Does black hole spin play a key role in the FSRQ/BL Lac dichotomy?

Blazars are characterized by large intensity and spectral variations across the electromagnetic spectrum It is believed that jets emerging from them are almost aligned with the line-of-sight. The majority of identified extragalactic sources in γ-ray catalogs of EGRET and Fermi are blazars. Observationally,blazars can be divided into two classes: flat spectrum radio quasars(FSRQs) and BL Lacs. BL Lacs usually exhibit lower γ-ray luminosity and harder power law spectra at γ-ray energies than FSRQs. We attempt to explain the high energy properties of FSRQs and BL Lacs from Fermi γ-ray space telescope observations. It was argued previously that the difference in accretion rates is mainly responsible for the large mismatch in observed luminosity in γ-ray. However, when intrinsic luminosities are derived by correcting for beaming effects, this difference in γ-ray luminosity between the two classes is significantly reduced. In order to explain this difference in intrinsic luminosities, we propose that spin plays an important role in the luminosity distribution dichotomy of BL Lacs and FSRQs. As the outflow power of a blazar increases with increasing spin of a central black hole, we suggest that the spin plays a crucial role in making BL Lac sources low luminous and slow rotators compared to FSRQ sources.     

The core dominance parameter and Fermi detection of extragalactic radio sources

By cross-correlating an archive sample of 542 extragalactic radio sources with the Fermi-LAT Third Source Catalog(3FGL), we have compiled a sample of 80 γ-ray sources and 462 non-Fermi sources with available core dominance parameter(RCD), and core and extended radio luminosity; all the parameters are directly measured or derived from available data in the literature. We found that RCD has significant correlations with radio core luminosity, γ-ray luminosity and γ-ray flux; the Fermi sources have on average higher RCD than non-Fermi sources. These results indicate that the Fermi sources should be more compact,and the beaming effect should play a crucial role in the detection of γ-ray emission. Moreover, our results also show Fermi sources have systematically larger radio flux than non-Fermi sources at fixed RCD, indicating larger intrinsic radio flux in Fermi sources. These results show a strong connection between radio andγ-ray flux for the present sample and indicate that the non-Fermi sources are likely due to the low beaming effect, and/or the low intrinsic γ-ray flux. This supports a scenario that has been published in the literature:a co-spatial origin of the activity for the radio and γ-ray emission, suggesting that the origin of the seed photons for the high-energy γ-ray emission is within the jet.     

The intrinsic γ-ray emissions of Fermi blazars

The beaming effect is important for understanding the observational properties of blazars.In this work, we collect 91 Fermi blazars with available radio Doppler factors. γ-ray Doppler factors are estimated and compared with radio Doppler factors for some sources. The intrinsic(de-beamed)γ-ray flux density(f_γ~(in)), intrinsic γ-ray luminosity(L_γ~(in)) and intrinsic synchrotron peak frequency(V_P~(in))are calculated. Then we study the correlations between finγand redshift and find that they follow the theoretical relation: log f =-2.0 log z + const. When the subclasses are considered, we find that stationary jets are perhaps dominant in low synchrotron peaked blazars. Sixty-three Fermi blazars with both available short variability time scales(?T) and Doppler factors are also collected. We find that the intrinsic relationship between L_γ~(in) and ?Tinobeys the Elliot Shapiro and Abramowicz Nobili relations. Strong positive correlation between f_γ~(in)and V_P~(in)is found, suggesting that synchrotron emissions are highly correlated with γ-ray emissions.     

Effects of Redshift on the Classifying Criteria of BL Lacertae Objects

We have collected a sample of 70 BL Lacs (33 radio-selected BL Lacs and 37 X-ray selected BL Lacs) with multi-waveband data for investigating the classifying criteria of BL Lacertae Objects. For each source, we estimate its luminosities in radio, optical and X-ray, the broad-band spectral index from radio to X-ray and the peak frequency of the syn- chrotron emission, and make a statistical analysis of the data obtained. Our main results are as follows: (1) The broad-band spectral index and the peak frequency have no correlation with the redshift, while they are inversely correlated with each other and they could be regarded as equivalent classifying criteria of BL Lac objects. (2) There are significant effects of the luminosity/redshift relation on the observed luminosity distribution in our sample, hence, if the radio luminosity is to be used as a classifying criterion of BL Lac objects, it should not be regarded as equivalent to the broad-band spectral index or the peak frequency. (3) Our re- sults supply a specific piece of evidence for the suggestion that the use of luminosities always introduces a redshift bias to the data and show that the location of the peak frequency is not always linked to the luminosity of any wave band.     

