Multi-Band Spectral Properties of Fermi Blazars

The multi-band data covering optical, X-ray and γ-ray energy regions of 130 Fermi blazars in the First LAT AGN Catalog (1LAC) were collected to investigate the broadband spectral properties. The composite spectral indices show that HBLs have convex optical-to-X-ray continua and concave X-ray-to-γ-ray continua, α _{γX γ} >0 and α _XOX ?<?0, while FSRQs and LBLs have α _{γX γ} ?<?0. The α _XOX distribution of FSRQs and LBLs extends from negative to positive values. We suggest α _{γX γ} ?>?0 and α _XOX ?<?0 could be considered as a criterion for HBLs. Moreover, HBLs have narrow distribution of peak interval of $\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm ic}-\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm syn}$ , and FSRQs have significant anti-correlation between $\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm ic}-\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm syn}$ and $\log\nu_{\rm p}^{\rm syn}$ . This indicates that SSC model is responsible for high energy emission of HBLs, while EC for FSRQs. Our results also indicate that FSRQs with larger break energy of electrons have smaller bulk Lorentz factor of dissipation region.     

Blazar 的X射线谱性质

从Donato文献中选择了一个含有69个Blazar的样本，样本中每个源有多个X射线辐射流量数据，用该样本研究了流量密度和谱指数之间的关系，以及研究了三类源（HBL，LBL，FSRQ）的红移和谱指数的分布。结果表明：对于HBLs，谱指数和流量密度之间有一个较好的反相关关系存在，而对于LBLs和FSRQs却没有相关。因此认为HBL的X射线是同步辐射所致，而LBL和FSRQ的X射线辐射较为复杂可能是同步自康普顿过程导致。HBL显示软X射线谱，而FSRQ显示硬X射线谱，LBL居中。在谱图中HBL位于近端，rSRQ位于远端，LBL居中。     

The Correlation between γ-Ray and Radio Emissions for the Fermi Blazars

Based upon the Fermi blazars sample, the radio and γ-ray emissions are compiled for a sample of 74 γ-ray loud blazars to calculate the radio to γ-ray effective spectrum index α _{R γ}. The correlations between α _{R γ} and γ-ray luminosity, and between radio and γ-ray luminosity are also investigated.     

Fermi耀变体的gamma射线多波段辐射与射电辐射的关系

从Fermi 3期源表(3FGL)中选择了一个含935个耀变体(blazar)的样本, 包括415个平谱射电源(Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar, FSRQ), 520个蝎虎天体(BL Lac object, BL Lac), 其中高同步峰BL Lac (HBL) 233个, 中同步峰BL Lac (IBL) 144个, 低同步峰BL Lac (LBL) 143个. 研究了总样本、FSRQ、BL Lac及其子类HBL、LBL的射电1.4GHz 与gamma射线在0.1、0.3、1、3、10GeV处辐射流量密度的关系. 结果显示: 所有样本的射电1.4GHz与5个波段gamma射线的辐射流量都有强相关, 相关系数在0.48--0.81之间, 机会概率均小于$10^{-4; 对于不同的样本相关系数随着gamma射线辐射频率的变化有不同的变化趋势, 所有样本在5个波段的相关系数平均值随gamma射线频率的增加而减小. 该结果暗示, 随着频率的升高, blazar的gamma射线辐射主导机制在发生变化, 在相同频率处, 不同类型天体的辐射主导机制存在差异; HBL的gamma射线辐射主要由同步自康普顿主导, 而LBL的其他成份比HBL的更复杂; FSRQ的gamma射线起源较BL Lac的复杂.     

Correlation between X-ray and γ-ray for Fermi blazars

Using γ-ray band data detected by Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and X-ray band data for 78 blazars, we find a medium correlation between X-ray flux and γ-ray flux in all states. A medium correlation is also found between X-ray (1 keV) mean spectral index α _x and γ-ray mean spectral index α _γ for BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs), and there is no correlation for Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs). From these results, we suggest that the most likely radiation mechanism for the high energy gamma-rays would be synchrotron self-Compton (SSC), and that the gamma-ray emission mechanism may be somewhat different for BL Lacs and FSRQs.     

