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Context: Runaway stars produce bowshocks that are usually observed at infrared (IR) wavelengths. Non-thermal radio emission has been detected so far only from the bowshock of BD+43{deg}3654, whereas the detection of non-thermal radiation from these bowshocks at high energies remains elusive. Aims: We aim at characterising in detail the radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray emission from stellar bowshocks accounting for the structure of the region of interaction between the stellar wind and its environment. Methods: We develop a broadband-radiative, multi-zone model for stellar bowshocks that takes into account the spatial structure of the emitting region and the observational constraints. The model predicts the evolution and the emission of the relativistic particles accelerated and streaming together with the shocked flow. Results: We present broadband non-thermal spectral energy distributions for different scenarios, synthetic radio-cm synchrotron maps that reproduce the morphology of BD+43{deg}3654, and updated predictions in X-ray and gamma-ray energy ranges. We also compare the results of the multi-zone model applied in this work with those of a refined one-zone model. Conclusions: A multi-zone model provides better constraints than a one-zone model on the relevant parameters, namely the magnetic field intensity and the amount of energy deposited in non-thermal particles. However, one-zone models can be improved by carefully characterising the intensity of the IR dust photon field and the escape rate of the plasma from the shocked region. Finally, comparing observed radio maps with those obtained from a multi-zone model enables constraints to be obtained on the direction of stellar motion with respect to the observer.
Accreting black holes are sources of major interest in astronomy, particular those launching jets because of their ability to accelerate particles, and dramatically affect their surrounding environment up to very large distances. The spatial, energy and time scales at which a central active black hole radiates and impacts its environment depend on its mass. The implied scale-invariance of accretion/ejection physics between black hole systems of different central masses has been confirmed by several studies. Therefore, designing a self-consistent theoretical model that can describe such systems, regardless of their mass, is of crucial importance to tackle a variety of astrophysical sources. We present here a new and significantly improved version of a scale invariant, steady-state, multi-zone jet model, which we rename bhjet, resulting from the efforts of our group to advance the modelling of black hole systems. We summarise the model assumptions and basic equations, how they have evolved over time, and the additional features that we have recently introduced. These include additional input electron populations, the extension to cyclotron emission in near-relativistic regime, an improved multiple inverse Compton scattering method, external photon seeds typical of AGN and a magnetically-dominated jet dynamical model as opposed to the pressure-driven jet configuration present in old
The author is developing a numerical code with thousands of emission zones to simulate the time-dependent multi-waveband emission from blazars. The code is based on a model in which turbulent plasma flowing at a relativistic speed down a jet crosses a standing conical collimation shock that accelerates electrons to maximum energies in the 5-100 GeV range. This paper reports early results produced by the model. The simulated light curves and time profiles of the degree and position angle of polarization have a number of features in common with the observational data of blazars. Maps of the polarized intensity structure can be compared with those of blazars observed with very long baseline interferometry at short millimeter wavelengths.
The author presents a model for variability of the flux and polarization of blazars in which turbulent plasma flowing at a relativistic speed down a jet crosses a standing conical shock. The shock compresses the plasma and accelerates electrons to energies up to gamma(max) > 1E4 times their rest-mass energy, with the value of gamma(max) determined by the direction of the magnetic field relative to the shock front. The turbulence is approximated in a computer code as many cells, each with a uniform magnetic field whose direction is selected randomly. The density of high-energy electrons in the plasma changes randomly with time in a manner consistent with the power spectral density of flux variations derived from observations of blazars. The variations in flux and polarization are therefore caused by continuous noise processes rather than by singular events such as explosive injection of energy at the base of the jet. Sample simulations illustrate the behavior of flux and linear polarization versus time that such a model produces. The variations in gamma-ray flux generated by the code are often, but not always, correlated with those at lower frequencies, and many of the flares are sharply peaked. The mean degree of polarization of synchrotron radiation is higher and its time-scale of variability shorter toward higher frequencies, while the polarization electric vector sometimes randomly executes apparent rotations. The slope of the spectral energy distribution exhibits sharper breaks than can arise solely from energy losses. All of these results correspond to properties observed in blazars.
We present a newly developed time-dependent three-dimensional multi-zone hadronic blazar emission model. By coupling a Fokker-Planck based lepto-hadronic particle evolution code 3DHad with a polarization-dependent radiation transfer code, 3DPol, we are able to study the time-dependent radiation and polarization signatures of a hadronic blazar model for the first time. Our current code is limited to parameter regimes in which the hadronic $gamma$-ray output is dominated by proton synchrotron emission, neglecting pion production. Our results demonstrate that the time-dependent flux and polarization signatures are generally dominated by the relation between the synchrotron cooling and the light crossing time scale, which is largely independent of the exact model parameters. We find that unlike the low-energy polarization signatures, which can vary rapidly in time, the high-energy polarization signatures appear stable. As a result, future high-energy polarimeters may be able to distinguish such signatures from the lower and more rapidly variable polarization signatures expected in leptonic models.
Internal shocks occurring in blazars may accelerate both thermal and non-thermal electrons. In this paper we examine the consequences that such a hybrid (thermal/non-thermal) EED has on the spectrum of blazars. Since the thermal component of the EED may extend to very low energies. We replace the standard synchrotron process by the more general magneto-bremsstrahlung (MBS). Significant differences in the energy flux appear at low radio frequencies when considering MBS instead of the standard synchrotron emission. A drop in the spectrum appears in the all the radio band and a prominent valley between the infrared and soft X-rays bands when a hybrid EED is considered, instead of a power-law EED. In the $gamma$-ray band an EED of mostly thermal particles displays significant differences with respect to the one dominated by non-thermal particles. A thermally-dominated EED produces a synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) peak extending only up to a few MeV, and the valley separating the MBS and the SSC peaks is much deeper than if the EED is dominated by non-thermal particles. The combination of these effects modifies the Compton dominance of a blazar, suggesting that the vertical scatter in the distribution of FSRQs and BL Lac objects in the peak synchrotron frequency - Compton dominance parameter space could be attributed to different proportions of thermal/non-thermal particles in the EED of blazars. Finally, the temperature of the electrons in the shocked plasma is shown to be a degenerated quantity for different magentizations of the ejected material.