The Spectral Index and Beaming Effect for Radio Sources

In this paper, we revisited the relationship between the spectral index and the core-dominance parameter using a larger sample of blazars. Conclusively, we explain that the spectral index is associated with the core-dominance parameter using the two-component relativistic beaming model.     

Core-dominance parameter and polarization for Fermi blazars

We study core-dominance parameter R and polarization for blazars detected by Fermi LAT. Our results are as follows. (i) The blazars detected by Fermi LAT have higher average R and polarizations than those not detected by Fermi LAT. (ii) Compared with BL Lacs, flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) have lower average R and the ratio of beamed luminosity to the unbeamed luminosity f. (iii) In the diagram of polarization-Doppler factor relations, FSRQs may have p=α+3 and BL Lacs for p=α+2. These results suggest that the high optical polarization is correlated to the beaming effect. High polarization and core-dominance parameters are significantly more common among the LAT sources. The difference in polarization and core-dominance parameters between FSRQs and BL Lacs are due to the difference in their beaming effects and jet model.     

BL Lac天体和FR-I射电星系的统一模型(Ⅰ)

从射电结构的角度评述了BLLac天体和FR-I射电星系的统一模型的最新进展，内容包括射电结构、延展射电光度（Pext）、最大角尺度（LAS）、射电核主导系数（f）的比较以及对相对论聚束的测试。最新的射电观测资料表明XBLs是介于FR-I和RBLs之间的过渡型天体，这为BLLac天体是聚束的FR-I射电星系提供了一个很好的证据。     

Superluminal Motion and Polarization in Blazars

A relativistic beaming model has been successfully used to explain the observed properties of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In this model there are two emission components, a boosted one and an unbeamed one, shown up in the radio band as the core and lobe components. The luminosity ratio of the core to the lobe is denned as the core-dominance parameter (R = LCore/LLobe). The de-beamed radio luminosity (Ldbjet) in the jet is assumed to be proportional to the unbeamedluminosity (Lub) in the co-moving frame, i.e., f = Ldbjet/Lub, and f is determined in ourprevious paper. We further discuss the relationship between BL Lacertae objects (BLs) and flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), which are subclasses of blazars with different degrees of polarization, using the calculated values of the ratio f for a sample of superluminal blazars. We found 1) that the BLs show smaller averaged Doppler factors and Lorentz factors, larger viewing angles and higher core-dominance parameters than do the FSRQs, and 2) that in th     

On the Absence of Core Luminosity–Core-Dominance Parameter (P C − R) Correlation in Radio Galaxies and BL Lacs

We have presented an alternative interpretation for the absence of correlation in the relationship between the core radio power (P _C) and core-dominance parameter (R) for a sample of BL Lacs and radio galaxies found in Fan & Zhang (Astron. Astrophys. 407, 899 (2003)). This is contrary to the predictions of the relativistic beaming and radio source orientation models in which the core luminosity is expected to be Doppler-boosted relative to the extended luminosity which is generally assumed to be isotropic. Our analysis of the P _C???R data indicates a strong luminosity selection effect (reminiscent of bright source samples due to Malmquist bias) in the sample. In particular, we showed that a strong P _C???R correlation exists above some redshift cut-off which may correspond to the flux limit of the sample used.     

Linear size–extended radio luminosity (D–P E ) correlation in BL Lacertae objects: evidence for large scale beaming?

In this paper, we use the distributions of projected linear size (D), core- (P _C ) and extended- (P _E ) radio luminosities, to investigate a consequence of relativistic beaming and radio source orientation scenario for low-luminosity extragalactic radio sources. In this scenario, BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) are believed to be Fanaroff-Riley type I (FR I) radio galaxies, but with radio axes aligned close to the line of sight. At this orientation, the core emission is greatly enhanced by relativistic Doppler boosting and linear size foreshortened due to geometrical projection. A simple outcome of this scenario is that the extended luminosity is expected to be orientation invariant, but a D–P _C correlation is envisaged. Results show that both the relative core dominance (R) and linear size are strongly correlated with extended luminosity (r≥ 0.7). Using the R-distribution and R–P _E anti-correlation, we show that the difference in radio core-dominance between FR I radio galaxies and X-ray selected BL Lacs can be accounted for by a bulk Lorentz factor γ～5–13 and viewing angle ?～5–15^°, which can be understood in terms of the scenario, with relativistic beaming persisting at largest scales.     