The optical spectral slope variability of 17 blazars

Many quasi-simultaneous optical observations of 17 blazars are obtained from previous papers published over the last 19 years in order to investigate the spectral slope variability and understand the radiation mechanism of blazars. The long-period dereddened optical spectral slopes are calculated. We analyse the average spectral slope distribution, which suggests that the spectra of flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and high energy peaked BL Lac objects (HBLs) are probably deformed by other emission components. The average spectral slopes of low energy peaked BL Lac objects(LBLs), which scatter around 1.5, show a good accordance with the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) loss-dominated model. We present and discuss the variability between the spectral slope and optical luminosity. The spectra of all HBLs and LBLs get flatter when they turn brighter, while for FSRQs this trend does not exist or may even be reversed. This phenomenon may imply that there is a thermal contribution to the optical spectrum for FSRQs. For the FSRQ 1156+295, there is a hint that the slope gets flatter at both the brightest and faintest states. Our result shows that three subclasses locate in different regions in the pattern of slope variability indicator versus average spectral slope. The relativistic jet mechanism is supported by the significant correlation between the optical Doppler factor and the average spectral slope.     

Statistical Properties of a Blazar Sample and Comparison of HBLs, LBLs and FSRQs

Making use of the 2MASS Data Release, we have searched for near-infrared (JHK) counterparts to 268 blazars from Donato et al. and obtained 238 counterparts within 5" in the area covered by 2MASS. It provides us a sample with infrared data several times larger than the previous one of the same kind. Based on our sample and the sample by Donato et al., we have compared in detail the properties of HBLs, LBLs and FSRQs from five aspects and found that HBLs are significantly different from LBLs and FSRQs while LBLs are not obviously different from FSRQs. Our results strongly support the division of BL Lac objects into the high-frequency peaked (HBL) and low-frequency peaked (LBL) objects introduced by Padovani & Giommi and show that HBLs and LBLs are two kinds of blazar having different physical properties.     

Gamma-ray luminosity function of gamma-ray bright AGNs

Detection of γ-ray emissions from a class of active galactic nuclei (viz blazars),has been one of the important findings from the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO). However, their-γ-ray luminosity function has not been well determined. Few at-tempts have been made in earlier works, where BL Lacs and Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs) have been considered as a single source class. In this paper, we investigated the evolution and γ-ray luminosity function of FSRQs and BL Lacs separately. Our investi-gation indicates no evolution for BL Lacs, however FSRQs show significant evolution. Pure luminosity evolution is assumed for FSRQs and exponential and power law evolu-tion models are examined. Due to the small number of sources, the low luminosity end index of the luminosity function for FSRQs is constrained with an upper limit. BL Lac lu-minosity function shows no signature of break. As a consistency check, the model source distributions derived from these luminosity functions show no significant departure from the observed source distributions.     

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.     

The Eddington Ratio of H 2 O Maser Host AGN

The Eddington ratio λ was derived for the entire maser host AGN sample, based on the intrinsic X-ray luminosity, the X-ray bolometric correction C _X and the mass of central black hole. Further the [O III] bolometric correction C _{[O III]} was estimated for our sample. Possible relations were also investigated between the maser luminosity and the bolometric luminosity – the Eddington ratio.     

The connections between bulk Lorentz factor,black hole mass and accretion in Fermi FSRQs

We have analyzed a large sample of FSRQs detected by Fermi LAT. Our main intents are to investigate the relations between bulk Lorentz factor and black hole mass, between bulk Lorentz factor and Eddington ratio. Using archive and calculation, we obtained the distributions of bulk Lorentz factor, black hole mass and Eddington ratio. After excluding redshift effect, there is still significant correlation between bulk Lorentz factor and black hole mass, but not correlation between bulk Lorentz factor and Eddington ratio, which suggest that faster jets have a close relation with more massive black holes, and the Blandford–Znajek (BZ) mechanism may dominate over the Blandford–Payne (BP) mechanism for Fermi FSRQs.     

