Chandra Observations of the X-ray Environment of BL Lacs

Abstract

We present Chandra observations of the X-ray environment of a sample of 6 BL Lacertae objects. The improved sensitivity of the ACIS experiment allows us to separate the core X-ray emission from the contribution of diffuse emission from the host galaxy/cluster scales. Within the short (2-6 ks) ACIS exposures, we find evidence for diffuse X-ray emission in 3 sources (BL Lac, PKS 0548-322, and PKS 2005-489). The diffuse emission can be modeled with a King profile with beta~0.3-0.6, core radii rc~15-28 kpc, and 0.4-5 keV luminosities in the range 10^{41}-10^{42} erg/s. In the remaining 3 sources, one (3C 371) has a radial profile entirely consistent with an unresolved source, while two (1ES 2344+514 and 1ES 2321+419) show evidence for weak diffuse emission on kpc scales. These results support current models for radio-loud AGN unifying BL Lacs and FRI radio galaxies through the orientation of their jets. In PKS 0548-322 and PKS 2005-489, we also find evidence for diffuse emission on cluster scales, although the spatial properties of this emission are not constrained. The temperature and luminosity of the cluster gas are typical of normal clusters. Interestingly, these are the two brightest sources of the sample, suggesting a link between environment and nuclear activity.

12 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

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• Discovery of VHE gamma-rays from the BL Lac object PKS 0548-322
• The XMM-Newton view of the X-ray halo and jet of NGC 6251
• Separating the BL Lac and Cluster X-ray Emissions in Abell 689 with Chandra
• Swift XRT and UVOT deep observations of the high energy peaked BL Lac object PKS 0548-322 close to its brightest state
• The Cluster-Scale Environment of PKS 2155-304
• Far-UV Emission Properties of FR1 Radio Galaxies
• A Polarization Study of 3 Blazars using the uGMRT at ~600 MHz