BL Lacertae objects and the extragalactic γ-ray background

A tight correlation between γ-ray and radio emission is found for a sample of BL Lacertae （BL Lac） objects detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope （Fermi） and the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope （EGRET）. The γ-ray emission of BL Lac objects exhibits strong variability, and the detection rate of γ-ray BL Lac objects is low, which may be related to the γ-ray duty cycle of BL Lac objects. We estimate the γ-ray duty cycle, δγ ≌ 0.11, for BL Lac objects detected by EGRET and Fermi. Using the empirical relation of γ-ray emission with radio emission and the estimated γ-ray duty cycle δγ, we derive the γ-ray luminosity function （LF） of BL Lac objects from their radio LE Our derived γ-ray LF of BL Lac objects can almost reproduce that calculated with the recently released Fermi bright active galactic nuclei （AGN） sample. Comparison of the derived LF of the γ-ray BL Lac objects in this work with that derived by Abdo et al. （2009a） requires the γ-ray duty cycle of BL Lac objects to be almost luminosity-independent. We find that - 45% of the extragalactic diffuse γ-ray background （EGRB） is contributed by BL Lac objects. Combining the estimate of the quasar contribution to the EGRB in the previous work, we find that 77% of the EGRB is contributed by BL Lac objects and radio quasars.

The debeamed luminosity, sychrotron peak frequency and black hole mass of BL Lac objects

We estimate the intrinsic luminosities and synchrotron peak frequencies using the derived Doppler factor for a sample of 170 BL Lac objects, of which the synchrotron peak frequency is derived by fitting the SED constructed with the collected multi-band data from the literature. We find that the debeamed radio and optical core luminosities follow the same correlation found for FR I radio galaxies, which is in support of the unification of the BL Lac objects and the FR I galaxies based on orientation. For the debeamed luminosity at the synchrotron peak frequency, we find a significant positive correlation between the luminosity and intrinsic synchrotron peak frequency. This implies that the more powerful sources may have the majority of jet emission at higher frequency. At the synchrotron peak frequency, the intrinsic luminosity and black hole mass show strong positive correlation, while mild correlation is found in the case of jet power, indicating that the more powerful sources may have more massive black holes.

Optical identification of radio-loud active galactic nuclei in the ROSAT-Green-Bank sample with SDSS spectroscopy

Results of extended and refined optical identification of 181 radio/X-ray sources in the RASS-Green Bank （RGB） catalog are presented （Brinkmann et al. 1997） which have been spectroscopically observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey （SDSS） DR5. The SDSS spectra of the optical counterparts are modeled in a careful and selfconsistent way by incorporating the host galaxy＇s starlight. Optical emission line parameters are presented, which are derived accurately and reliably, along with the radio 1.4- 5 GHz spectral indices estimated using （non-simultaneous） archival data. For 72 sources, the identifications are presented for the first time. It is confirmed that the majority of strong radio/X-ray emitters are radio-loud active galactic nuclei （AGNs）, particularly blazars. Taking advantage of the high spectral quality and resolution and our refined spectral modeling, we are able to disentangle narrow line radio galaxies （NLRGs）, as vaguely termed in most previous identification work, into Seyfert II galaxies and LINERs （low-ionization nuclear emission regions）, based on the standard emission line diagnostics. The NLRGs in the RGB sample, mostly belonging to ＇weak line radio galaxies＇, are found to have optical spectra consistent predominantly with LINERs, and only a small fraction with Seyfert II galaxies. A small number of LINERs have radio power as high as 10623 - 10^26 W Hz^- 1 at 5 GHz, being among the strongest radio emitting LINERs known so far. Two sources are identified with radio-loud narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies （NLS 1 s）, a class of rare objects. The presence is also confirmed of flat-spectrum radio quasars whose radio-optical-X-ray effective spectral indices are similar to those of High-energy peaked BL Lacs （HBLs）, as suggested by Padovani et al., although it is still a debate as to whether this is the case for their actual spectral energy distributions.

