Four New BL Lac Surveys: Sampling New Populations

The advent of large area deep radio and X-ray surveys is leading to the creation of many new BL Lac samples. In particular, the ROSAT All-Sky, Green Bank and FIRST surveys are proving to be rich sources of new BL Lacs. We will discuss the methods used in four independent BL Lac searches based on these surveys. Comparison of the broadband spectral energy distributions of these BL Lacs with those of previously known objects clearly points to the existence of a large previously unrecognized population of objects with characteristics intermediate between those exhibited by Low and High energy peaked BL Lacs.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures, To be published in the Proceedings of the conference "BL Lac Phenomenon" held in Turku, Finland, June 22-26, 199

On the relationship between BL Lacertae objects and radio galaxies

We present deep radio images at 1.4 GHz of a large and complete sample of BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) selected from the Deep X-ray Radio Blazar Survey (DXRBS). We have observed 24 northern sources with the Very Large Array (VLA) in both its A and C configurations and 15 southern sources with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) in its largest configuration. We find that in the DXRBS, as in the 1-Jy survey, which has a radio flux limit roughly ten times higher than the DXRBS, a considerable number (about a third) of BL Lacs can be identified with the relativistically beamed counterparts of Fanaroff-Riley type II (FR II) radio galaxies. We attribute the existence of FR II-BL Lacs, which is not accounted for by current unified schemes, to an inconsistency in our classification scheme for radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN). Taking the extended radio power as a suitable measure of intrinsic jet power, we find similar average values for low- (LBL) and high-energy peaked BL Lacs (HBL), contrary to the predictions of the blazar sequence.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRA

Flux density measurements of a complete sample of faint blazars

We performed observations with the Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope to measure flux densities and polarised emission of sources selected from the "Deep X-ray Radio Blazar Survey" (DXRBS) to better define their spectral index behaviour in the radio band, with the aim to construct a homogeneous sample of blazars. Sources were observed at four different frequencies with the Effelsberg 100-m telescope. We complemented these measurements with flux density data at 1.4GHz derived from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey.The spectral indices of a sample of faint blazars were computed making use of almost simultaneous measurements. Sixty-six percent of the sources can be classified as "bona fide" blazars. Seven objects show a clearly inverted spectral index. Seventeen sources previously classified as flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) are actually steep spectrum radio quasars (SSRQs). The flux densities obtained with the Effelsberg 100-m telescope at 5GHz are compared with the flux densities listed in the Green Bank GB6 survey and in the Parkes-MIT-NRAO PMN catalogue. About 43% of the sources in our sample exhibit flux density variations on temporal scales of 19 or 22 years. We confirm that 75 out of 103 sources of the DXRBS are indeed FSRQs. Twenty-seven sources show a spectral index steeper than -0.5 and should be classified as SSRQs. Polarised emission was detected for 36 sources at 4.85GHz. The median value of the percentage of polarised emission is (5.8+-0.9$)%. Five sources show rotation measure (RM) values >200 rad m^-2.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

ASCA and contemporaneous ground-based observations of the BL Lacertae objects 1749+096 and 2200+420 (BL Lac)

We present ASCA observations of the radio-selected BL Lacertae objects 1749+096 (z=0.32) and 2200+420 (BL Lac, z=0.069) performed in 1995 Sept and Nov, respectively. The ASCA spectra of both sources can be described as a first approximation by a power law with photon index Gamma ~ 2. This is flatter than for most X-ray-selected BL Lacs observed with ASCA, in agreement with the predictions of current blazar unification models. While 1749+096 exhibits tentative evidence for spectral flattening at low energies, a concave continuum is detected for 2200+420: the steep low-energy component is consistent the high-energy tail of the synchrotron emission responsible for the longer wavelengths, while the harder tail at higher energies is the onset of the Compton component. The spectral energy distributions from radio to gamma-rays are consistent with synchrotron-self Compton emission from a single homogeneous region shortward of the IR/optical wavelengths, with a second component in the radio domain related to a more extended emission region. For 2200+420, comparing the 1995 Nov state with the optical/GeV flare of 1997 July, we find that models requiring inverse Compton scattering of external photons provide a viable mechanism for the production of the highest (GeV) energies during the flare. An increase of the external radiation density and of the power injected in the jet can reproduce the flat gamma-ray continuum observed in 1997 July. A directly testable prediction of this model is that the line luminosity in 2200+420 should vary shortly after (~1 month) a non-thermal synchrotron flare.Comment: 28 pages,6 figures, 5 tables; LaTeX document. accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

