Unusual Radio Properties of the BL Lac Object 0820+225

We present the results of simultaneous VLBA polarisation observations of the BL Lacertae object 0820+225 at 5, 8, and 15 GHz, together with earlier images at 5 GHz. This source has an unusually rich total intensity and polarisation structure compared to other objects with comparable redshifts. The magnetic field in the inner part of the complex and highly twisted VLBI jet is transverse, as is typical of BL Lacertae objects, but becomes roughly longitudinal further from the core, possibly due to shear. Although the integrated rotation measure of 0820+225 is modest, the rotation-measure distribution on parsec scales is non-uniform, and clearly shows regions where the rotation measure is substantially higher than the integrated value.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

THE CONNECTION between the RADIO JET and the GAMMA-RAY EMISSION in the RADIO GALAXY 3C 120

© 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We present the analysis of the radio jet evolution of the radio galaxy 3C 120 during a period of prolonged γ-ray activity detected by the Fermi satellite between 2012 December and 2014 October. We find a clear connection between the γ-ray and radio emission, such that every period of γ-ray activity is accompanied by the flaring of the millimeter very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) core and subsequent ejection of a new superluminal component. However, not all ejections of components are associated with γ-ray events detectable by Fermi. Clear γ-ray detections are obtained only when components are moving in a direction closer to our line of sight. This suggests that the observed γ-ray emission depends not only on the interaction of moving components with the millimeter VLBI core, but also on their orientation with respect to the observer. Timing of the γ-ray detections and ejection of superluminal components locate the γ-ray production to within ∼0.13 pc from the millimeter VLBI core, which was previously estimated to lie about 0.24 pc from the central black hole. This corresponds to about twice the estimated extension of the broad line region, limiting the external photon field and therefore suggesting synchrotron self Compton as the most probable mechanism for the production of the γ-ray emission. Alternatively, the interaction of components with the jet sheath can provide the necessary photon field to produced the observed γ-rays by Compton scattering.his research has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation grants AYA2010-14844, and AYA2013-40825 P, and by the Regional Government of Andalucia (Spain) grant P09-FQM-4784. This research was partly supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant 13-02-12103 and by the Academy of Finland project 274477.Peer Reviewe

Multiwavelength observations of 3C 454.3. III. Eighteen months of agile monitoring of the "crazy diamond"

We report on 18 months of multiwavelength observations of the blazar 3C 454.3 (Crazy Diamond) carried out in the period 2007 July-2009 January. In particular, we show the results of the AGILE campaigns which took place on 2008 May-June, 2008 July-August, and 2008 October-2009 January. During the 2008 May-2009 January period, the source average flux was highly variable, with a clear fading trend toward the end of the period, from an average γ-ray flux F E>100 MeV ≳ 200 × 10-8photonscm -2s-1 in 2008 May-June, to F E>100 MeV 80 × 10-8photonscm-2s-1 in 2008 October-2009 January. The average γ-ray spectrum between 100 MeV and 1 GeV can be fit by a simple power law, showing a moderate softening (from ΓGRID ∼ 2.0 to ΓGRID ∼ 2.2) toward the end of the observing campaign. Only 3σ upper limits can be derived in the 20-60 keV energy band with Super-AGILE, because the source was considerably off-axis during the whole time period. In 2007 July-August and 2008 May-June, 3C 454.3 was monitored by Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The RXTE/Proportional Counter Array (PCA) light curve in the 3-20 keV energy band shows variability correlated with the γ-ray one. The RXTE/PCA average flux during the two time periods is F 3-20 keV = 8.4 × 10-11ergcm-2s -1, and F 3-20 keV = 4.5 × 10 -11ergcm-2s-1, respectively, while the spectrum (a power law with photon index ΓPCA = 1.65 0.02) does not show any significant variability. Consistent results are obtained with the analysis of the RXTE/High-Energy X-Ray Timing Experiment quasi-simultaneous data. We also carried out simultaneous Swift observations during all AGILE campaigns. Swift/XRT detected 3C 454.3 with an observed flux in the 2-10 keV energy band in the range (0.9-7.5) × 10-11ergcm-2s-1 and a photon index in the range ΓXRT = 1.33-2.04. In the 15-150 keV energy band, when detected, the source has an average flux of about 5mCrab. GASP-WEBT monitored 3C 454.3 during the whole 2007-2008 period in the radio, millimeter, near-IR, and optical bands. The observations show an extremely variable behavior at all frequencies, with flux peaks almost simultaneous with those at higher energies. A correlation analysis between the optical and the γ-ray fluxes shows that the γ-optical correlation occurs with a time lag of τ = -0.4+0.6-0.8 days, consistent with previous findings for this source. An analysis of 15 GHz and 43 GHz VLBI core radio flux observations in the period 2007 July-2009 February shows an increasing trend of the core radio flux, anti-correlated with the higher frequency data, allowing us to derive the value of the source magnetic field. Finally, the modeling of the broadband spectral energy distributions for the still unpublished data, and the behavior of the long-term light curves in different energy bands, allow us to compare the jet properties during different emission states, and to study the geometrical properties of the jet on a time-span longer than one year. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved

