^2.
Assuming that the seed photons originate in the broad line region, we
demonstrate that the GeV emission of blazars is significantly modified by
Klein-Nishina effects, the spectrum being softer than that calculated in the
Thomson limit. We further show that the change in spectral index of the inverse
Compton emission across the peak energy can exceed the value of 0.5 predicted
by computations performed in the Thomson limit. The model spectra agree with
OSSE and COMPTEL limits on this break without invoking the effects of
differential absorption at the edge of a gamma-ray photosphere.Comment: Accepted in ApJ, Nov 200
The Beaming Pattern of Doppler Boosted Thermal Annihilation Radiation: Application to MeV Blazars
The beaming pattern of thermal annihilation radiation is broader than the
beaming pattern produced by isotropic nonthermal electrons and positrons in the
jets of radio-emitting active galactic nuclei which Compton scatter photons
from an external isotropic radiation field. Thus blueshifted thermal
annihilation radiation can provide the dominant contribution to the high-energy
radiation spectrum at observing angles theta > 1/Gamma, where Gamma is the bulk
Lorentz factor of the outflowing plasma. This effect may account for the
spectral features of MeV blazars discovered with the Compton Telescope on the
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Coordinated gamma-ray observations of
annihilation line radiation to infer Doppler factors and VLBI radio
observations to measure transverse angular speeds of outflowing plasma blobs
can be used to determine the Hubble constant.Comment: 15 pages including 3 figures, requires AAS Latex macros, accepted for
publication in The Astrophysical Journa
Multiwavelength observations of Mkn 501 during the 1997 high state
During the observation period 1997, the nearby Blazar Mkn 501 showed
extremely strong emission and high variability. We examine multiwavelength
aspects of this event using radio, optical, soft and hard X-ray and TeV data.
We concentrate on the medium-timescale variability of the broadband spectra,
averaged over weekly intervals.
We confirm the previously found correlation between soft and hard X-ray
emission and the emission at TeV energies, while the source shows only minor
variability at radio and optical wavelengths. The non-linear correlation
between hard X-ray and TeV fluxes is consistent with a simple analytic estimate
based on an SSC model in which Klein-Nishina effects are important for the
highest-energy electrons in the jet, and flux variations are caused by
variations of the electron density and/or the spectral index of the electron
injection spectrum.
The time-averaged spectra are fitted with a Synchrotron Self-Compton (SSC)
dominated leptonic jet model, using the full Klein-Nishina cross section and
following the self-consistent evolution of relativistic particles along the
jet, accounting for gamma-gamma absorption and pair production within the
source as well as due to the intergalactic infrared background radiation. The
contribution from external inverse-Compton scattering is tightly constrained by
the low maximum EGRET flux and found to be negligible at TeV energies. We find
that high levels of the X-ray and TeV fluxes can be explained by a hardening of
the energy spectra of electrons injected at the base of the jet, in remarkable
contrast to the trend found for gamma-ray flares of the flat-spectrum radio
quasar PKS 0528+134.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ, 31 pages, 11 figure