Synchrotron Self-Compton Model for PKS 2155-304

Abstract

H.E.S.S. observed TeV blazar PKS 2155--304 in a strong flare state in 2006 July. The TeV flux varied on timescale as short as a few minutes, which sets strong constraints on the properties of the emission region. By use of the synchrotron self-Compton model, we found that models with the bulk Lorentz factor $\sim 100$, the size of the emission region $\sim 10^{15}$ cm, and magnetic field $\sim 0.1$ G explain the observed spectral energy distribution and the flare timescale $\sim$ a few minutes. This model with a large value of $\Gamma$ accounts for the emission spectrum not only in the TeV band but also in the X-ray band. The major cooling process of electrons/positrons in the jet is inverse Compton scattering off synchrotron photons. The energy content of the jet is highly dominated by particle kinetic energy over magnetic energy.

9 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 682

References in corpus (4)

• Implications of very rapid TeV variability in blazars
• Synoptic studies of seventeen blazars detected in very high-energy gamma-rays
• X-ray/UV/Optical follow-up of the blazar PKS 2155-304 after the giant TeV flares of July 2006
• On the Origin of Rapid Flares in TeV Blazars

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Hints of the existence of Axion-Like-Particles from the gamma-ray spectra of cosmological sources