Gamma-Ray Studies of Blazars: Synchro-Compton Analysis of Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars

TL;DR

This paper develops an advanced model for blazar jet emissions, incorporating external Compton processes to accurately predict gamma-ray spectra across different regimes, aiding interpretation of observational data.

Contribution

It extends synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton models to include external Compton scattering with anisotropic radiation fields, improving spectral predictions for blazar jets.

Findings

Accurate gamma-ray spectra derived for various external photon sources.

Broadband spectral energy distributions modeled from radio to gamma-ray.

Inclusion of gamma-gamma absorption effects in spectral calculations.

Abstract

We extend a method for modeling synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton radiations in blazar jets to include external Compton processes. The basic model assumption is that the blazar radio through soft X-ray flux is nonthermal synchrotron radiation emitted by isotropically-distributed electrons in the randomly directed magnetic field of outflowing relativistic blazar jet plasma. Thus the electron distribution is given by the synchrotron spectrum, depending only on the Doppler factor $\delta_{\rm D}$ and mean magnetic field $B$, given that the comoving emission region size scale $R_b^\prime \lesssim c \dD t_v/(1+z)$, where $t_v$ is variability time and $z$ is source redshift. Generalizing the approach of Georganopoulos, Kirk, and Mastichiadis (2001) to arbitrary anisotropic target radiation fields, we use the electron spectrum implied by the synchrotron component to derive accurate Compton-scattered $\gamma$-ray spectra throughout the Thomson and Klein-Nishina regimes for external Compton scattering processes. We derive and calculate accurate $\gamma$-ray spectra produced by relativistic electrons that Compton-scatter (i) a point source of radiation located radially behind the jet, (ii) photons from a thermal Shakura-Sunyaev accretion disk and (iii) target photons from the central source scattered by a spherically-symmetric shell of broad line region (BLR) gas. Calculations of broadband spectral energy distributions from the radio through $\gamma$-ray regimes are presented, which include self-consistent $\gamma\gamma$ absorption on the same radiation fields that provide target photons for Compton scattering. Application of this baseline flat spectrum radio/$\gamma$-ray quasar model is considered in view of data from $\gamma$-ray telescopes and contemporaneous multi-wavelength campaigns.