The Correlation between Gamma-ray and Radio Emissions in γ-ray Loud Blazars

We collect 119 v-ray-loud blazars (97 flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and 22 BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs)), and investigate possible correlations between their γ-ray emission (maximum, minimum and average values) at 1 GeV and the radio emission at 8.4 GHz. Our main results are as follows. For the lower state γ-ray data, there is no correlation between the γ-ray and radio flux density; For the high state γ-ray data, there are good correlations for the whole 119 blazars and 97 FSRQs, and a weak correlation for the 22 BL Lac objects; For the average γ-ray data, there are good correlations. According to our analysis, we propose that the γ-rays are associated with the radio emission from the jet, and that the γ-ray emission is likely from the SSC process in this case.     

The jet of FSRQ PKS 1229-02 and its misidentification as a γ-ray AGN

Flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 1229-02 with a knotty and asymmetric radio morphology was identified as the optical and radio counterpart of a γ-ray source. In this paper, we study the properties(e.g.morphology, opacity, polarization and kinematics) of the jet in PKS 1229-02 using radio interferometry.With our results, we find that the knotty and asymmetric morphology of this source may probably shaped by the interaction between its anterograde jet and the nonuniform dense ambient medium. By reproducing a Spectral Energy Distribution of PKS 1229-02 with the obtained kinematic parameters, we find that the relativistic beaming effect in PKS 1229-02 is not strong enough to produce the reported γ-ray emission,i.e. PKS 1229-02 may not be a γ-ray AGN. The misidentification may probably be due to the poor spatial resolution of the γ-ray detector of the previous generation.     

BL Lacertae objects and the extragalactic γ-ray background

A tight correlation between γ-ray and radio emission is found for a sample of BL Lacertae(BL Lac) objects detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope(Fermi) and the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope(EGRET) . The γ-ray emission of BL Lac objects exhibits strong variability,and the detection rate of γ-ray BL Lac objects is low,which may be related to the γ-ray duty cycle of BL Lac objects. We estimate the γ-ray duty cycle,δγ 0.11,for BL Lac objects detected by EGRET and Fermi. Using the empirical r...     

On the intrinsic shape of the gamma-ray spectrum for Fermi blazars

The curvature of the γ-ray spectrum in blazars may reflect the intrinsic distribution of emitting electrons, which will further give some information on the possible acceleration and cooling processes in the emitting region. The γ-ray spectra of Fermi blazars are normally fitted either by a single power-law(PL) or a log-normal(call Logarithmic Parabola, LP) form. The possible reason for this difference is not clear. We statistically explore this issue based on the different observational properties of 1419 Fermi blazars in the 3 LAC Clean Sample. We find that the γ-ray flux(100 Me V–100 Ge V) and variability index follow bimodal distributions for PL and LP blazars, where the γ-ray flux and variability index show a positive correlation. However, the distributions of γ-ray luminosity and redshift follow a unimodal distribution. Our results suggest that the bimodal distribution of γ-ray fluxes for LP and PL blazars may not be intrinsic and all blazars may have an intrinsically curved γ-ray spectrum, and the PL spectrum is just caused by the fitting effect due to less photons.     

Do Radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei really follow the same MBH-σ＊ Relation as Normal Galaxies？

In an examination of the relationship between the black hole mass MBH and stellar velocity dispersionσ* in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), we studied two effects which may cause uncertainties in the black hole mass estimates of radio-loud AGNs: the relativistic beaming effect on the observed optical continuum radiation and the orientation effect on the broad emission line width. After correcting these two effects, we re-examined the MBH-σ[OIII] relation for a sample of radio-loud and radio-quiet AGNs, and found the relation for radio-loud AGNs still deviated from that for nearby normal galaxies and radio-quiet AGNs. We also found there is no significant correlation between radio jet power and narrow [OIII] line width, indicating absence of strong interaction between radio jet and narrow line region. It may be that the deviation of the MBH-σ* relation of radio-loud AGNs is intrinsic, or that the [OIII] line width is not a good indicator ofσ* for radio-loud AGNs.     

