Six years of BeppoSAX observations of blazars: a spectral catalog

We present a spectral catalog for blazars based on the BeppoSAX archive. The sample includes 44 High-energy peaked BL Lacs (HBLs), 14 Low-energy peaked BL Lacs (LBLs), and 28 Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs). A total of 168 LECS, MECS, and PDS spectra were analyzed, corresponding to observations taken in the period 1996--2002. The 0.1--50 keV continuum of LBLs and FSRQs is generally fitted by a single power law with Galactic column density. A minority of the observations of LBLs (25%) and FSRQs (15%) is best fitted by more complex models like the broken power law or the continuously curved parabola. These latter models provide also the best description for half of the HBL spectra. Complex models are more frequently required for sources with fluxes F_{2-10 keV} > 10^-11 cm-2 s-1, corresponding to spectra with higher signal-to-noise ratio. As a result, considering sources with flux above this threshold, the percentage of spectra requiring those models increases for all the classes. We note that there is a net separation of X-ray spectral properties between HBLs on one side, and LBLs and FSRQs on the other, the distinction between LBLs and FSRQs is more blurry. This is most likely related to ambiguities in the optical classification of the two classes.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in A&

Understanding Blazar Jets Through Their Multifrequency Emission

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' spectral energy distributions from radio to gamma-rays (GeV and TeV energies), their trends with bolometric luminosity, and their correlated variability properties. This review is focussed on recent multiwavelength monitorings of confirmed and candidate TeV blazars and the constraints they provide for the radiative properties of the emitting particles. I also present recent observations of the newly discovered class of ``blue quasars'' and the implications for current blazars' unification schemes.Comment: invited opening talk at the GeV-TeV Astronomy International meeting held at the Snowbird resort, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 199

An X-ray view of WLRGs/LINERs

We present X-ray observations of nine Weak-Line Radio Galaxies (WLRGs), optically classified as confirmed or possible Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Regions (LINERs). The data were taken from the Chandra, XMM, and BeppoSax archives. The Chandra images typically show complex X-ray morphologies, with hard (2-10 keV) point sources embedded in diffuse soft (0.3-2.0 keV) emission in all cases except 1246-41 (NGC 4696), where only diffuse emission is detected on the scale of the cluster, and 0334-01 (3C 15), where only a point source is detected. The nuclear X-ray spectra are well fitted at hard energies by an absorbed powerlaw, with a wide range of photon indices, Gamma=1.5-2.7. Excess absorption over the Galactic value is detected in 6/9 sources, with column densities NH approximately 10^21-22 cm^-2. A thermal component is required at softer energies, in agreement with the results of the spatial analysis. We find that there is no correlation between the core X-ray luminosity and the radio core dominance parameter, suggesting that the bulk of the core X-ray emission is not beamed, but rather is isotropic and thus likely related to the accretion flow. In an attempt to constrain the nature of the accretion flow, we calculate the ratios of bolometric to Eddington luminosities L_bol/L_Edd, and the radiative efficiency eta based on the Bondi accretion rates. We find that L_bol/L_Edd ~10^-4 - 10^-6 and eta ~10^-2 - 10^-6 for all the objects in our sample, suggesting radiatively inefficient accretion flows.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

X-ray Variability and Emission Process of the Radio Jet in M87

We monitored the M87 jet with the ACIS-S detector on Chandra with 5 observations between 2002 Jan and 2002 Jul. Our goal was to determine the presence and degree of variability in morphology, intensity, and spectral parameters. We find strong variability of the core and HST-1, the knot lying 0.8" from the core. These observations were designed to constrain the X-ray emission process: whereas synchrotron emission would necessitate the presence of extremely high energy electrons with a halflife of a few years or less, inverse Compton emission from a relativistic jet would arise from low energy electrons with very long halflives. Currently, all indications point to a synchrotron process for the X-ray emission from the M87 jet. We give key parameters for a ``modest beaming'' synchrotron model.Comment: 4 pages with 2 embedded figures (1 in color). To be published in the proceedings of the Bologna Jet Workshop "The Physics of Relativistic Jets in the CHANDRA and XMM Era", 23-27 September 2002, Brunetti, Harris, Sambruna, and Setti, editors. 2003, New Ast. Re

The Megaparsec-Scale X-ray Jet of the BL Lac Object OJ287

We present an X-ray image of the BL Lacertae object OJ287 revealing a long jet, curved by 55 degrees and extending 20", or 90 kpc from the nucleus. This de-projects to >1 Mpc based on the viewing angle on parsec scales. Radio emission follows the general X-ray morphology but extends even farther from the nucleus. The upper limit to the isotropic radio luminosity, ~2E24 W/Hz, places the source in the Fanaroff-Riley 1 (FR 1) class, as expected for BL Lac objects. The spectral energy distribution indicates that the extended X-ray emission is from inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons. In this case, the derived magnetic field is B ~ 5 microGauss, the minimum electron energy is 7-40 m_e c^2, and the Doppler factor is delta ~ 8 in a knot 8" from the nucleus. The minimum total kinetic power of the jet is 1-2E45 erg/s. Upstream of the bend, the width of the X-ray emission in the jet is about half the projected distance from the nucleus. This implies that the highly relativistic bulk motion is not limited to an extremely thin spine, as has been proposed previously for FR 1 sources. The bending of the jet, the deceleration of the flow from parsec to kiloparsec scales, and the knotty structure can all be caused by standing shocks inclined by ~7 degrees to the jet axis. Moving shocks resulting from major changes in the flow properties can also reproduce the knotty structure, but such a model does not explain as many of the observational details.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Chandra detection of a parsec scale wind in the Broad Line Radio Galaxy 3C 382

We present unambiguous evidence for a parsec scale wind in the Broad-Line Radio Galaxy (BLRG) 3C 382, the first radio-loud AGN, with $R_{\rm L} = \log_{10}(f_{\rm 5GHz}/f_{4400})>1$, whereby an outflow has been measured with X-ray grating spectroscopy. A 118 ks Chandra grating (HETG) observation of 3C 382 has revealed the presence of several high ionization absorption lines in the soft X-ray band, from Fe, Ne, Mg and Si. The absorption lines are blue-shifted with respect to the systemic velocity of 3C 382 by -840\pm60 km/s and are resolved by Chandra with a velocity width of 340\pm70 km/s. The outflow appears to originate from a single zone of gas of column density $N_{\rm H} = 1.3 \times 10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$ and ionization parameter $\log \xi = 2.45$. From the above measurements we calculate that the outflow is observed on parsec scales, within the likely range from 10-1000 pc, i.e., consistent with an origin in the Narrow Line Region.Comment: 11 pages, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letter