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

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dc.citation.firstpageL4en_US
dc.citation.journalTitleThe Astrophysical Journal Lettersen_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber752en_US
dc.contributor.authorMeyer, Eileen T.en_US
dc.contributor.authorFossati, Giovannien_US
dc.contributor.authorGeorganopoulos, Markosen_US
dc.contributor.authorLister, Matthew L.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-03-13T20:17:58Zen_US
dc.date.available2014-03-19T05:10:04Zen_US
dc.date.issued2012en_US
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.en_US
dc.embargo.terms1 yearen_US
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.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/752/1/L4en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/70579en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherThe American Astronomical Societyen_US
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.en_US
dc.subject.keywordgalaxiesen_US
dc.subject.keywordactive – quasarsen_US
dc.subject.keywordgeneral – radiation mechanismsen_US
dc.subject.keywordnon-thermalen_US
dc.titleCollective Evidence for Inverse Compton Emission from External Photons in High-Power Blazarsen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.publicationpublisher versionen_US
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