Multiwavelength Properties of Blazars

Abstract

The multiwavelength spectra of blazars appear to be dominated by nonthermal emission from a relativistic jet oriented close to the line of sight. The recent detection of many blazars at gamma-ray energies strongly supports this scenario. High quality multiwavelength monitoring data for the brightest one or two blazars suggest the optical through X-ray continuum is synchrotron emission from an inhomogeneous jet. The gamma-rays are likely due to Compton scattering of lower energy photons, either from within the jet or from the surrounding gas. The physical properties of the jet and the way in which it is produced are still largely a mystery but are probably related in some way to accretion onto a central supermassive black hole. There is little direct observational evidence for accretion disks in blazars, although there is evidence for winds which might emanate from disks.

12 pages, 6 figures, latex file with encapsulated postscript. Invited review presented at the 1996 COSPAR Scientific Assembly (Birmingham UK 14-21 July), in session E1.4 on The Variability of AGN and its Relation to Accretion Disk Phenomenology; paper to appear in Adv. Space Science

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