Models for the Spectral Energy Distributions and Variability of Blazars

Abstract

In this review, recent progress in theoretical models for blazar emission will be summarized. The salient features of both leptonic and lepto-hadronic approaches to modeling blazar spectral energy distributions will be reviewed. I will present sample modeling results of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of different types of blazars along the blazar sequence, including Fermi high-energy gamma-ray data, using both types of models. Special emphasis will be placed on the implications of the recent very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray detections of non-traditional VHE gamma-ray blazars, including intermediate and low-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects and even flat-spectrum radio quasars. Due to the featureless optical spectra of BL Lac objects, the redshifts of several BL Lacs remain unknown. I will briefly discuss possible constraints on their redshift using spectral modeling of their SED including Fermi + ground-based VHE gamma-ray data. It will be shown that in some cases, spectral modeling with time-independent single-zone models alone is not sufficient to constrain models, as both leptonic and lepto-hadronic models are able to provide acceptable fits to the overall SED. Subsequently, recent developments of time-dependent and inhomogeneous blazar models will be discussed, including detailed numerical simulations as well as a semi-analytical approach to the time-dependent radiation signatures of shock-in-jet models.

Invited Review at "Fermi Meets Jansky", Bonn, Germany, June 21 - 23, 2010

References in corpus (1)

• Constraining blazar distances with combined Fermi and TeV data: an empirical approach

Cited by in corpus (11)

• A new hard X-ray selected sample of extreme high-energy peaked BL Lac objects and their TeV gamma-ray properties
• The Great Markarian 421 Flare of February 2010: Multiwavelength variability and correlation studies
• Testing emission models on the extreme blazar 2WHSP J073326.7+515354 detected at very high energies with the MAGIC telescopes
• Time dependent spectral modeling of Markarian 421 during a violent outburst in 2010
• Studies of active galactic nuclei with CTA
• Testing jet geometries and disk-jet coupling in the neutron star LMXB 4U 0614+091 with the internal shocks model
• Unravelling the unusually curved X-ray spectrum of RGB J0710+591 using AstroSat observations
• Inverse Compton light curves of blazars under non-linear, time-dependent synchrotron-self Compton cooling
• ALMA Band 3 polarimetric follow-up of a complete sample of faint PACO sources
• Constraining the redshifts of TeV BL Lac objects
• Active Galactic Nuclei - the Physics of Individual Sources and the Cosmic History of Formation and Evolution