Relativistic jet properties of GeV-TeV blazars and possible implications for the jet formation, composition, and cavity kinematics

Jin Zhang, Xiao Na Sun, En Wei Liang, Rui Jing Lu, Ye Lu, Shuang Nan Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We fit the spectral energy distributions of a GeV-TeV flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) sample with the leptonic model. Their γmin of the relativistic electron distributions, which significantly affect the estimate of the jet properties, are constrained, with a typical value of ∼48. Their jet power, magnetized parameter, radiation efficiency, and jet production and radiation rates per central black hole (BH) mass are derived and compared with those of BL Lacertae (BL Lac) objects. We show that the FSRQ jets may be dominated by the Poynting flux and have a high radiation efficiency, whereas the BL Lac object jets are likely dominated by particles and have a lower radiation efficiency than FSRQs. Being different from BL Lac objects, the jet powers of FSRQs are proportional to their central BH masses. The jet production and radiation rates of the FSRQs distribute in narrow ranges and are correlated with each other, whereas no similar feature is found for the BL Lac objects. We also show that the jet power is correlated with the cavity kinetic power: the magnetic field energy in the jets may provide the cavity kinetic energy of FSRQs, and the kinetic energy of cold protons in the jets may be crucial for the cavity kinetic energy of BL Lac objects. We suggest that the dominating formation mechanism of FSRQ jets may be the Blandford-Znajek process, but BL Lac object jets may be produced via the Blandford-Payne and/or Blandford-Znajek processes, depending on the structures and accretion rates of accretion disks.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume788
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Jun 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • BL Lacertae objects
  • general - radiation mechanisms
  • general -galaxies
  • jets - quasars
  • non-thermal

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