Related papers: BL Lac Objects and Blazars: Past, Present, and Fut…
The relativistic jets produced by some Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) are among the most efficient persistent sources of non-thermal radiation and represent an ideal laboratory for studying high-energy interactions. In particular, when the…
Blazars can be divided into two subtypes, flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and BL Lac objects, which have been distinguished phenomenologically by the strength of their optical emission lines, while their physical nature and relationship…
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…
We present the results of a comparison between different methods to estimate the power of relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei (AGN). We selected a sample of 32 objects (21 flat-spectrum radio quasars, 7 BL Lacertae Objects, 2…
Among active galactic nuclei, BL Lac objects show extreme properties that have been interpreted as the effect of relativistic beaming on the emission from a plasma jet oriented close to the line of sight. The Doppler amplification of the…
Active galactic nuclei are the most luminous persistent (non-transient, even if often variable) objects in the Universe. They are bright in the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Blazars are a special class where the jets point nearly to our…
Statistical analyses are invaluable methods used to understand intrinsic emission processes and the unification of extragalactic radio sources. In this paper, we collected radio, X-ray and {\gamma}-ray data of blazars from the Fermi-LAT and…
Astrophysical models for the high-energy emission of blazars are reviewed. Blazars ejecting relativistic radio jets at small angles to the line-of-sight are the only type of active galactic nuclei (AGN) discovered above 100 MeV. The…
The multi-wavelength spectral and temporal variability observed in blazars set tight constraints on current theoretical emission models. Here, we investigate the relativistic magnetic reconnection process as a source of blazar emission in…
Before the launch of the Fermi satellite only two classes of AGN were known to generate relativistic jets and thus emit up to the gamma-ray energy range: blazars and radio galaxies, both hosted in giant elliptical galaxies. The first two…
Our recent progress on time-dependent modeling of the multiwavelength spectra and variability of blazars with leptonic and hadronic jet models is reviewed. Special emphasis is placed on X-ray spectral variability of low-frequency peaked…
Advances in the capabilities of X-ray, gamma-ray and TeV telescopes have brought new information on the physics of relativistic jets, which are responsible for the blazar "phenomenon". In particular the broad band sensitivity of the…
Multiwavelength variability of blazars offers indirect insight into their powerful engines and on the mechanisms through which energy is propagated from the centre down the jet. The BL Lac object Mkn 421 is a TeV emitter, a bright blazar at…
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…
Most of the electromagnetic output of blazars (BL Lac objects and Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars) comes out in the gamma-ray band, making the Large Area Telescope [0.1-100 GeV] onboard the Fermi satellite and the Cherenkov telescopes crucial…
Active Galactic Nuclei can be copious extragalactic emitters of MeV-GeV-TeV gamma rays, a phenomenon linked to the presence of relativistic jets powered by a super-massive black hole in the center of the host galaxy. Most of gamma-ray…
The discovery by the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi of variable gamma-ray emission from radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies revealed the presence of a possible third class of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) with relativistic…
The current paradigm foresees that relativistic jets are launched as magnetically dominated flows, whose magnetic power is progressively converted to kinetic power of of the matter of the jet, until equipartition is reached. Therefore, at…
We present the results of a multi-frequency, time-averaged analysis of blazars included in the Candidate Gamma-ray Blazar Survey catalog. Our sample consists of 324 $\gamma$-ray detected ($\gamma$-ray loud) and 191 non $\gamma$-ray detected…
The knowledge of the physical conditions occurring in the relativistic jet of radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is important to understand the mechanisms at the basis of their multiband emission. From parsec-scale radio observations…