Effects of Redshift on the Classifying Criteria of BL Lacertae Objects

We have collected a sample of 70 BL Lacs （33 radio-selected BL Lacs and 37 X-ray selected BL Lacs） with multi-waveband data for investigating the classifying criteria of BL Lacertae Objects. For each source, we estimate its luminosities in radio, optical and X-ray, the broad-band spectral index from radio to X-ray and the peak frequency of the synchrotron emission, and make a statistical analysis of the data obtained. Our main results are as follows： （1） The broad-band spectral index and the peak frequency have no correlation with the redshift, while they are inversely correlated with each other and they could be regarded as equivalent classifying criteria of BL Lac objects. （2） There are significant effects of the luminosity/redshift relation on the observed luminosity distribution in our sample, hence, if the radio luminosity is to be used as a classifying criterion of BL Lac objects, it should not be regarded as equivalent to the broad-band spectral index or the peak frequency. （3） Our resuits supply a specific piece of evidence for the suggestion that the use of luminosities always introduces a redshift bias to the data and show that the location of the peak frequency is not always linked to the luminosity of any wave band.

Estimates of AGN Black Hole Mass and Minimum Variability Timescale

Black hole mass is one of the fundamental physical parameters of active galactic nuclei （AGNs）, for which many methods of estimation have been proposed. One set of methods assumes that the broad-line region （BLR） is gravitationally bound by the central black hole potential, so the black hole mass can be estimated from the orbital radius and the Doppler velocity. Another set of methods assumes the observed variability timescale is determined by the orbital timescale near the innermost stable orbit around the Schwarzschild black hole or the Kerr black hole, or by the characteristic timescale of the accretion disk. We collect a sample of 21 AGNs, for which the minimum variability timescales have been obtained and their black hole masses （Mσ） have been well estimated from the stellar velocity dispersion or the BLR size-luminosity relation. Using the minimum variability timescales we estimated the black hole masses for 21 objects by the three different methods, the results are denoted by Ms, Mk and Md,respectively. We compared each of them with Mσ individually and found that： （1） using the minimum variability timescale with the Kerr black hole theory leads to small differences between Mσ and Mk, none exceeding one order of magnitude, and the mean difference between them is about 0.53 dex; （2） using the minimum variability timescale with the Schwarzschild black hole theory leads to somewhat larger difference between Mσ and Ms： larger than one order of magnitude for 6 of the 21 sources, and the mean difference is 0.74 dex; （3） using the minimum variability timescale with the accretion disk theory leads to much larger differences between Mσ and Md, for 13 of the 21 sources the differences are larger than two orders of magnitude; and the mean difference is as high as about 2.01 dex.

A Periodicity Analysis of the Light Curve of 3C 454.3

We analyzed the radio light curves of 3C 454.3 at frequencies 22 and 37 GHz taken from the database of Metsaeovi Radio Observatory, and found evidence of quasi-periodic activity. The light curves show great activity with very complicated non-sinusoidal variations. Two possible periods, a very weak one of 1.57 ± 0.12 yr and a very strong one of 6.15 ±0.50 yr were consistently identified by two methods, the Jurkevich method and power specmun estimation. The period of 6.15 ± 0.50 yr is consistent with results previously reported by Ciaramella et al. and Webb et al. Applying the binary black hole model to the central structure we found black hole masses of 1.53 × 10^9M⊙ and 1.86 × 10^8M⊙, and predicted that the next radio outburst is to take place in 2006 March and April.

The spectral properties of Fermi blazars:the spectral sequence and unification of blazars

Using a large sample of blazars of the Fermi observations presented by Abdo et al., we constructed a sample of blazars including high energy peaked BL Lac objects （HBLs）, low energy peaked BL Lac objects （LBLs） and flat-spectral ra- dio quasars （FSRQs）. These unique characteristics make it possible to unambiguously address the question of how HBLs, LBLs and FSRQs are related. In this paper, we investigated the relationship between X-ray and 7-ray spectral indices （~^-aT）, as well as the relationship between the broadband spectral indices （~ro--ar~, ~ro--~ox, OZro--O^x7 and ~r^-~xT） for this sample. The color-color diagram shows that there is a significant correlation between both quantities when all three subclasses of blazars are considered, which suggests that there is a unified scheme for blazars. On the other hand, the a^-~7 diagram reveals that three kinds of blazars have different spectral energy distributions： the trend of HBLs is different from that of FSRQs and LBLs, whereas FSRQs and LBLs have a similar trend, which hints that FSRQs and LBLs have similar spectral properties, but HBLs have distinct spectral properties. In addi- tion, the broadband energy distributions also reveal the similar spectral properties with that of the Cx-C7 diagram. The spectral properties revealed from the Fermi sample do not support the blazar sequence reported by Fossati et al. and Ghisellini et al.