Related papers: Are BL Lacertae Objects Beamed QSO Remnants?

BL Lac objects (BLL) are defined by the presence of very weak (typically $<$ 5 {\AA}) or even absent spectral lines. This makes determining their distance particularly challenging, especially at high redshift, where the sources are fainter…

Whether radio intermediate quasars possess relativistic jets as radio-loud quasars is an important issue in the understanding of the origin of radio emission in quasars. In this letter, using the two-epoch radio data obtained during Faint…

Broad absorption lines (BALs) are present in the spectra of ~20% of quasars (QSOs); this indicates fast outflows (up to 0.2c) that intercept the observer's line of sight. These QSOs can be distinguished again into radio-loud (RL) BAL QSOs…

Blue quasars (BQs) are sources with strong broad emission lines and flat hard X-ray spectra, properties that resemble classical flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), and high peak frequencies and steep soft X-ray spectra, properties that…

BL Lac objects are low--power active nuclei exhibiting a variety of peculiar properties that are caused by the presence of a relativistic jet and orientation effects. We present here adaptive optics near-IR images at high spatial resolution…

We review the reports of possible year-long quasi-periodicities of BL Lac objects in the $\gamma$-ray and optical bands, and present a homogeneous time analysis of the light curves of PKS2155$-$304, PG1553+113, and BL Lac. Based on results…

We propose a scenario where blazars are classified as flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), BL Lacs, low synchrotron, or high synchrotron peaked objects according to a varying mix of the Doppler boosted radiation from the jet, the emission…

We have optically identified a sample of 56 featureless continuum objects without significant proper motion from the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey (2QZ). The steep number--magnitude relation of the sample, $n(\bj) \propto 10^{0.7\bj}$, is similar…

We report redshift measurements for 12 BL Lacertae objects from a program aimed at obtaining high signal to noise (up to ~ 500) optical spectroscopy of a mixed sample of objects. The new observations, gathered with the 8 m ESO Very Large…

Context. Monitoring of BL Lacertae at 15 GHz with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) has revealed a quasi-stationary radio feature in the innermost part of the jet, at 0.26 mas from the radio core. Stationary features are found in many…

We report on our further analysis of the expanded and revised sample of potential BL Lac objects (the 2BL) optically identified from two catalogues of blue-selected (UV excess) point sources, the 2dF and 6dF QSO Redshift Surveys (2QZ and…

We report on ESO Very Large Telescope optical spectroscopy of 42 BL Lacertae objects of unknown redshift. Nuclear emission lines were observed in 12 objects, while for another six we detected absorption features due to their host galaxy.…

Optical light curves of bright BL Lac objects, in particular those having the SED synchrotron peak at frequencies lower than 10E14 Hz, are characterized by long-term trends with time scales of a few decades. These variations are probabily…

Blazars are a sub-population of quasars whose jets are nearly aligned with the line-of-sight, which tend to exhibit multi-wavelength variability on a variety of timescales. Quasi-periodic variability on year-like timescales has been…

We analyse a group of radio sources, a subset of the 200 mJy sample, all of which have core-jet radio structures measured with VLBI and have flat spectra stretching from the radio to the millimetre/sub-millimetre band. Thus the objects have…

We present new radio observations of 9 members of a sample of 29 nearby (z < 0.2) BL Lac objects. The new data have been obtained with the European VLBI Network and/or the MERLIN at 1.6 and 5 GHz and complement previous observations. For…

We discuss 6 GHz JVLA observations covering a volume-limited sample of 178 low redshift ($0.2 < z < 0.3$) optically selected QSOs. Our 176 radio detections fall into two clear categories: (1) About $20$\% are radio-loud QSOs (RLQs) having…

For many years some astronomers have continued to argue, using redshift periodicities and quasar-galaxy associations, that quasars may be closer than their redshifts imply. Here, for the first time using raw radio data, I re-examine this…

Broad absorption line quasars (BAL QSOs) belong to a class of objects not well-understood as yet. Their UV spectra show BALs in the blue wings of the UV resonance lines, owing to ionized gas with outflow velocities up to 0.2 c. They can…

Obscuration in high-redshift quasi-stellar objects (QSO) has a profound impact on our understanding of the evolution of supermassive black holes across the cosmic time. An accurate quantification of its relevance is therefore mandatory. We…