Related papers: Off-axis emission from relativistic plasma flows
The spectral characteristics of the pulsed gamma-ray emission from outer-magnetospheric particle accelerators are investigated. Either positrons or electrons are accelerated outwards by the magnetic-field-aligned electric field to emit…
Inverse Compton scattering appears to play a more important role in the diffuse Galactic continuum emission than previously thought, from MeV to GeV energies. We compare models having a large inverse Compton component with EGRET data, and…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are generally believed to be efficient particle accelerators. In the presence of energetic protons in a GRB jet, interactions between these protons and intense radiation field of the GRB are supposed to induce…
The majority of the extragalactic sources yet detected at TeV photon energies belong to the class of "high frequency peaked BL Lacs" (HBLs) that exhibit a spectral energy distribution with a lower peak in the X-ray band. Such spectra are…
Relativistic jets are one of the most powerful manifestations of the release of energy produced around supermassive black holes at the centre of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Their emission is observed across the entire electromagnetic…
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…
The recent discovery, by the Chandra satellite, that jets of blazars are strong X-ray emitters at large scales (0.1-1 Mpc) bears support to the hypothesis that (also) on these scales the emitting plasma is moving at highly relativistic…
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'…
Ultrahigh energy protons and nuclei from extragalactic cosmic ray sources initiate intergalactic electromagnetic cascades, resulting in observable fluxes of $\gamma$-rays in the GeV-TeV energy domain. The total spectrum of such cascade…
Nonthermal radiation observed from astrophysical systems containing relativistic jets and shocks, e.g., gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and microquasars commonly exhibit power-law emission spectra. Recent PIC…
Relativistically expanding sources of X-rays and gamma-rays cover an enormous range of (central) compactness and Lorentz factor. The underlying physics is discussed, with an emphasis on how the dominant dissipative mode and the emergent…
We develop a theory of particle acceleration inside relativistic rotating electron-positron force-free jets with spiral magnetic fields. We considered perturbation of the stationary magnetic field structure and found that acceleration takes…
We review the physics of GRB production by relativistic jets that start highly opaque near the central source and then expand to transparency. We discuss dissipative and radiative processes in the jet and how radiative transfer shapes the…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are fascinating extragalactic objects. They represent a fantastic opportunity to investigate unique properties not exhibited in other sources. Multi-wavelength afterglow observations from some short- and…
Broadband emission from relativistic outflows (jets) of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) contains valuable information about the nature of the jet itself, and about the central engine which launches it. Using special…
We consider the polarization properties of photospheric emission originating in jets consisting of a highly relativistic core of opening angle theta_j and Lorentz factor Gamma_0, and a surrounding shear layer where the Lorentz factor is…
We consider the radiative acceleration to relativistic bulk velocities of a cold, optically thin plasma which is exposed to an external source of gamma-rays. The flow is driven by radiative momentum input to the gas, the accelerating force…
The hypothesis that AGN jets might be the sources of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays has originally motivated the venture of TeV gamma ray astronomy. Surprisingly, after the discovery of TeV emission from blazars the attention has shifted…
Cosmic sources of gamma-ray radiation in the GeV range are often characterized by violent variability, in particular this concerns blazars, gamma-ray bursts, and the pulsar wind nebula Crab. Such gamma-ray emission requires a very efficient…
The relationship between observed variability time and emission region geometry is explored for the case of emission by relativistic jets. The approximate formula for the jet-frame size of the emission region, $R'=Dc\Delta t_{\rm obs}$ is…