The composite X-ray spectra of radio-loud and radio-quiet SDSS quasars

We present a study of the X-ray emission for a sample of radio-detected quasars constructed from the cross-matches between SDSS,FIRST catalogs and XMM-Newton archives.A sample of radio-quiet SDSS quasars without FIRST radio detection is also assembled for comparison.We construct the optical and X-ray composite spectra normalized at rest frame 4215 A(or 2200 A)for both radio-loud quasars(RLQs)and radio-quiet quasars(RQQs)at z≤3.2,with matched X-ray completeness of 19%,redshift and optical luminosity.While the optical composite spectrum of RLQs is similar to that of RQQs,we find that RLQs have a higher X-ray composite spectrum than RQQs,consistent with previous studies in the literature.By dividing the radio-detected quasars into radio loudness bins,we find the X-ray composite spectra are generally higher with increasing radio loudness.Moreover,a significant correlation is found between the optical-to-X-ray spectral index and radio loudness,and there is a unified multi-correlation between the radio and X-ray luminosities and radio loudness in radio-detected quasars.These results could be possibly explained with the corona-jet model,in which the corona and jet are directly related.     

Spectral energy distributions for TeV blazars

In this work, we collected a sample of 69 TeV blazars from TeVCat, obtained their multiwavelength observations, and fitted their spectral energy distributions by using a second degree polynomial function. The structure parameters of synchrotron bumps for 68 blazars and those of inverseCompton bumps for 56 blazars were derived. Then, we conducted statistical analysis on the parameters(curvature, peak frequency, peak luminosity, bolometric luminosity and X/γ-ray spectral indexes).From our analysis and discussions, we can conclude the following:(1) There is a clear positive correlation between the synchrotron peak frequency, log ν_p~s, and the inverse-Compton peak frequency, log ν_p~(IC),and between the synchrotron peak luminosity, log ν_p~sL_(νp)~s, and the inverse-Compton peak luminosity,log ν_p~(IC)L_(νp)~(IC).(2) The correlation between the peak frequency and the curvature of synchrotron bump is clearly different from that of the inverse-Compton bump, which further indicates that there are different emission mechanisms between them.(3) There is a correlation between log νIC pand γ-ray spectral index, α_γ, for the TeV blazars: log ν_p~(IC)=-(4.59 ± 0.30)α_γ+(32.67 ± 0.59), which is consistent with previous work.(4) An "L-shape" relation is found between log ν_p~s and α_X for both TeV blazars and Fermi blazars. A significant correlation between log νs pand X-ray photon index(α_X) is found for the TeV blazars with high synchrotron peak frequency: log ν_p~s=-(3.20 ± 0.34)α_X+(24.33 ± 0.79),while the correlation is positive for low synchrotron peaked TeV sources.(5) In the αX-αγdiagram,there is also an "L-shape." The anti-correlation is consistent with results available in the literature, and we also find a positive correlation between them.(6) Inverse-Compton dominant sources have luminous bolometric luminosities.     

The pc-scale radio structure of MIR-observed radio galaxies

We investigated the relationship between the accretion process and jet properties by utilizing very long baseline array(VLBA) and mid-infrared(MIR) data for a sample of 45 3 CRR radio galaxies selected with a flux density at 178 MHz 16.4 Jy, 5 GHz very large array(VLA) core flux density≥7 m Jy and MIR observations. The pc-scale radio structure at 5 GHz is presented by using our VLBA observations for 21 sources acquired in February, 2016, the analysis of archival data for 16 objects and directly obtaining measurements for eight radio galaxies available from literatures. The accretion mode is constrained from the Eddington ratio with a dividing value of 0.01, which is estimated from the MIR-based bolometric luminosity and the black hole masses. While most Fanaroff-Riley type II radio galaxies(FRIIs) have higher Eddington ratio than Fanaroff-Riley type I radio galaxies(FRIs), we found that there is indeed no single correspondence between the FR morphology and accretion mode with eight FRIIs at low accretion rate and two FRIs at high accretion rate. There is a significant correlation between the VLBA core luminosity at 5 GHz and the Eddington ratio. Various morphologies are identified in our sample, including core only, single-sided core-jet and two-sided core-jet structures. We found that the higher accretion rate may be more likely related with the core-jet structure, thus generating a more extended jet. These results imply that the higher accretion rates are likely able to produce more powerful jets. There is a strong correlation between the MIR luminosity at 15 μm and VLBA 5 GHz core luminosity, in favor of the tight relation between the accretion disk and jets. In our sample, the core brightness temperature ranges from 10~9 to 10~(13.38) K with a median value of 10~(11.09) K, indicating that systematically the beaming effect may not be significant. The exceptional cases, FRIs at high accretion rates and FRIIs at low accretion rates, are exclusively at the high and low ends, respectively, of the distribution of the flux ratio for VLBA core to 178 MHz flux density. It is not impossible that the locations of these sources are due to the recent shining or weakening of their central engines(i.e., both accretion and jet).     

