Related papers: Study of optical and gamma-ray long-term variabili…
BL Lacs are one subclass of blazars with highly energetic $\gamma$-ray emission, which is strongly boosted by a relativistic beaming effect. The latest catalogue of the 10 years of {\it Fermi}/LAT data Abdollahi et al. (2020) and the…
The spectra of blazars form a sequence which can be parametrized in term of their observed bolometric luminosity. At the most powerful extreme of the sequence we find objects whose jet power can rival the power extracted by accretion, while…
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…
We examine the 2008-2016 $\gamma$-ray and optical light curves of three bright BL Lac objects, 0716+714, MRK 421, BL Lac, which exhibit large structured variability. We searched for periodicities by using a fully Bayesian approach. For two…
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'…
The parsec-scale radio properties of 232 active galactic nuclei (AGNs), most of which are blazars, detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have been observed contemporaneously by the Very Long…
The exact mechanism for the production of fast $\gamma$-ray variability in blazars remains debated. Magnetic reconnection, in which plasmoids filled with relativistic particles and magnetic fields are formed, is a viable candidate to…
Several models have been suggested to explain the fast gamma-ray variability observed in blazars, but its origin is still debated. One scenario is magnetic reconnection, a process that can efficiently convert magnetic energy to energy of…
Blazars are an extreme subclass of active galactic nuclei. Their rapid variability, luminous brightness, superluminal motion, and high and variable polarization are probably due to a beaming effect. However, this beaming factor (or Doppler…
We present a temporal and spectral analysis of the gamma-ray flux from nine of the brightest flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) detected with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) during its first eight years of operation, with the aim of…
Since late 2007, we have been monitoring a large sample of known and likely gamma-ray-loud blazars at 15 GHz twice per week with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) 40 m Telescope. Our initial sample included the 1158 sources above…
The launching mechanism of the jets of active galactic nuclei is observationally poorly constrained, due to the large distances to these objects and the very small scales (sub-parsec) involved. In order to better constrain theoretical…
We compare the \gamma-ray light curves of the blazars, constructed with data provided by the Fermi Large Area Telescope, with flux and polarization variations in the VLBI core and bright superluminal knots obtained via monthly monitoring…
In 2008, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has revealed - for the first time - high-energy (E > 100 MeV) gamma rays from a few Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies (NLS1s). Later, in 2009 and 2010, two multifrequency campaigns on one of these…
We examine the constraints on the luminosity-dependent density evolution model for the evolution of blazars given the observed spectrum of the diffuse gamma-ray background (DGRB), blazar source-count distribution, and the blazar spectral…
We compare the rise and decay timescales of $\sim$200 long-term ($\sim$weeks-months) GeV and R-band outbursts and $\sim$25 short-term ($\sim$hr-day) GeV flares in a sample of 10 blazars using light curves from the Fermi-LAT and the…
We present a polarization variability analysis of a sample of 26 $\gamma$-ray blazars monitored by the Steward Observatory between 2008 and 2018 in the optical band. We investigate the properties and long-term variability of their optical…
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are now known to be strong gamma-ray emitters. After briefly describing the different classes of AGN and the basic tenets of unified schemes, I discuss the role of blazars (that is BL Lacs and flat-spectrum…
We present multi-epoch optical spectroscopy of seven southern Fermi-monitored blazars from 2008 - 2013 using the Small and Medium Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS), with supplemental spectroscopy and polarization data from the…
Blazars are jetted active galactic nuclei with a jet pointing close to the line of sight, hence enhancing their intrinsic luminosity and variability. Monitoring these sources is essential in order to catch them flaring and promptly organize…