Understanding Blazar Jets Through Their Multifrequency Emission
arXiv:astro-ph/9912129 · doi:10.1063/1.1291340
Abstract
Being dominated by non-thermal (synchrotron and inverse Compton) emission from a relativistic jet, blazars offer important clues to the structure and radiative processes in extragalactic jets. Crucial information is provided by blazars' spectral energy distributions from radio to gamma-rays (GeV and TeV energies), their trends with bolometric luminosity, and their correlated variability properties. This review is focussed on recent multiwavelength monitorings of confirmed and candidate TeV blazars and the constraints they provide for the radiative properties of the emitting particles. I also present recent observations of the newly discovered class of ``blue quasars'' and the implications for current blazars' unification schemes.
invited opening talk at the GeV-TeV Astronomy International meeting held at the Snowbird resort, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 1999