The Black Hole Masses and Radio Characteristics of Radio Quasars

In this paper, we collect the redshift, bolometric luminosity, the full- width at half maximum of the H_β emission line, the monochromatic luminosity at 5100 Å and the radio loudness for the sample of 117 quasars, including 20 radio-quiet quasars (RQQs) and 97 radio-loud quasars (RLQs). With the reverberation mapping method we calculate the black hole mass and Eddington ratio for this sample, as well as the radio luminosity from the total 5 GHz ?ux density. By analyzing the correlations among them, we obtain the following conclusions: (1) The black hole mass has weak correlations with the bolometric luminosity, radio loudness and radio luminosity for the RQQs, and has strong correlations with the bolometric luminosity, radio loudness and radio luminosity for the RLQs; (2) For the RQQs, the bolometric luminosity has weak correlations with the radio luminosity and 5 100 Å monochromatic luminosity, and for the RLQs, the bolometric luminosity has strong correlations with the radio luminosity and 5 100 Å monochromatic luminosity; (3) The RQQs and RLQs differ in the distributions of the black hole mass, emission line width and Eddington ratio. Based on these results, we suggest: the difference of emission line width between RQQs and RLQs is probably caused by the difference of black hole mass; the fundamental difference between RQQs and RLQs is caused by the difference of their intrinsic physical nature; the black hole mass, black hole spin, Eddington ratio, and host galaxy morphology are the important parameters to explain the origin of radio loudness and the double-peaked distribution; and the radio jet is closely related with the accretion rate of disk.     

The γ-ray emission mechanism for Fermi Blazars

Fermi Blazars are characterized mainly by the vast effect that relativistic beaming has on their emission spectra. Fermi-LAT has detected more than 1000 blazars which provide us with a good opportunity to study the emission mechanism. In this paper, adopted the Doppler factor δ _γ determined in our previous paper, the γ-ray emission mechanism is discussed using the investigation of dependence of the γ-ray luminosity on the Doppler factor. Our discussions suggest that the γ-ray emission mechanism is SSC for BL Lacs.     

X-ray Emissions of Fermi Blazarstwo

The X-ray emissions of blazars are located at the end of synchrotron radiation and the beginning of inverse Compton radiation. Therefore, the origin of the X-ray emissions is rather complex. The spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of blazars from radio to X-ray bands can be fitted approximatively by a parabolic function. If we consider approximately the fitting curves as the physical spectra of blazars to analyze the X-ray emissions of Fermi blazars, the results show that: (1) The X-ray emissions of blazars contain two components, i.e. the synchrotron radiation and inverse Compton radiation, which can be simply separated by these fitting curves; (2) the higher the synchrotron peak frequency of the source, the greater the synchrotron radiation component, and the less the inverse Compton radiation component; (3) at 1 keV of the X-ray waveband, the synchrotron radiation component accounts for 17%, 27%, and 73% of the total X-ray emission, for FSRQs (Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars), LBLs (Low synchrotron peak frequency BL Lac objects), and HBLs (High synchrotron peak frequency BL Lac objects), respectively; (4) there is a strong positive correlation between the synchrotron peak frequency and the synchrotron radiation flux density at 1 keV, while no correlation exists between the synchrotron peak frequency and the inverse Compton radiation flux density; (5) the radiation mechanism of LBLs may be similar to that of FSRQs in the X-ray waveband.     

