Toy model for the acceleration of blazar jets

Abstract

Context: Understanding the acceleration mechanism of astrophysical jets has been a cumbersome endeavor from both the theoretical and observational perspective. Although several breakthroughs have been achieved in recent years, on all sides, we are still missing a comprehensive model for the acceleration of astrophysical jets. Aims: In this work we attempt to construct a simple toy model that can account for several observational and theoretical results and allow us to probe different aspects of blazar jets usually inaccessible to observations. Methods: We used the toy model and Lorentz factor estimates from the literature to constrain the black hole spin and external pressure gradient distributions of blazars. Results: Our results show that (1) the model can reproduce the velocity, spin and external pressure gradient of the jet in M87 inferred independently by observations; (2) blazars host highly spinning black holes with 99% of BL Lac objects and 80% of flat spectrum radio quasars having spins a>0.6; (3) the dichotomy between BL Lac objects and Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars could be attributed to their respective accretion rates. Using the results of the proposed model, we estimated the spin and external pressure gradient for 75 blazars.

7 pages, 2 figures, published in A&A, minor text replaced to match journal

References in corpus (16)

• Fast TeV variability in blazars: jets in a jet
• Probing the Inner Jet of the Quasar PKS 1510-089 with Multi-waveband Monitoring during Strong Gamma-ray Activity
• Doppler factors, Lorentz factors and viewing angles for quasars, BL Lacertae objects and radio galaxies
• Magnetic acceleration of ultra-relativistic jets in gamma-ray burst sources
• Magnetic acceleration of relativistic AGN jets
• Kinematics of the jet in M87 on scales of 100 -- 1000 Schwarzschild radii
• Black-Hole Spin and Galactic Morphology
• Dynamics and High Energy Emission of the Flaring HST-1 Knot in the M 87 Jet
• MOJAVE XII: Acceleration and Collimation of Blazar Jets on Parsec Scales
• Three-dimensional Simulations of AGN Jets: Magnetic Kink Instability versus Conical Shocks
• F-GAMMA: Variability Doppler factors of blazars from multiwavelength monitoring
• Determination of the intrinsic velocity field in the M87 jet
• Constraint on the black-hole spin of M87 from the accretion-jet model
• What Powers the Most Relativistic Jets? II: Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars
• Reconfinement of highly magnetized jets: Implications for HST-1 in M87
• Rarefaction acceleration in magnetized gamma-ray burst jets

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Proton Synchrotron $\gamma$-rays and the Energy Crisis in Blazars
• The relationship between the radio core-dominance parameter and spectral index in different classes of extragalactic radio sources (II)
• Electron-beam interaction with emission-line clouds in blazars
• Identifying changing jets through their radio variability