Related papers: The Evolution of Shocks in Blazar Jets
Mildly-relativistic shocks that are embedded in colliding magnetohydrodynamic flows are prime sites for relativistic particle acceleration and production of strongly variable, polarized multi-wavelength emission from relativistic jet…
We discuss the implications of rapid (few-minute) variability in the TeV flux of blazars, which has been observed recently with the HESS and MAGIC telescopes. The variability timescales seen in PKS 2155-304 and Mrk 501 are much shorter than…
Rapid variability on a time scale much faster than the light-crossing time of the central supermassive black hole has been seen in TeV emission from the blazar PKS 2155-304. The most plausible explanation of this puzzling observation is…
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…
Recently observed minute timescale variability of blazar emission at TeV energies has imposed severe constraints on jet models and TeV emission mechanisms. We focus on a robust jet instability to explain this variability. As a consequence…
Multi-wavelength light curves of bright gamma-ray blazars (e.g., 3C 454.3) reveal strong correlations across wavebands, yet striking dissimilarities in the details. This conundrum can be explained if the variable flux and polarization…
The fast TeV variability of the blazars Mrk 501 and PKS 2155--304 implies a compact emitting region that moves with a bulk Lorentz factor of Gamma_{em}~100 toward the observer. The Lorentz factor is clearly in excess of the jet Lorentz…
The recent long look X-ray observations of TeV blazars have revealed many important new features concerning their time variability. In this paper, we suggest a physical interpretation for those features based on the framework of the…
One of remarkable features of the gamma ray blazar Markarian 501 is the reported shape of the TeV spectrum, which during strong flares of the source remains essentially stable despite dramatic variations of the absolute gamma-ray flux. I…
The central engine causing the production of jets in radio sources may work intermittently, accelerating shells of plasma with different mass, energy and velocity. Faster but later shells can then catch up slower earlier ones. In the…
We describe the time-dependent radiation transfer in blazar jets, within the internal shock model. We assume that the central engine, which consists of a black hole and an accretion disk, spews out relativistic shells of plasma with…
The development of instabilities leading to the formation of internal shocks is expected in the relativistic outflows of both gamma-ray bursts and blazars. The shocks heat the expanding ejecta, generate a tangled magnetic field and…
We propose a new model for the description of ultra-short flares from TeV blazars by compact magnetized condensations (blobs), produced when red giant stars cross the jet close to the central black hole. Our study includes a simple…
The radiation observed by blazars is believed to originate from the transformation of bulk kinetic energy of relativistic jets into random energy. A simple way to achieve this is to have an intermittent central power source, producing…
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…
We study particle acceleration and radiative processes in Blazar jets under recurring conditions set by gravitational perturbations in supermassive binary systems. We consider the action from a companion orbiting a primary black hole of…
The knowledge of the structure of the magnetic field inside a blazar jet, as deduced from polarization observations at radio to optical wavelengths, is closely related to the formation and propagation of relativistic jets that result from…
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$hr-day) GeV flares in a sample of 10 blazars using light curves from the Fermi-LAT and the…
Low ($\lesssim 1\%$) levels of circular polarization (CP) detected at radio frequencies in the relativistic jets of some blazars can provide insight into the underlying nature of the jet plasma. CP can be produced through linear…
We perform relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of internal shocks formed in microquasar jets by continuous variation of the bulk Lorentz factor, in order to investigate the internal shock model. We consider one-, two-, and flicker noise…