The broadband spectral energy distributions of SDSS blazars

We compiled the radio, optical and X-ray data of blazars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database, and presented the distribution of luminosities and broadband spectral indices. The distribution of luminosities shows that the averaged luminosity of flat spectrum radio quasars（FSRQs） is larger than that of BL Lacertae（BL Lac） objects. On the other hand, the broadband spectral energy distribution reveals that FSRQs and low energy peaked BL Lac objects have similar spectral properties,but high energy peaked BL Lac objects have a distinct spectral property. This may be due to the fact that different subclasses of blazars have different intrinsic environments and are at different cooling levels. Even so, a unified scheme is also revealed from the color-color diagram, which hints that there are similar physical processes operating in all objects under a range of intrinsic physical conditions or beaming parameters.

Optical quasi-periodic oscillation and color behavior of blazar PKS 2155–304

PKS 2155-304 is a well studied BL Lac object in the southern sky. The historical optical data during different periods have been collected and compiled. Light curves spanning 35 yr have been constructed. The R-band light curve has been ana- lyzed by means of three methods： the epoch folding method, the Jurkevich method and the discrete correlation function method. It is derived that there is an evident periodic component of 317 d （i.e. 0.87 yr） superposed on a long-term trend with large- amplitude variation in the light curve. The variability of this source is accompanied by a slight color variation, and the brightness and color index are correlated with each other. On a long-term time scale, PKS 2155-304 exhibits a tendency of bluer-when- brighter, which means the spectrum becomes flatter when the source brightens.

The gamma-ray Doppler factor determinations for a Fermi blazar sample

Observations suggest that γ-ray loud blazars are strongly beamed. The Fermi mission has detected many of blazars, which provide us with a good opportunity to investigate the emission mechanism and the beaming effect in the γ-ray region. We compiled the X-ray observations for 138 Fermi blazars （54 flat spectrum radio quasars, 36 low-peaked BL Lacertae objects, and 48 high-peaked BL Lacertae objects） and calculated their Doppler factors, δγ. It is interesting that the calculated Doppler factors, δγ, are strongly correlated with the γ-ray luminosity.

SDSS spectroscopy for blazars in the Fermi LAT bright AGN sample

We have collected all available spectra and photometric data from the SDSS catalog for bright AGNs complied from the first three months of the Fermi large area telescope all-sky survey. Based on the 106 high-confidence and 11 low-confidence associated bright AGN list, the photometry data are collected from SDSS DR7 for 28 sources （12 BL Lacs and 16 FSRQs）, two of which are low-confidence associated bright AGNs. Among these 28 SDSS photometric sources, SDSS spectra are available for 20 sources （6 BL Lacs and 14 FSRQs）. The black hole masses MBH and the broad line region （BLR） luminosity were obtained for 14 FSRQs by measuring the line-widths and strengths of broad emission lines from the SDSS spectra. The broad emission line measurements of five FSRQs are presented for the first time in this work. The optical continuum emission of these 14 FSRQs is found to be likely dominated by the non-thermal jet emission by comparing the relationship between the broad Mg II line and continuum luminosity to that of radio-quiet AGNs. The black hole mass of the 14 FSRQs ranges from 10^8.2 M⊙ to 10^9.9 M⊙, with most of the sources larger than 10^9 M⊙. The Eddington ratio Lbol/LEdd ranges from 10-1＇5 to - 1. This implies that an optically thin, geometrically thick accretion disk may exist in these FSRQs.

Does black hole spin play a key role in the FSRQ/BL Lac dichotomy?

Blazars are characterized by large intensity and spectral variations across the electromagnetic spectrum It is believed that jets emerging from them are almost aligned with the line-of-sight. The major- ity of identified extragalactic sources in γ-ray catalogs of EGRET and Fermi are blazars. Observationally, blazars can be divided into two classes： fiat spectrum radio quasars （FSRQs） and BL Lacs. BL Lacs usually exhibit lower γ-ray luminosity and harder power law spectra at γ-ray energies than FSRQs. We attempt to explain the high energy properties of FSRQs and BL Lacs from Fermi γ-ray space telescope observations. It was argued previously that the difference in accretion rates is mainly responsible for the large mismatch in observed luminosity in ＂7-ray. However, when intrinsic luminosities are derived by correcting for beaming effects, this difference in 7-ray luminosity between the two classes is significantly reduced. In order to ex- plain this difference in intrinsic luminosities, we propose that spin plays an important role in the luminosity distribution dichotomy of BL Lacs and FSRQs. As the outflow power of a blazar increases with increasing spin of a central black hole, we suggest that the spin plays a crucial role in making BL Lac sources low luminous and slow rotators compared to FSRQ sources.

