Multiple inverse Compton scatterings and the blazar sequence

Abstract

The high frequency component in blazars is thought to be due to inverse Compton scattered radiation. Recent observations by Fermi-LAT are used to evaluate the details of the scattering process. A comparison is made between the usually assumed single scattering scenario and one in which multiple scatterings are energetically important. In the latter case, most of the radiation is emitted in the Klein-Nishina limit. It is argued that several of the observed correlations defining the blazar sequence are most easily understood in a multiple scattering scenario. Observations indicate also that, in such a scenario, the blazar sequence is primarily governed by the energy density of relativistic electrons rather than that of the seed photons. The pronounced X-ray minimum in the spectral energy distribution often observed in the most luminous blazars is discussed. It is shown how this feature can be accounted for in a multiple scattering scenario by an extension of standard one-zone models.

Accepted to ApJ, 18 pages, 1 figure

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• The Spectral Energy Distribution of Fermi bright blazars
• The First Catalog of Active Galactic Nuclei Detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Bright AGN Source List from the First Three Months of the Fermi Large Area Telescope All-Sky Survey
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Cited by in corpus (3)

• The Second Catalog of Active Galactic Nuclei Detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Contemporaneous VLBA 5 GHz Observations of LAT-Detected Blazars
• Multiple synchrotron self-Compton modeling of gamma-ray flares in 3C 279