Related papers: The Blazar Spectral Sequence and GLAST
In next five years, dramatic progress is anticipated for the AGN studies, as we have two important missions to observe celestial sources in the high energy regime: GLAST and Suzaku. In this talk, I will summarize recent highlights in…
Blazars exhibit flux and spectral variations of largest amplitude at the highest frequencies. Therefore, monitoring their variability at X- and gamma-rays is the most effective tool to peer into the mighty powerhouse of these sources. High…
Building on the success of the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) will make a major step in the study of such subjects as blazars,…
I discuss the spectral energy distribution (SED) of all blazars with redshift detected by the {\it Fermi} satellite and listed in the 3LAC catalog. I will update the so called "blazar sequence" from the phenomenological point of view, with…
Radio and X-ray observations of the relativistic jets of microquasars show evidence for the acceleration of particles to very high energies. Signatures of non-thermal processes occurring closer in to the compact object can also be found. In…
In preparation for GLAST, we have compiled a sample of blazar candidates to increase the pool of well studied AGN from which GLAST counterparts will be drawn. Sources were selected with our Figure of Merit (FoM) ranking; thus, they have…
We have not identified for sure what is the mechanism launching, accelerating and collimating relativistic jets. The two most likely possibilities are the gravitational energy of the accreting matter or the rotational energy of a spinning…
Some pulsars have their maximum observable energy output in the gamma-ray band, offering the possibility of using these high-energy photons as probes of the particle acceleration and interaction processes in pulsar magnetospheres. After an…
We have recently proposed a new scenario where blazars are classified as flat-spectrum radio quasars or BL Lacs according to the prescriptions of unified schemes, and to a varying combination of Doppler boosted radiation from the jet,…
Using public \fermi LAT and \swift BAT observations, we constructed the first sample of blazars selected at both hard X-rays and gamma-rays. Studying its spectral properties, we find a luminosity dependence of the spectral slopes at both…
Gamma rays with energy above 10 GeV interact with optical-UV photons resulting in pair production. Therefore, a large sample of high redshift sources of these gamma rays can be used to probe the extragalactic background starlight (EBL) by…
We describe a uniform all-sky survey of bright blazars, selected primarily by their flat radio spectra, that is designed to provide a large catalog of likely gamma-ray AGN. The defined sample has 1625 targets with radio and X-ray properties…
Pulsars seen at gamma-ray energies offer insight into particle acceleration to very high energies, along with information about the geometry and interaction processes in the magnetospheres of these rotating neutron stars. During the next…
The current status of leptonic jet models for blazars is reviewed. Differences between the quasar and BL-Lac subclasses of blazars may be understood in terms of the dominance of different radiation mechanisms in the gamma-ray regime.…
Being dominated by non-thermal (synchrotron and inverse Compton) emission from a relativistic jet, blazars offer important clues to the structure and radiative processes in extragalactic jets. Crucial information is provided by blazars'…
We discuss the present knowledge about the Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of blazars within a unified approach emphasizing overall similarities. The properties of the average SEDs of different samples of blazars suggest that more…
In recent years, blazar surveys at radio and X-ray energies have greatly increased our understanding of this type of active galaxy. The combination of multi-wavelength data has shown that blazars follow a well defined sequence in terms of…
We present here an overview of PulsarSpectrum, a program that simulates the gamma ray emission from pulsars. This simulator reproduces not only the basic features of the observed gamma ray pulsars, but it can also simulate more detailed…
In our review of the blazar phenomenon, we discuss blazar models, with a focus on the following issues: sub-parsec jets and their environment; energy dissipation and particle acceleration; and radiative processes.
I describe the different classes of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and the basic tenets of unified schemes. I then review the properties of the extragalactic sources detected in the GeV and TeV bands, showing that the vast majority of them…