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.

The connection between radio and γ-ray emission in Fermi/LAT blazars

We collect the second Large Area Telescope AGN catalog （2LAC） and Monitor of Jets in AGN with VLBA Equipment （MOJAVE） quasi-simultaneous data to investigate the radio-γ connection of blazars. The cross sample contains 166 sources. The statistical analysis based on this sample confirms positive correlations between these two bands, but the correlations become weaker as the γ-ray energy increases. The statistical results between various parameters show negative correla- tions of γ-ray photon spectral index with γ-ray loudness for both Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars （FSRQs） and BL Lacertae objects, positive correlations of γ-ray variability index with the γ-ray loudness for FSRQs, a negative correlation of the γ-ray variabil- ity index with the γ-ray photon spectral index for FSRQs, and negative correlations of γ-ray photon spectral index with γ-ray luminosity for FSRQs. These results suggest that the γ-ray variability may be due to changes inside the γ-ray emission region like the injected power, rather than changes in the photon density of the external radiation fields, and the variability amplitude tends to be larger as the γ-rays are closer to the high energy peak of the spectral energy distribution （SED）. No correlation of variabil- ity index found for BL Lacertae objects implies that variability behavior may differ below and above the peak energy.

The beaming effect and γ-ray emission for Fermi blazars

We study the γ-ray luminosity and beaming effect for Fermi blazars.Our results are as follows.（i） There are significant correlations between γ-ray luminosity and radio core luminosity,and between γ-ray luminosity and R_v,which suggests that the γ-ray emissions have a strong beaming effect,（ⅱ） Using the L_（ext）/M_（abs） as an indicator of environment effects,we find that there is no significant correlation betweenγ-ray luminosity and L_（ext）/M_（abs） for all sources when we remove the effect of redshift.Flat spectrum radio quasars considered alone also do not show a significant correlation,but BL Lacertae objects（BL Lacs） still show a significant correlation when we remove the effect of redshift.These results suggest that the γ-ray emission may be affected by the environment on a kiloparsec scale for BL Lacs.

The core dominance parameter and Fermi detection of extragalactic radio sources

By cross-correlating an archive sample of 542 extragalactic radio sources with the Fermi-LAT Third Source Catalog （3FGL）, we have compiled a sample of 80 γ-ray sources and 462 non-Fermi sources with available core dominance parameter （RcD）, and core and extended radio luminosity; all the parameters are directly measured or derived from available data in the literature. We found that RCD has significant correlations with radio core luminosity, γ-ray luminosity and γ-ray flux; the Fermi sources have on average higher RCD than non-Fermi sources. These results indicate that the Fermi sources should be more compact, and the beaming effect should play a crucial role in the detection of γ-ray emission. Moreover, our results also show Fermi sources have systematically larger radio flux than non-Fermi sources at fixed ReD, indicating larger intrinsic radio flux in Fermi sources. These results show a strong connection between radio and γ-ray flux for the present sample and indicate that the non-Fermi sources are likely due to the low beaming effect, and/or the low intrinsic γ-ray flux. This supports a scenario that has been published in the literature： a co-spatial origin of the activity for the radio and γ-ray emission, suggesting that the origin of the seed photons for the high-energy γ-ray emission is within the jet.

Evolution of optical spectral index and variability properties of S5 0716+714

We analyze the spectral variability and spectral evolution in the optical en- ergy region by using multiband （BVRI） optical observations of S5 0716＋714 spanning 1994 to 2005. The spectrum hardens when the source becomes brighter, which is con- sistent with general BL Lac objects. The spectral evolution parameter implies that the spectral variability is small in optical bands over 10 years. A simple model represent- ing the variability of a synchrotron component can explain the spectral changes. In addition, we employ the z-transformed discrete correlation function （ZDCF） to ana- lyze the optical multiband flux correlation. The long-term light curve behavior reveals that the variability time scales are 3.5 yr in the B-band, 3.3 yr in the V-band, 3.4 yr in the R-band and 3.5 yr in the/-band. The time lags between any two optical bands were not found when considering statistical errors.