The relationship between the radio core dominance parameter and the spectral index in different classes of extragalactic radio sources

Active galactic nuclei(AGNs)have two major classes,namely radio loud AGNs and radio quiet AGNs.A small subset of the radio-loud AGNs is called blazars,which display extreme observational properties,such as rapid variability,high luminosity,high and variable polarization,and superluminal motion.All of those observational properties are probably due to a relativistic beaming effect with the jet pointing close to the line of sight.Observations suggest that the orientation can be expressed by a core-dominance p...     

Separation of Different Contributions to the Total X-ray Luminosity in Gamma-ray Loud Blazars

The relativistic beaming model has been successfully used to explain many of the observational properties of active galactic nuclei. In this model the total emission is formed by two components, one beamed, one unbeamed. However, the exact contribution from each component in unresolved sources is still not clear. In the radio band, the core and extended emissions are clearly separated. We adopt the method proposed by Kembhavi to separate the two contributions in the X-ray emissions in a sample of 19 gamma-ray loud blazars. It is clearly shown that the beamed emission dominates the X-ray flux and the unbeamed X-ray emission is correlated with the extended radio emission of the considered objects. We also find that the ratio of the beamed to the unbeamed X-ray luminosity is correlated with the X-ray spectral index, an effect that should be a consequence of the underlying X-ray emission mechanism.     

A Statistical Study of XBLs, RBLs and FSRQs at 1.5 GHz

BL Lac objects are similar to the fiat spectrum radio quasars in many aspects except regarding the emission lines.In order to study their relationship,we selected 56 BL Lacertae objects(33 X-ray-selected,23 radio-selected)and 45 flat spectrum radio quasars,analyzed their radio luminosities and core-dominance parameters.We found that the radio luminosities of the radio selected BL Lac objects located in between the X-ray selected BL Lac objects and the fiat spectrum radio quasars.However,this intermediate position does not bold for the core-dominance parameter:the RBLs have the largest core-dominance parameters.This sug- gests that the core-dominance parameter can not be taken as a sequencing criterion.We also investigated the correlation between the luminosity and the core-dominance parameter for the three subclasses.We concluded that,here,the sequence XBL-RBL—FSRQ still exists.     

X选BL Lac天体的某些性质(Ⅱ)

本文对X射线选择BLLac天体（XBLs）的完备样品进行了较细致的研究，讨论了该样品各观测量的分布、最新发现的几例X射线和ROSAT选择的BLLac天体的Hubble关系及BLLac天体的红移起源问题．     

Ratio of the Core to the Extended Emissions in the Comoving Frame for Blazars

In a two-component jet model, the emissions are the sum of the core and extended emissions: \(S^{\mathrm{ob}}=S_{\mathrm{core}}^{\mathrm{ob}}+S_{\mathrm{ext}}^{\mathrm{ob}}\), with the core emissions, \(S_{\mathrm{core}}^{\mathrm{ob}}= f S_{\mathrm{ext}}^{\mathrm{ob}}\delta ^{q}\) being a function of the Doppler factor \(\delta \), the extended emission \(S_{\mathrm{ext}}^{\mathrm{ob}}\), the jet type dependent factor q, and the ratio of the core to the extended emissions in the comoving frame, f. The f is an unobservable but important parameter. Following our previous work, we collect 65 blazars with available Doppler factor \(\delta \), superluminal velocity \(\beta _{\mathrm{app}}\), and core-dominance parameter, R, and calculated the ratio, f, and performed statistical analyses. We found that the ratio, f, in BL Lacs is on average larger than that in FSRQs. We suggest that the difference of the ratio f between FSRQs and BL Lacs is one of the possible reasons that cause the difference of other observed properties between them. We also find some significant correlations between \(\log f\) and other parameters, including intrinsic (de-beamed) peak frequency, \(\log \nu _{\mathrm{p}}^{\mathrm{in}}\), intrinsic polarization, \(\log P^{\mathrm{in}}\), and core-dominance parameter, \(\log R\), for the whole sample. In addition, we show that the ratio, f, can be estimated by R.     

