Blazar jet physics in the age of Fermi

Abstract

The impact of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on blazar research is reviewed. This includes a brief description of the Fermi Large Area Telescope, a summary of the various classes of extragalactic sources found in the First Large Area Telescope AGN Catalog, and more detailed discussion of the flat spectrum radio quasar 3C454.3 and the BL Lac object PKS 2155-304. Some theoretical studies related to ongoing blazar research with Fermi are mentioned, including implications of gamma-ray observations of radio galaxies on blazar unification scenarios, variability in colliding shells, and whether blazars are sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays.Comment: Minor corrections and improvements; 11 pages, 2 figures; in Proceedings of IAU Symposium 285, "Jets at all Scales," Buenos Aires, Argentina, 13-17 September, 2010, G.E. Romero, R.A. Sunyaev and T. Belloni, ed