Insights into the high-energy γ-ray emission of Markarian 501 from extensive multifrequency observations in the Fermi era

We report on the γ-ray activity of the blazar Mrk 501 during the first 480 days of Fermi operation. We find that the average Large Area Telescope (LAT) γ-ray spectrum of Mrk 501 can be well described by a single power-law function with a photon index of 1.78 ± 0.03. While we observe relatively mild flux variations with the Fermi-LAT (within less than a factor of two), we detect remarkable spectral variability where the hardest observed spectral index within the LAT energy range is 1.52 ± 0.14, and the softest one is 2.51 ± 0.20. These unexpected spectral changes do not correlate with the measured flux variations above 0.3 GeV. In this paper, we also present the first results from the 4.5 month long multifrequency campaign (2009 March 15-August 1) on Mrk 501, which included the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), Swift, RXTE, MAGIC, and VERITAS, the F-GAMMA, GASP-WEBT, and other collaborations and instruments which provided excellent temporal and energy coverage of the source throughout the entire campaign. The extensive radio to TeV data set from this campaign provides us with the most detailed spectral energy distribution yet collected for this source during its relatively low activity. The average spectral energy distribution of Mrk 501 is well described by the standard one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model. In the framework of this model, we find that the dominant emission region is characterized by a size ≲0.1 pc (comparable within a factor of few to the size of the partially resolved VLBA core at 15-43 GHz), and that the total jet power (≃1044 erg s-1) constitutes only a small fraction (∼10-3) of the Eddington luminosity. The energy distribution of the freshly accelerated radiating electrons required to fit the time-averaged data has a broken power-law form in the energy range 0.3 GeV-10 TeV, with spectral indices 2.2 and 2.7 below and above the break energy of 20 GeV. We argue that such a form is consistent with a scenario in which the bulk of the energy dissipation within the dominant emission zone of Mrk 501 is due to relativistic, proton-mediated shocks. We find that the ultrarelativistic electrons and mildly relativistic protons within the blazar zone, if comparable in number, are in approximate energy equipartition, with their energy dominating the jet magnetic field energy by about two orders of magnitude. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society

MOJAVE

VK: BIBCODE: 2015ApJ...798..134H; DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/798/2/134; eprintid: arXiv:1410.8502Peer reviewe

Studies of the Jet in Bl Lacertae. I .Recollimation Shock and Moving Emission Features

Peer reviewe

Studies of the Jet in BL Lacertae.II.Superluminal Alfvén Waves

VK: BIBCODE: 2015ApJ...803....3C; DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/803/1/3; eprintid: arXiv:1409.3599Peer reviewe

From radio to TeV: the surprising spectral energy distribution of AP Librae

VK: BIBCODE: 2015MNRAS.454.3229S; DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv2151; eprintid: arXiv:1506.00965Peer reviewe

Filamentation of collimated 744 nm beam under amplitude modulation

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