On the jet properties of the gamma-ray loud active galactic nuclei

TL;DR

This study estimates jet properties of 1392 gamma-ray-loud AGNs using broadband SEDs, revealing distinctions between FSRQs and BL Lacs, and providing insights into jet power, magnetization, and energy transport mechanisms.

Contribution

It presents the largest sample analysis of gamma-ray AGN jets, deriving physical parameters and confirming the jet-launching mechanism and energy transport theories.

Findings

FSRQs and BL Lacs are well separated in gamma-ray luminosity vs photon index.

Most FSRQs have jet power exceeding accretion power, supporting the Blandford-Znajek mechanism.

A significant anticorrelation exists between jet magnetization and energy transport efficiency.

Abstract

Based on broadband spectral energy distribution (SEDs), we estimate the jet physical parameters of 1392 $\gamma$-ray-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), the largest sample so far. The (SED) jet power and magnetization parameter are derived for these AGNs. Out of these sources, the accretion disk luminosity of 232 sources and (extended) kinetic jet powers of 159 sources are compiled from archived papers. We find the following, (1) Flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and BL Lacs are well separated by $\Gamma=-0.127\log L_{\gamma}+8.18$, in $\gamma$-ray luminosity versus photon index plane with a success rate of 88.6\%. (2) Most FSRQs present a (SED) jet power larger than the accretion power, which suggests that the relativistic jet-launching mechanism is dominated by the Blandford-Znajek process. This result confirms previous findings. (3) There is asignificant anticorrelation between jet magnetization and a ratio of the (SED) jet power to the (extended) kinetic jet power, which, for the first time, provides supporting evidence for the jet energy transportation theory: a high-magnetization jet may be more easily to transport energy to a large scale than a low-magnetization jet.