No Arabic abstract
We present a new catalogue of the RATAN-600 multi-frequency measurements for BL Lac objects. The purpose of this catalogue is to compile the BL Lac multi-frequency data that is acquired with the RATAN-600 simultaneously at several frequencies. The BL Lac objects emit a strongly variable and polarized non-thermal radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio to gamma-rays and represent about one percent of known AGNs. They belong to the blazar population and differ from other blazars featureless optical spectrum, which sometimes have absorption lines, or have weak and narrow emission lines. One of the most effective ways of studying the physics of BL Lacs is the use of simultaneous multi-frequency data. The multi-frequency broadband radio spectrum was obtained simultaneously with an accuracy of up to 1-2 minutes for four to six frequencies: 1.1, 2.3, 4.8, 7.7, 11.2, and 21.7 GHz. The catalogue is based on the RATAN-600 observations and on the data from: equatorial coordinate and redshift, R-band magnitude, synchrotron peak frequency, SED classes and object type, literature. The present version of the catalogue contains RATAN-600 flux densities measurements over nine years (2006-2014), radio spectra at different epochs, and their parameters for more than 300 BL Lacs objects and candidates. The BL Lacs list is constantly updated with new observational data of RATAN-600.
The most elusive and extreme sub-class of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), known as BL Lac objects, shows features that can only be explained as the result of relativistic effects occurring in jets pointing at a small angle with respect to the line of sight. A long standing issue is the identification of the BL Lac parent population, having jets oriented at larger angles. According to the unification scenario of AGNs, radio galaxies with low luminosity and edge-darkened radio morphology are the most promising candidates to be the parent population of BL Lacs. Here we compare the large-scale environment, an orientation independent property, of well-defined samples of BL Lacs with samples of radio-galaxies all lying in the local Universe. Our study reveals that BL Lacs and radio galaxies live in significantly different environments, challenging predictions of the unification scenario. We propose a solution to this problem proving that large-scale environments of BL Lacs is statistically consistent with that of compact radio-sources, known as FR0s, sharing similar properties. This implies that highly relativistic jets are ubiquitous and are the natural outcome of the accretion of gas into the deep gravitational potential well produced by supermassive black holes.
Here we present highlights from VERITAS observations of high-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects (HBLs). We discuss the key science motivations for observing these sources -- including performing multiwavelength campaigns critical to understanding the emission mechanisms at work in HBLs, constraining the intensity and spectra shape of the extragalactic background light, and placing limits on the strength of the intergalactic magnetic field.
Among active galactic nuclei, BL Lac objects show extreme properties that have been interpreted as the effect of relativistic beaming on the emission from a plasma jet oriented close to the line of sight. The Doppler amplification of the jet emission makes them ideal targets for studying jet physics. In particular, low-power BL Lacs (LPBL) are very interesting because they probe the jet formation and emission processes at the lowest levels of accretion. However, they are difficult to identify since their emission is swamped by the radiation from the host galaxy in most observing bands. In this paper we propose a new LPBL selection method based on the mid-infrared emission, in addition to the traditional optical indices. We considered the radio-selected sample of Best & Heckman (2012, MNRAS, 421, 1569) and cross-matched it with the WISE all-sky survey. In a new diagnostic plane including the W2-W3 color and the Dn(4000) index, LPBL are located in a region scarcely populated by other sources. By filtering objects with small emission line equivalent width, we isolated 36 LPBL candidates up to redshift 0.15. Their radio luminosity at 1.4 GHz spans the range log L_r = 39.2-41.5 [erg/s]. Considering the completeness of our sample, we analyzed the BL Lac luminosity function (RLF), finding a dramatic paucity of LPBL with respect to the extrapolation of the RLF toward low power. This requires a break in the RLF located at log L_r~40.6 [erg/s]. The consequent peak in the BL Lacs number density is possibly the manifestation of a minimum power required to launch a relativistic jet.
The next generation of TeV detectors is expected to have a significantly enhanced performance. It is therefore constructive to search for new TeV candidates for observation. This paper focuses on TeV candidates among the high-synchrotron-peaked BL Lacertae objects (HBLs) reported in the fourth catalog of active galactic nuclei detected by the Fermis Large Area Telescope, i.e., 4LAC. By cross-matching the Fermi data with radio and optical observations, we collected the multiwavelength features of 180 HBLs with known redshift. The data set contains 39 confirmed TeV sources and 141 objects whose TeV detection has not yet been reported (either not yet observed, or observed but not detected). Using two kinds of supervised machine-learning (SML) methods, we searched for new possible TeV candidates (PTCs) among the nondetected objects by assessing the similarity of their multi-wavelength properties to existing TeV-detected objects. The classification results of the two SML classifiers were combined and the 24 highest-confidence PTCs were proposed as the best candidates. We calculate, here, the 12 year averaged Fermi spectra of these PTCs and estimate their detectability by extrapolating the Fermi spectrum and including the extragalactic background light attenuation. Four candidates are suggested to have a high likelihood of being detected by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory and 24 are candidates for the Cerenkov Telescope Array observations.
Electrons are accelerated at the shock wave diffuse and advect outward, and subsequently drift away into the emitting region of the jet that is located in the downstream flow from the plane shock. The current work considers the acceleration of the electrons in the shock front. Assuming a proper boundary condition at the interface between the shock and the downstream zones, a novel particle distribution in the downstream flow is proposed in this work to reproduce the broadband spectral energy distribution of BL Lac objects. We find that (1) we can obtain the particle distribution downstream of the shock wave in four cases; (2) electrons with higher energy ($gamma>gamma_{0}$) dominate the emission spectrum; (3) the distinctly important physical parameters assumed in our model can reasonably reproduce the multi-wavelength spectrum of the high-synchrotron-peaked BL Lac object Markarian 421 (Mrk 421).