Related papers: Doppler factors, Lorentz factors and viewing angle…

In its first three months of operations, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Observatory has detected approximately one quarter of the radio-flux-limited MOJAVE sample of bright flat-spectrum active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at energies above 100 MeV. We have…

A wide range of phenomena, from explosive transients to active galactic nuclei, exhibit variability at radio wavelengths on timescales of a few years. Characterizing the rate and scale of variability in the radio sky can provide keen…

We present a milliarcsecond-resolution radio survey of 17 high-redshift (4 < z < 5.4) blazar candidates observed with the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network at 5 GHz. The primary objective of this study was to…

Blazars are beamed active galactic nuclei known for their strong multi-wavelength variability on timescales from years down to minutes. We aim to investigate the suitability of the twisting jet model presented in previous works to explain…

Blazar emission is dominated by non-thermal radiation from a relativistic jet pointing toward us, therefore undergoing Doppler beaming. This is responsible for flux enhancement and contraction of the variability time scales, so that most…

The Doppler factor ($\delta$) is a fundamental quality for the relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei (AGNs). It is also fundamental to assessing the number of the entire population of the jetted AGN at high redshift ($z$), and…

In an effort to locate the sites of emission at different frequencies and physical processes causing variability in blazar jets, we have obtained high time-resolution observations of BL Lacertae over a wide wavelength range: with the…

In this work, we report the presence of rapid intra-night optical variations in both -- flux and polarization of the blazar BL Lacertae during its unprecedented 2020--2021 high state of brightness. The object showed significant flux…

The kinetic energy of bulk relativistic plasma ejected from the central engine of blazars is converted into nonthermal particle energy in the comoving frame through a process of sweeping up material from the surrounding medium. The…

Aims: The ``bright'' High Frequency Peakers (HFPs) sample is a mixture of blazars and intrinsically small and young radio sources. We investigate the polarimetric characteristics of 45 High Frequency Peakers, from the ``bright'' HFP sample,…

The evolution of the spectral energy distribution during flares constrains models of particle acceleration in blazar jets. The archetypical blazar BL Lac provided a unique opportunity to study spectral variations during an extended strong…

We present VLBA observations and a statistical analysis of 5 GHz VLBI polarimetry data from 177 sources in the Caltech-Jodrell Bank flat-spectrum (CJF) survey. The CJF survey, a complete, flux-density-limited sample of 293 extragalactic…

BL Lacertae is a blazar known for its high flux variability and occasional broadband flares of unknown origin. It was in an extended flaring state from July 2020 until the end of 2021, making it an ideal candidate to study spectral and…

High redshift blazars are among the most powerful non-explosive sources in the Universe and play a crucial role in understanding the evolution of relativistic jets. To understand these bright objects, we performed a detailed investigation…

We examine the scenario that the Doppler factor determines the observational differences of blazars in this paper. Significantly negative correlations are found between the observational synchrotron peak frequency and the Doppler factor.…

Recent Cherenkov observations of BL Lac objects showed that the TeV flux of PKS 2155-304 changed by a factor 2 in just 3-5 minutes. This fast variability can be accounted for if the emitting region is moving with a bulk Lorentz factor…

We compute the effective values of apparent transverse velocity and flux boosting factors for the VLBI radio knots of blazar jets, by integrating over the angular distributions of these quantities across the widths of jets with finite…

We demonstrate that gravitationally lensed quasars are easily recognized using image subtraction methods as time variable sources that are spatially extended. For Galactic latitudes |b|>20 deg, lensed quasars dominate the population of…

We outline the purpose, strategy and first results of a deep, high cadence, photometric survey of the Kepler field using the Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma and the MDM 1.3m Telescope on Kitt Peak. Our goal was to identify sources…

Blazars radiate from relativistic jets launched by a supermassive black hole along our line of sight; the subclass of FSRQs exhibits broad emission lines, a telltale sign of a gas-rich environment and high accretion rate, contrary to the…