TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Haocheng A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Böttcher, Markus A1 - Guo, Fan A1 - Li, Hui T1 - Polarization swings reveal magnetic energy dissipation in blazars JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - The polarization signatures of blazar emissions are known to be highly variable. In addition to small fluctuations of the polarization angle around a mean value, large (greater than or similar to 180 degrees) polarization angle swings are sometimes observed. We suggest that such phenomena can be interpreted as arising from light travel time effects within an underlying axisymmetric emission region. We present the first simultaneous fitting of the multi-wavelength spectrum, variability, and time-dependent polarization features of a correlated optical and gamma-ray flaring event of the prominent blazar 3C279, which was accompanied by a drastic change in its polarization signatures. This unprecedented combination of spectral, variability, and polarization information in a coherent physical model allows us to place stringent constraints on the particle acceleration and magnetic field topology in the relativistic jet of a blazar, strongly favoring a scenario in which magnetic energy dissipation is the primary driver of the flare event. KW - galaxies: active KW - galaxies: jets KW - gamma-rays: galaxies KW - radiation mechanisms: nonthermal KW - relativistic processes Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/804/1/58 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 804 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhang, Haocheng A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Boettcher, Markus T1 - Synchrotron polarization in blazars JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We present a detailed analysis of time-and energy-dependent synchrotron polarization signatures in a shock-in-jet model for gamma-ray blazars. Our calculations employ a full three-dimensional radiation transfer code, assuming a helical magnetic field throughout the jet. The code considers synchrotron emission from an ordered magnetic field, and takes into account all light-travel-time and other relevant geometric effects, while the relevant synchrotron self-Compton and external Compton effects are handled with the two-dimensional Monte-Carlo/Fokker-Planck (MCFP) code. We consider several possible mechanisms through which a relativistic shock propagating through the jet may affect the jet plasma to produce a synchrotron and high-energy flare. Most plausibly, the shock is expected to lead to a compression of the magnetic field, increasing the toroidal field component and thereby changing the direction of the magnetic field in the region affected by the shock. We find that such a scenario leads to correlated synchrotron + synchrotron-self-Compton flaring, associated with substantial variability in the synchrotron polarization percentage and position angle. Most importantly, this scenario naturally explains large polarization angle rotations by greater than or similar to 180 degrees, as observed in connection with gamma-ray flares in several blazars, without the need for bent or helical jet trajectories or other nonaxisymmetric jet features. KW - galaxies: active KW - galaxies: jets KW - gamma rays: galaxies KW - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal KW - relativistic processes Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/66 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 789 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Xue, Rui A1 - Liu, Ruo-Yu A1 - Wang, Xiang-Yu A1 - Yan, Huirong A1 - Böttcher, Markus T1 - On the minimum jet power of TeV BL Lac objects in the p-gamma model JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We study the requirement of the jet power in the conventional p-gamma models (photopion production and Bethe-Heitler pair production) for TeV BL Lac objects. We select a sample of TeV BL Lac objects whose spectral energy distributions are difficult to explain by the one-zone leptonic model. Based on the relation between the p-gamma interaction efficiency and the opacity of gamma gamma absorption, we find that the detection of TeV emission poses upper limits on the p-gamma interaction efficiencies in these sources and hence minimum jet powers can be derived accordingly. We find that the obtained minimum jet powers exceed the Eddington luminosity of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Implications for the accretion mode of the SMBHs in these BL Lac objects and the origin of their TeV emissions are discussed. KW - galaxies: active KW - galaxies: jets KW - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf720 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 871 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vieyro, Florencia L. A1 - Romero, Gustavo Esteban A1 - Bosch-Ramon, Valentin A1 - Marcote, Benito A1 - del Valle, Maria Victoria T1 - A model for the repeating FRB 121102 in the AGN scenario JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are transient sources of unknown origin. Recent radio and optical observations have provided strong evidence for an extragalactic origin of the phenomenon and the precise localization of the repeating FRB 121102. Observations using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) have revealed the existence of a continuum non-thermal radio source consistent with