Highly variable γ-ray emission of CTD 135 and implications for its compact symmetric structure

The γ-ray emission properties of CTD 135,a typical compact symmetric object(CSO),are investigated with ～11-year Fermi/LAT observations.We show that it has bright and significantly variable GeV emission,with the γ-ray luminosity of L_γ～ 10~(47) erg s~(-1) and a variation index of TS_(var)=1002.A quasi-periodic oscillation(QPO) with a periodicity of ～460 days is detected in the global 95% false-alarm level.These γ-ray emission features are similar to that of blazars.Its broadband spectral energy distribution(SED) can be attributed to the radiations of the relativistic electrons accelerated in the core region and the extended region.The SED modeling shows that the γ-rays are from the core region,which has a Doppler boosting factor of δ～10.8 and relativistically moves with a small viewing angle,being similar to blazar jets.On the base of the analysis results,we propose that the episodic activity of the central engine in CTD135 results in a blazar-like jet and the bubble-like lobes as the Fermi bubbles in the Galaxy.The strong 7-ray emission with obvious variability is from the jet radiations and the symmetric radio structure is attributed to the bubbles.The jet radiation power and disk luminosity in units of Eddington luminosity of CTD 135 follow the same relation as other young radio sources,indicating that its jet radiation may also be driven by the Eddington ratio.     

Relation between the ＂Double-Hump＂ Behavior in the Radio Band and the Broad-Line Luminosity for Blazars

The physics behind the spectral energy distribution (SED) of blazars remains open.We assembled 36 blazars to tackle the factors that control their SED. Now, many blazar spectra have the "double hump" feature in the radio and far-IR frequencies. For these a parameter,△, is created to characterize the behavior of the SED. We found a significant correlation between the broad-line luminosity (LBLR) and △. Because LBLR is an indicator of the accreting power of the source in blazars, we derived a linear correlation,△∝ (M)1/3. 18, which suggests that the SED of blazars may depend on the accretion rate, like that of BL Lac objects. We also found a significant correlation between (m) and△ for a sample of 11 blazars (out of one of 36)with available black hole masses. This implies the Eddington accretion ratio may influence the shape of the SED of blazars.     

Comparisons of Jet Properties between GeV Radio Galaxies and Blazars

We compile a sample of spectral energy distributions(SEDs) of 12 GeV radio galaxies(RGs),including eight FR Ⅰ RGs and four FR Ⅱ RGs. These SEDs can be represented with the one-zone leptonic model. No significant unification, as expected in the unification model, is found for the derived jet parameters between FR Ⅰ RGs and BL Lacertae objects(BL Lacs) and between FR Ⅱ RGs and flat spectrum radio quasars(FSRQs). However, on average FR Ⅰ RGs have a larger γb(break Lorentz factor of electrons) and lower B(magnetic field strength) than FR Ⅱ RGs, analogous to the differences between BL Lacs and FSRQs. The derived Doppler factors(δ) of RGs are on average smaller than those of blazars, which is consistent with the unification model such that RGs are the misaligned parent populations of blazars with smaller δ. On the basis of jet parameters from SED fits, we calculate their jet powers and the powers carried by each component, and compare their jet compositions and radiation efficiencies with blazars. Most of the RG jets may be dominated by particles, like BL Lacs, not FSRQs.However, the jets of RGs with higher radiation efficiencies tend to have higher jet magnetization. A strong anticorrelation between synchrotron peak frequency and jet power is observed for GeV RGs and blazars in both the observer and co-moving frames, indicating that the "sequence" behavior among blazars, together with the GeV RGs, may be intrinsically dominated by jet power.     

