Collective Evidence for Inverse Compton Emission from External Photons in High-Power Blazars

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dc.citation.firstpageL4
dc.citation.journalTitleThe Astrophysical Journal Letters
dc.citation.volumeNumber752
dc.contributor.authorMeyer, Eileen T.
dc.contributor.authorFossati, Giovanni
dc.contributor.authorGeorganopoulos, Markos
dc.contributor.authorLister, Matthew L.
dc.date.accessioned2013-03-13T20:17:58Z
dc.date.available2014-03-19T05:10:04Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractWe present the first collective evidence that Fermi-detected jets of high kinetic power (L kin) are dominated by inverse Compton emission from upscattered external photons. Using a sample with a broad range in orientation angle, including radio galaxies and blazars, we find that very high power sources (L kin > 1045.5 erg s–1) show a significant increase in the ratio of inverse Compton to synchrotron power (Compton dominance) with decreasing orientation angle, as measured by the radio core dominance and confirmed by the distribution of superluminal speeds. This increase is consistent with beaming expectations for external Compton (EC) emission, but not for synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission. For the lowest power jets (L kin < 1043.5 erg s–1), no trend between Compton and radio core dominance is found, consistent with SSC. Importantly, the EC trend is not seen for moderately high power flat spectrum radio quasars with strong external photon fields. Coupled with the evidence that jet power is linked to the jet speed, this finding suggests that external photon fields become the dominant source of seed photons in the jet comoving frame only for the faster and therefore more powerful jets.
dc.embargo.terms1 year
dc.identifier.citationMeyer, Eileen T., Fossati, Giovanni, Georganopoulos, Markos, et al.. "Collective Evidence for Inverse Compton Emission from External Photons in High-Power Blazars." <i>The Astrophysical Journal Letters,</i> 752, (2012) The American Astronomical Society: L4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/752/1/L4.
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/752/1/L4
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/70579
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherThe American Astronomical Society
dc.rightsArticle is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
dc.subject.keywordgalaxies
dc.subject.keywordactive – quasars
dc.subject.keywordgeneral – radiation mechanisms
dc.subject.keywordnon-thermal
dc.titleCollective Evidence for Inverse Compton Emission from External Photons in High-Power Blazars
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.publicationpublisher version
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