the location of the bursts in a dwarf galaxy. All these new data rule out several models that were previously proposed, and impose stringent constraints to new models. Aims. We aim to model FRB 121102 in light of the new observational results in the active galactic nucleus (AGN) scenario. Methods. We propose a model for repeating FRBs in which a non-steady relativistic e(+)-beam, accelerated by an impulsive magneto-hydrodynamic driven mechanism, interacts with a cloud at the centre of a star-forming dwarf galaxy. The interaction generates regions of high electrostatic field called cavitons in the plasma cloud. Turbulence is also produced in the beam. These processes, plus particle isotropization, the interaction scale, and light retardation effects, provide the necessary ingredients for short-lived, bright coherent radiation bursts. Results. The mechanism studied in this work explains the general properties of FRB 121102, and may also be applied to other repetitive FRBs. Conclusions. Coherent emission from electrons and positrons accelerated in cavitons provides a plausible explanation of FRBs. KW - radio continuum: general KW - galaxies: dwarf KW - galaxies: jets KW - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201730556 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 602 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gao, Shan A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Winter, Walter T1 - On the Direct Correlation between Gamma-Rays and PeV Neutrinos from Blazars JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We study the frequently used assumption in multi-messenger astrophysics that the gamma-ray and neutrino fluxes are directly connected because they are assumed to be produced by the same photohadronic production chain. An interesting candidate source for this test is the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS B1424-418, which recently called attention to a potential correlation between an IceCube PeV neutrino event and its burst phase. We simulate both the multi-waveband photon and the neutrino emission from this source using a self-consistent radiation model. We demonstrate that a simple hadronic model cannot adequately describe the spectral energy distribution for this source, but a lepto-hadronic model with a subdominant hadronic component can reproduce the multi-waveband photon spectrum observed during various activity phases of the blazar. As a conclusion, up to about 0.3 neutrino events may coincide with the burst, which implies that the leptonic contribution dominates in the relevant energy band. We also demonstrate that the time-wise correlation between the neutrino event and burst phase is weak. KW - galaxies: jets KW - gamma rays: general KW - neutrinos Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa7754 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 843 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Böttcher, Markus T1 - Particle diffusion and localized acceleration in inhomogeneous AGN jets - I. Steady-state spectra JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We study the acceleration, transport, and emission of particles in relativistic jets. Localized stochastic particle acceleration, spatial diffusion, and synchrotron as well as synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission are considered in a leptonic model. To account for inhomogeneity, we use a 2D axisymmetric cylindrical geometry for both relativistic electrons and magnetic field. In this first phase of our work, we focus on steady-state spectra that develop from a time-dependent model. We demonstrate that small isolated acceleration region in a much larger emission volume are sufficient to accelerate particles to high energy. Diffusive escape from these small regions provides a natural explanation for the spectral form of the jet emission. The location of the acceleration regions within the jet is found to affect the cooling break of the spectrum in this diffusive model. Diffusion-caused energy-dependent inhomogeneity in the jets predicts that the SSC spectrum is harder than the synchrotron spectrum. There can also be a spectral hardening towards the high-energy section of the synchrotron spectrum, if particle escape is relatively slow. These two spectral hardening effects indicate that the jet inhomogeneity might be a natural explanation for the unexpected hard. gamma-ray spectra observed in some blazars. KW - acceleration of particles KW - diffusion KW - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal KW - galaxies:active KW - galaxies: jets Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu2438 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 447 IS - 1 SP - 530 EP - 544 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Bottcher, Markus A1 - Gao, Shan T1 - Particle diffusion and localized acceleration in inhomogeneous AGN jets - II. Stochastic variation JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We study the stochastic variation of blazar emission under a 2D spatially resolved leptonic jet model we previously developed. Random events of particle acceleration and injection in small zones within the emission region are assumed to be responsible for flux variations. In addition to producing spectral energy distributions that describe the observed flux of Mrk 421, we further analyse the timing properties of the simulated light curves, such as the power spectral density (PSD) at different