Modeling the Spectral Energy Distributions and Spectropolarimetry of Blazars -- Application to 4C+01.02 in 2016-2017

Abstract

The optical radiation emitted by blazars contains contributions from synchrotron radiation by relativistic electrons in the jets, as well as thermal radiation emitted mainly by the Accretion Disk (AD), the Broad Line Region (BLR) and the host galaxy. The unpolarized radiation components from the AD, BLR and host galaxy present themselves by decreasing the total polarization in the optical/ultraviolet(UV) spectrum. A combined model for the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) and degree of optical/UV polarization is constructed, enabling the disentanglement of the synchrotron and AD components. Our model is applied to the multi-wavelength SED and spectropolarimetry observations of the Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar 4C+01.02 ($z=2.1$) in its 2016 July-August flaring state and July-August 2017 quiescent state, using data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope, the Southern African Large Telescope and the Las Cumbres Observatory network of telescopes. By constraining the AD component, the mass of the super massive black hole is obtained as $3\times 10^9{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$. Furthermore, the model retrieves the characteristics of the relativistic electron distribution in the jet and the degree of ordering of the magnetic field. Our results highlight the potential of spectropolarimetry observations for disentangling thermal from non-thermal (jet) emission components and thus revealing the physics of particle acceleration and high-energy emission in active galactic nuclei jets.

arXiv comment17 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

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• Multi-wavelength study of blazar 4C +01.02 during its long-term flaring activity in 2014-2017
• Optical Spectropolarimetric Variability Properties in Blazars PKS 0637-75 and PKS 1510-089
• The peculiar new state of the blazar PKS 1510-089