VLBI observations of seven BL Lac objects from RGB sample

We present EVN observations of seven BL Lac objects selected from the RGB sample. To investigate the intrinsic radiation property of BL Lac objects, we estimated the Doppler factor with the VLA or MERLIN core and the total 408 MHz luminosity for a sample of 170 BL Lac objects. The intrinsic (comoving) synchrotron peak frequency was then calculated by using the estimated Doppler factor. Assuming a Lorentz factor of 5, the viewing angle of jets was constrained. The high-resolution VLBI images of seven sources all show a core-jet structure. We estimated the proper motions of three sources with the VLBI archive data, and find that the apparent speed increases with the distance of components to the core for all of them. In our BL Lacs sample, the Doppler factor of LBLs is systematically larger than that of IBLs and HBLs. We find a significant anti-correlation between the total 408 MHz luminosity and the intrinsic synchrotron peak frequency. However, the scatter is much larger than for the blazar sequence. Moreover, we find a significant positive correlation between the viewing angle and the intrinsic synchrotron peak frequency. The BL Lac objects show a continuous distribution on the viewing angle. While LBLs have a smaller viewing angle than that of IBLs and HBLs, IBLs are comparable to HBLs. We conclude that the intrinsic synchrotron peak frequency is not only related to the intrinsic radio power (though with a large scatter), but also to the viewing angle for the present sample.Comment: 22 pages,15figures, published by A&

The milliarcsecond-scale jet of PKS 0735+178 during quiescence

We present polarimetric 5 GHz to 43 GHz VLBI observations of the BL Lacertae object PKS 0735+178, spanning March 1996 to May 2000. Comparison with previous and later observations suggests that the overall kinematic and structural properties of the jet are greatly influenced by its activity. Time intervals of enhanced activity, as reported before 1993 and after 2000 by other studies, are followed by highly superluminal motion along a rectilinear jet. In contrast the less active state in which we performed our observations, shows subluminal or slow superluminal jet features propagating through a twisted jet with two sharp bends of about 90 deg. within the innermost three-milliarcsecond jet structure. Proper motion estimates from the data presented here allow us to constrain the jet viewing angle to values < 9 deg., and the bulk Lorentz factor to be between 2 and 4.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Multiwavelength Monitoring of the BL Lacertae Object PKS 2155-304 in May 1994. II. The IUE Campaign

PKS 2155-304, the brightest BL Lac object in the ultraviolet sky, was monitored with the IUE satellite at ~1 hour time-resolution for ten nearly uninterrupted days in May 1994. The campaign, which was coordinated with EUVE, ROSAT, and ASCA monitoring, along with optical and radio observations from the ground, yielded the largest set of spectra and the richest short time scale variability information ever gathered for a blazar at UV wavelengths. The source flared dramatically during the first day, with an increase by a factor ~2.2 in an hour and a half. In subsequent days, the flux maintained a nearly constant level for ~5 days, then flared with ~35% amplitude for two days. The same variability was seen in both short- and long-wavelength IUE light curves, with zero formal lag (~<2 hr), except during the rapid initial flare, when the variations were not resolved. Spectral index variations were small and not clearly correlated with flux. The flux variability observed in the present monitoring is so rapid that for the first time, based on the UV emission alone, the traditional Delta L/Delta t limit indicating relativistic beaming is exceeded. The most rapid variations, under the likely assumption of synchrotron radiation, lead to a lower limit of 1 G on the magnetic field strength in the UV emitting region. These results are compared with earlier intensive monitoring of PKS 2155-304 with IUE in November 1991, when the UV flux variations had completely different characteristics.Comment: 45 pages, Latex, 11 PostScript figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journa