Optical intra-day variability timescales and black hole mass of the blazars

In this paper, we have used optical intra-day variability archive data to calculate the central black hole masses and Eddington luminosities for nine blazars: 3C 66A, AO 0235+164, S5 0716+714, PKS 0735+178, OJ 287, 1215+303, 1216−010, 1308+326, PKS 1510−089, Mrk 501 and BL Lac using intra-day variability timescales and periodicity (if present). The calculated central black hole mass of these nine blazars using intra-day variability timescales are found to be in the range of 1.22-25.30 × 10⁷ M_⊙ and corresponding Eddington luminosity in the range of 1.58-32.88 × 10⁴⁵ erg s⁻¹. The black hole mass and Eddington luminosity are in the range of 0.32-31.23 × 10⁸ M_⊙ and 1.23-31.20 × 10⁴⁶ erg s⁻¹, respectively when optical Doppler factor is taken into account. The comparison show, our estimated values of black hole mass are consistent with earlier reported values. Periodicity were present in two blazars OJ 287 and 1216−010 which give the central black hole mass of these blazars in the range of 1.32-14.6 × 10⁷ M_⊙ and corresponding Eddington luminosity in the range of 1.60-19.0 × 10⁴⁵ erg s⁻¹, respectively.     

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).     

Radio Observation of the 11-Month Fermi-AGN at Urumqi Observatory

We carry out flux observation at 5 GHz for 124 sources from the ‘clean’ sample of Fermi catalog 1LAC (The First LAT AGN Catalog) with Urumqi 25 m telescope. We find that it is obvious that there is a correlation between the γ-ray and the radio flux density for blazars. For the subclasses, the correlation for FSRQs is strong, but the correlation for BL Lacs is weak.     

The relation between black hole masses and Lorentz factors of the jet components in blazars

We explore the relationship between black hole mass (MBH) and the motion of the jet components for a sample of blazars. The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) 2cm Survey and its continuation: Monitoring of Jets in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with VLBA Experiments (MOJAVE) have observed 278 radio-loud AGNs, of which 146 blazars have reliable measurements of their apparent velocities of the jet components. We calculate the minimal Lorentz factors for these sources from their measured apparent velocities, and their black hole masses ate estimated with their broad-line widths. A sig-nificant intrinsic correlation is found between black hole masses and the minimal Lorentz factors of the jet components. The Eddington ratio is only weakly correlated with the min-imal Lorentz factor, which may imply that the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) mechanism may dominate over the Blandford-Payne (BP) mechanism for the jet acceleration (at least) in blazars.     

Estimating Black Hole Masses of Blazars

Estimating black hole masses of blazars is still a big challenge. Because of the contamination of jets, using the previously suggested size–continuum luminosity relation can overestimate the broad line region (BLR) size and black hole mass for radio-loud AGNs, including blazars. We propose a new relation between the BLR size and H _β emission line luminosity and present evidences for using it to get more accurate black hole masses of radio-loud AGNs. For extremely radio-loud AGNs such as blazars with weak/absent emission lines, we suggest the use of fundamental plane relation of their elliptical host galaxies to estimate the central velocity dispersions and black hole masses, if their velocity dispersions are not known but the host galaxies can be mapped. The black hole masses of some well-known blazars, such as OJ 287, AO 0235+164 and 3C 66B are obtained using these two methods and the M–σ relation. The implications of their black hole masses on other related studies are also discussed.     

Study on the Properties of Blazar Jets

The multi-wavelength quasi-simultaneous data of 55 Fermi blazars are fitted by using the conical jet model, and the physical properties of blazar jets are also investigated. Through the X²-minimization fitting procedure, the best-fit parameters of the conical jet model are obtained. Combined with the other parameters we collected, a statistical analysis is performed. The results of statistical analysis are summarized as follows: (1) The jet power obtained by the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting is larger than the jet power calculated by using the extended radio luminosity; (2) There is no correlation between the Doppler factor 5 and the magnetic field strength B; (3) There is a correlation between the jet power and the accretion disk luminosity, and the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) mechanism can well explain the energy source of BL Lac jets rather than Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs); (4) The jet power is significantly correlated with the black hole mass.