Characteristics of the Radiation from Blazars

We have collected short-timescale variability data of 47 blazars, estimated the masses of their central black holes and the sizes of their radiation regions at different wavebands, and made a statistical analysis on the calculated results. It is found that the central black hole mass of blazars falls in the range 10⁷M to 10¹⁰M, and that the BL Lac objects and the flat-spectrum radio quasars have very different central black hole masses (the latter being generally greater), while they have very similar sizes of radiation regions in the infrared and γ-ray wavebands. Also, using the collected bolometric luminosity data, we have analyzed the relationship between the bolometric luminosity of blazars and their short-timescale variability, and it is concluded that the radiations from the radio-selected BL Lac objects (RBLs) and flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) are strongly beam-confined, while the effect of relativistic beaming is relatively small for the X-ray-selected BL Lac objects (XBLs).     

Measuring the accretion rate and kinetic luminosity functions of supermassive black holes

We derive accretion rate functions (ARFs) and kinetic luminosity functions (KLFs) for jet-launching supermassive black holes. The accretion rate as well as the kinetic power of an active galaxy is estimated from the radio emission of the jet. For compact low-power jets, we use the core radio emission while the jet power of high-power radio-loud quasars is estimated using the extended low-frequency emission to avoid beaming effects. We find that at low luminosities the ARF derived from the radio emission is in agreement with the measured bolometric luminosity function (BLF) of active galactic nucleus (AGN), i.e. all low-luminosity AGN launch strong jets. We present a simple model, inspired by the analogy between X-ray binaries (XRBs) and AGN, that can reproduce both the measured ARF of jet-emitting sources as well as the BLF. The model suggests that the break in power-law slope of the BLF is due to the inefficient accretion of strongly sub-Eddington sources. As our accretion measure is based on the jet power it also allows us to calculate the KLF and therefore the total kinetic power injected by jets into the ambient medium. We compare this with the kinetic power output from supernova remnants (SNRs) and XRBs, and determine its cosmological evolution.     

On the difference between the X-ray selected and the radio selected BL Lac objects in the near infrared

By using results from the 2MASS observation, the differences between the X-ray selected BL Lac objects (XBLs) and the radio selected ones (RBLs) in the near infrared are discussed in this paper. It is found that, statistically, the RBLs have redder near infrared colors and steeper spectral indices in the near infrared than XBLs, whereas the XBLs have more influences from their host galaxies than the RBLs. It is also seen that the RBLs have much brighter luminosity in the near infrared than the XBLs. In addition, the high polarization characteristics are found in common for RBLs, but not for XBLs.     

Blazars天体喷流光度和非成束光度的比值(英文)

根据聚束模型 ,利用 3 8个超光速射电源数据 ,估计他们的喷流光度和非成束光度的比值 .平均结果为     

On the relativistic beaming and orientation effects in core-dominated quasars

In this paper, we investigate the relativistic beaming effects in a well-defined sample of core-dominated quasars using the correlation between the relative prominence of the core with respect to the extended emission (defined as the ratio of core-to lobe-flux density measured in the rest frame of the source) and the projected linear size as an indicator of relativistic beaming and source orientation. Based on the orientation-dependent relativistic beaming and unification paradigm for high luminosity sources in which the Fanaroff-Riley class-II radio galaxies form the unbeamed parent population of both the lobe- and core-dominated quasars which are expected to lie at successively smaller angles to the line of sight, we find that the flows in the cores of these core-dominated quasars are highly relativistic, with optimum bulk Lorentz factor,γ _opt∼ 6–16, and also highly anisotropic, with an average viewing angle, ∼ 9°–16°. Furthermore, the largest boosting occurs within a critical cone angle of ≈ 4°–10°.     

