Locating the GeV Emission Region in the Jets of Blazars from Months-Timescale Multi-Wavelength Outbursts

TL;DR

This study develops a method to determine the location of GeV emission in blazar jets by analyzing multi-wavelength outbursts, concluding most originate beyond the broad line region at a few parsecs from the core.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel approach combining observational data and theoretical modeling to constrain the GeV emission region in blazars.

Findings

Most GeV outbursts occur beyond the broad line region.

The energy ratio of optical and GeV outbursts depends on emission region location.

Emission regions are located approximately a few parsecs from the central engine.

Abstract

It is well-known that the $\gamma$-ray emission in blazars originate in the relativistic jet pointed at the observers. However, it is not clear whether the exact location of the GeV emission is less than a pc from the central engine, such that it may receive sufficient amount of photons from the broad line region (BLR) or farther out at 1-100 pc range. The former assumption has been successfully used to model the spectral energy distribution of many blazars. However, simultaneous detection of TeV $\gamma$-rays along with GeV outbursts in some cases indicate that the emission region must be outside the BLR. In addition, GeV outbursts have sometimes been observed to be simultaneous with the passing of a disturbance through the so called "VLBI core," which is located tens of pc away from the central engine. Hence, the exact location of $\gamma$-ray emission remains ambiguous. Here we present a method we have developed to constrain the location of the emission region. We identify simultaneous months-timescale GeV and optical outbursts in the light curves spanning over 8 years of a sample of eleven blazars. Using theoretical jet emission models we show that the energy ratio of simultaneous optical and GeV outbursts is strongly dependent on the location of the emission region. Comparing the energy dissipation of the observed multi-wavelength outbursts and that of the simulated flares in our theoretical model we find that most of the above outbursts originate beyond the BLR at approximately a few pc from the central engine.