On the dependence of the spectral parameters on the observational conditions in homogeneous time dependent models of the TeV blazars

Most of current models of TeV blazars emission assume a Synchrotron Self-Compton mechanism where relativistic particles emit both synchrotron radiation and Inverse Compton photons. For sake of simplicity, these models usually consider only steady state emission. The spectral features are thus only related to the shape of the particle distribution, and do not depend on the timing of observations. In this letter, we study the effect of, firstly, the lag between the beginning of the injection of the fresh particles and the trigger of the observation, and secondly, of a finite injection duration. We illustrate these effects considering an analytical time-dependent model of the synchrotron emission by a monoenergetic distribution of leptons. We point out that the spectral shape can be in fact very dependent on observational conditions if the particle injection term is time-dependent, particularly taking into account the effect of the time averaging procedure on the final shape of the SED. Consequences on the acceleration process are also discussed.Comment: Letter to Editor, accepted for publication in A&

A theoretical unifying scheme for gamma-ray bright blazars

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 respectively as high frequency BL Lac objects, low frequency BL Lac objects, highly polarized quasars and lowly polarized quasars. The proposed scheme is based on the correlations among the physical parameters derived in the present paper by applying to 51 gamma ray loud blazars two of the most accepted scenarios for the broad band emission of blazars, namely the synchrotron self--Compton and external Compton models, and explains the observational trends presented by Fossati et al. (1998) in a companion paper, dealing with the spectral energy distributions of all blazars. This gives us confidence that our scheme applies to all blazars as a class.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, uses mn.sty and psfig.tex. Accepted for publication in MNRA

BeppoSAX Observations of Mkn 421: clues on the particle acceleration ?

Mkn 421 was repeatedly observed with BeppoSAX in 1997-1998. We present highlights of the results of the thorough temporal and spectral analysis discussed by Fossati et al. (1999) and Maraschi et al. (1999), focusing on the flare of April 1998, which was simultaneously observed also at TeV energies. The detailed study of the flare in different energy bands reveals a few very important new results: (a) hard photons lag the soft ones by 2-3 ks *a behavior opposite to what is normally found in High energy peak BL Lacs X-ray spectra*; (b) the flux decay of the flare can be intrinsically achromatic if a stationary underlying emission component is present. Moreover the spectral evolution during the flare has been followed by extracting X-ray spectra on few ks intervals, allowing to detect for the first time the peak of the synchrotron component shifting to higher energies during the rising phase, and then receding. The spectral analysis confirms the delay in the flare at the higher energies, as above a few keV the spectrum changes only after the peak of the outburst has occurred. The spectral and temporal information obtained challenge the simplest models currently adopted for the (synchrotron) emission and most importantly provide clues on the particle acceleration process. A theoretical picture accounting for all the observational constraints is discussed, where electrons are injected at low energies and then progressively accelerated during the development of the flare.Comment: 5 pages, LaTeX, uses aipproc.sty, 3 PostScript figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the "Fifth Compton Symposium", held in Portsmouth (NH), 1999 Septembe