Anti-correlation between the extended power and the core dominance parameter of BL Lac objects

The XBL and RBL samples presented recently by Kollgaardet al. (1996) are employed to investigate whether the extended power of BL Lac objects is correlated with the core dominance parameter. The results show that the two quantities are statistically anti-corelated at a rather high level of confidence for both XBLs and RBLs. Since the core dominance parameter is generally used as a relative measure of orientation and the extended emission of radio sources is assumed unbeamed and isotropic, the results obviously contradict common inference from unified schemes. By adopting and combining some basic concepts of unified schemes and the different SED scenario, a possible explanation for the results is suggested.     

An X-Ray Study of Lobe-Dominated Radio-Loud Quasars with XMM-Newton

We report on our results of X-ray spectral analysis for a sample of radio-loud quasars covering a wide range of the radio core-dominance parameter, R, from core-dominated to lobe-dominated objects, using data obtained mostly with the XMM-Newton Observatory. We find that the spectral shape of the underlying power-law continuum is flat even for the lobe-dominated objects (average photon index ～ 1.5), indistinguishable from that of core-dominated quasars. For lobe-dominated objects, contribution of X-rays from the jets is expected to be very small based on previous unification schemes, more than one order of magnitude lower than the observed X-ray luminosities. Assuming that radio-loud quasars follow the same X-ray-UV/optical luminosity relation for the disk-corona emission as found for radio-quiet quasars, we estimate the X-ray flux contributed by the disk-corona component from the optical/UV continuum. We find that neither the luminosity, nor the spectral shape, of the disk-corona X-ray emission can account for the bulk of the observed X-ray properties. Thus in lobe-dominated quasars, either the disk-corona X-ray emission is much enhanced in strength and flatter in spectral shape (photon index～1.5) compared to normal radio-quiet quasars, or their jet X-ray emission is much enhanced compared to their weak radio core-jet emission. If the latter is the case, our result may imply that the jet emission in X-rays is less Doppler beamed than that in the radio. As a demonstrating example, we test this hypothesis by using a specific model in which the X-ray jet has a larger opening angle than the radio jet.     

Structural asymmetries, relativistic beaming and orientation effects in Lobe-Dominated Quasars

We have examined statistically, structural asymmetries and simple relativistic beaming/source orientation in a sample of Lobe-Dominated Quasars (LDQs) using the source size D as orientation parameter; relative core strength R as beaming parameter; arm-length ratio Q, apparent flux ratio R ^?, and bending angle Φ as asymmetric parameters. Our result for Q>1.5, based on the median value data is inconsistent with beaming scenario, where we expect stronger negative correlation for more asymmetric sources, between our beaming parameter R and orientation parameter D than for less asymmetric sources Q≤1.5. This observation indicates that structural asymmetries may depend more on intrinsic factors than beaming. Our kinematic asymmetric model of extra galactic radio sources suggests that larger (possibly older) sources are less asymmetric, which may be interpreted to be indicative of other factors other than beaming as responsible for the observed asymmetries in radio sources.     

On the Asymmetries in Powerful Extragalactic Radio Sources

We have investigated the correlations between the asymmetries in depolarization and spectral index in a bright source sample. We find a significant correlation between these asymmetries which can be understood in terms of the relativistic beaming hypothesis in which the counter jet side is steeper and more polarized than the jet side due to the presence of a halo of hot gas surrounding the source and contribution from the beamed jet and hot spot emission to the observed lobe emission. This simple interpretation is however complicated by the presence of a stronger correlation between these parameters and extended luminosity which is expected to be aspect-invariant; suggesting that the observed spectral index – depolarization correlation is an artefact of their being separately correlated with radio luminosity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.