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.     

Correlation between excitation index and Eddington ratio in radio galaxies

We use a sample of 111 radio galaxies with redshift z 0.3 to investigate their nuclear properties.The black hole masses of the sources in this sample are estimated with the velocity dispersion/luminosity of the galaxies, or the width of the broad-lines. We find that the excitation index, the relative intensity of low and high excitation lines, is correlated with the Eddington ratio for this sample. The size of the narrow-line region(NLR) was found to vary with ionizing luminosity as RNLR∝L_(ion)~(0.25)(Liu et al. 2013). Using this empirical relation, we find that the correlation between the excitation index and the Eddington ratio can be reproduced by photoionization models. We adopt two sets of spectral energy distributions(SEDs), with or without a big blue bump in ultraviolet as the ionizing continuum, and infer that the modeled correlation between the excitation index and the Eddington ratio is insensitive to the applied SED. This means that the difference between high excitation galaxies and low excitation galaxies is not caused by the different accretion modes in these sources. Instead, it may be caused by the size of the NLR.     

Relation between the “Double-Hump” Behavior in the Radio Band and the Broad-Line Luminosity for Blazars

The physics behind the spectral energy distribution (SED) of blazars remains open. We assembled 36 blazars to tackle the factors that control their SED. Now, many blazar spec- tra have the "double hump" feature in the radio and far-IR frequencies. For these a parameter, , is created to characterize the behavior of the SED. We found a significant correlation be- tween the broad-line luminosity (LBLR) and . Because LBLR is an indicator of the accreting power of the source in blazars, we derived a linear correlation, ∝ M˙1/3.18, which suggests that the SED of blazars may depend on the accretion rate, like that of BL Lac objects. We also found a significant correlation between ■ and for a sample of 11 blazars (out of one of 36) with available black hole masses. This implies the Eddington accretion ratio may influence the shape of the SED of blazars.     

Spin-down and emission variations for PSR J0742-2822

PSR J0742-2822 is known for its quasi-periodic changes in the observed pulse profile and spindown rate.In this paper,we analyzed 13 years of timing data obtained with the Nanshan 25-m radio telescope and the Parkes 64-m radio telescope.We found that the average values of the spin-down rate((v))of this pulsar changed in four different states.We investigated the correlation between v and W50,and ascertained that the correlation changed in different states.Moreover,not all the changes in states and correlation can be associated with glitch activities.We examined the long term evolution ofγ-ray flux(0.1-300 GeV)and the pulse profiles corresponding to the four different states using Fermi-LAT Pass8(P8 R3)data from 2008 August 5 to 2019 October 1.We did not detect a significant change inγ-ray flux or the pulse profile.Our results suggest that the connection between pulsar rotation and emission is more complex than previously reported for this pulsar.     

L_(syn)-E_(syn,p)-δ relation in active galactic nucleus jets and implication for the physical origin of the L_p-E_(p,z)-Γ_0 relation of gamma-ray bursts

High energy photon radiations of gamma-ray bursts(GRBs) and active galactic nuclei(AGNs)are dominated by their jet radiations.We examine whether the synchrotron radiations of jets in BL Lacs,flat spectrum radio quasars(FSRQs),and Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies(NLS1s) follow the relation between the prompt gamma-ray emission and the initial Lorentz factor(Γ_0) of GRBs.It is shown that the AGN sample does not agree with the L_p-E_(p,z)-Γ_0 relation of GRBs.In addition,we obtain a tight relation of ■ for FSRQs and NLS1 galaxies,where L_(syn) is the luminosity at peak photon energy E_(syn,p) of the synchrotron radiations.This relation is different from the L_p-E_(p,z)-Γ_0 relation of GRB s.The dependence of L_(syn) to δ is consistent with the expectation of the Doppler boosting effect for the FSRQs and NLS1 galaxies,but it is not for GRBs.We argue that Γ_0 may be a representative of the kinetic power of the radiating region and the tight L_p-E_(p,z)-Γ_0 relation is shaped by the radiation physics and the jet power together.