bands, flux-flux correlations, aswell as the cross-correlation function between X-rays and TeV gamma-rays. We find spectral breaks in the PSD at a time-scale comparable to the dominant characteristic time-scale in the system, which is usually the predefined decay time-scale of an acceleration event. Cooling imposes a delay, and so PSDs taken at lower energy bands in each emission component (synchrotron or inverse Compton) generally break at longer time-scales. The flux-flux correlation between X-rays and TeV gamma-rays can be either quadratic or linear, depending on whether or not there are large variation of the injection into the particle acceleration process. When the relationship is quadratic, the TeV flares lag the X-ray flares, and the optical and GeV flares are large enough to be comparable to the ones in X-ray. When the relationship is linear, the lags are insignificant, and the optical and GeV flares are small. KW - acceleration of particles KW - diffusion KW - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal KW - galaxies: active KW - BL Lacertae objects: individual: Mrk 421 KW - galaxies: jets Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw528 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 458 SP - 3260 EP - 3271 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chen, Xuhui A1 - Chatterjee, Ritaban A1 - Zhang, Haocheng A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Fossati, Giovanni A1 - Boettcher, Markus A1 - Bailyn, Charles D. A1 - Bonning, Erin W. A1 - Buxton, Michelle A1 - Coppi, Paolo A1 - Isler, Jedidah A1 - Maraschi, Laura A1 - Urry, Meg T1 - Magnetic field amplification and flat spectrum radio quasars JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We perform time-dependent, spatially resolved simulations of blazar emission to evaluate several flaring scenarios related to magnetic-field amplification and enhanced particle acceleration. The code explicitly accounts for light-travel-time effects and is applied to flares observed in the flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) PKS 0208-512, which show optical/gamma-ray correlation at some times, but orphan optical flares at other times. Changes in both the magnetic field and the particle acceleration efficiency are explored as causes of flares. Generally, external Compton (EC) emission appears to describe the available data better than a synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenario, and in particular orphan optical flares are difficult to produce in the SSC framework. X-ray soft-excesses, gamma-ray spectral hardening, and the detections at very high energies of certain FSRQs during flares find natural explanations in the EC scenario with particle acceleration change. Likewise, optical flares with/without gamma-ray counterparts can be explained by different allocations of energy between the magnetization and particle acceleration, which may be related to the orientation of the magnetic field relative to the jet flow. We also calculate the degree of linear polarization and polarization angle as a function of time for a jet with helical magnetic field. Tightening of the magnetic helix immediately downstream of the jet perturbations, where flares occur, can be sufficient to explain the increases in the degree of polarization and a rotation by a parts per thousand yen180A degrees of the observed polarization angle, if light-travel-time effects are properly considered. KW - radiation mechanisms: non-thermal KW - galaxies: active KW - galaxies: jets KW - quasars: individual: PKS 0208-512 Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu713 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 441 IS - 3 SP - 2188 EP - 2199 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Archer, A. A1 - Benbow, Wystan A1 - Bird, Ralph A1 - Brose, Robert A1 - Buchovecky, M. A1 - Bugaev, V A1 - Cui, Wei A1 - Danie, M. K. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Feng, Qi A1 - Finley, John P. A1 - Flinders, A. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, Amy A1 - Gillanders, Gerard H. A1 - Huttens, M. A1 - Hanna, David A1 - Hervet, O. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Johnson, Caitlin A. A1 - Kaaret, Philip A1 - Kar, P. A1 - Kelley-Hoskins, N. A1 - Kieda, David A1 - Krause, Maria A1 - Krennrich, F. A1 - Kumar, S. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Lin, T. T. Y. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, Reshmi A1 - Nieto, Daniel A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Park, Nahee A1 - Petrashyk, A. A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Popkow, Alexis A1 - Pueschel, Elisa A1 - Quinn, J. A1 - Ragan, K. A1 - Reynold, P. T. A1 - Richards, Gregory T. A1 - Roache, E. A1 - Rulten, C. A1 - Sadeh, I A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Shahinyan, Karlen A1 - Tyler, J. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weiner, O. M. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Wells, R. M. A1 - Wilcox, P. A1 - Wilhelm, Alina A1 - Williams, David A. A1 - Brisken, W. F. A1 - Pontrelli, P. T1 - HESS J1943+213 BT - An extreme blazar shining through the galactic plane JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - HESS J1943+213 is a very high energy (VHE; > 100 GeV) gamma-ray source in the direction of the Galactic plane. Studies exploring the classification of the source are converging toward its identification as an extreme synchrotron BL Lac object. Here we present 38 hr of VERITAS observations of HESS J1943+213 taken over 2 yr. The source is detected with a significance of similar to 20 standard deviations, showing a remarkably stable flux and spectrum in VHE gamma-rays. Multifrequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of the source confirm the extended, jet-like structure previously found in the 1.6 GHz band with the European VLBI Network and detect this component in the 4.6 and 7.3 GHz bands. The radio spectral indices of the core and the jet and the level of polarization derived from the VLBA observations are in a range typical for blazars. Data from VERITAS, Fermi-LAT, Swift-XRT, the FLWO 48 ' telescope, and archival infrared and hard X-ray observations are used to construct and model the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the source with a synchrotron self-Compton model. The well-measured gamma-ray peak of the SED with VERITAS and Fermi-LAT provides constraining upper limits on the source redshift. Possible contribution of secondary gamma-rays from ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray-initiated electromagnetic cascades to the gamma-ray emission is explored, finding that only a segment of the VHE spectrum can be accommodated with this process. A variability search is performed across X-ray and gamma-ray bands. No statistically significant flux or spectral variability is detected. KW - astroparticle physics KW - BL Lacertae objects: individual (HESS J1943+213, VER J1943+213) KW - galaxies: active KW - galaxies: jets KW - galaxies: nuclei KW - gamma rays: galaxies Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aacbd0 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 862 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Archambault, S. A1 - Arlen, T. A1 - Aune, T. A1 - Beilicke, M. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Bird, R. A1 - Boettcher, Markus A1 - Bouvier, A. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Collins-Hughes, E. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Dickherber, R. A1 - Dumm, J. A1 - Errando, M. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Federici, Simone A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Galante, N. A1 - Gall, D. A1 - Garson, A. III. A1 - Gillanders, G. H. A1 - Griffin, S. A1 - Grube, J. A1 - Gusbar, C. A1 - Gyuk, G. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Hughes, G. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Khassen, Y. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Krawczynski, H. A1 - Lamerato, A. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Li, K. A1 - Madhavan, A. S. A1 - Maier, G. A1 - Majumdar, P. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Millis, J. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nieto, D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Orr, M. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Perkins, J. S. A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Popkow, A. A1 - Prokoph, H. A1 - Quinn, J. A1 - Ragan, K. A1 - Reynolds, P. T. A1 - Richards, G. T. A1 - Roache, E. A1 - Roustazadeh, P. A1 - Saxon, D. B. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Senturk, G. D. A1 - Skole, C. A1 - Staszak, D. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Tesic, G. A1 - Theiling, M. A1 - Varlotta, A. A1 - Vassiliev, V. V. A1 - Vincent, S. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Welsing, R. A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - Test of models of the cosmic infrared background with multiwavelength observations of the blazar 1ES 1218+30.4 IN 2009 JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We present the results of a multi-wavelength campaign targeting the blazar 1ES 1218+30.4 with observations with the 1.3 m McGraw-Hill optical telescope, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, and the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). The RXTE and VERITAS observations were spread over a 13 day period and revealed clear evidence for flux variability, and a strong X-ray and gamma-ray flare on 2009 February 26 (MJD 54888). The campaign delivered a well-sampled broadband energy spectrum with simultaneous RXTE and VERITAS very high energy (VHE, > 100 GeV) observations, as well as contemporaneous optical and Fermi observations. The 1ES 1218+30.4 broadband energy spectrum-the first with simultaneous X-ray and VHE gamma-ray energy spectra-is of particular interest as the source is located at a high cosmological redshift for a VHE source (z = 0.182), leading to strong absorption of VHE gamma rays by photons from the optical/infrared extragalactic background light (EBL) via gamma VHE +gamma EBL -> e(+) e(-)pair-creation processes. We model the data with a one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission model and with the extragalactic absorption predicted by several recent EBL models. We find that the observations are consistent with the SSC scenario and all the EBL models considered in this work. We discuss observational and theoretical avenues to improve on the EBL constraints. KW - BL Lacertae objects: general KW - BL Lacertae objects: individual (1ES1218+30.4) KW - cosmic background radiation KW - diffuse radiation KW - galaxies: jets KW - gamma rays: galaxies Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/788/2/158 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 788 IS - 2 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER -