Speaker
Description
Blazars have very complex variability properties. They sometimes exhibit multi-wavelength and other times "orphan" flares in specific wavelength. Different models have been proposed to explain specific flares. In this paper, we propose a unified model to explain different blazar flares in the same framework naturally. We consider a model in which the emission of a blazar consists of two components during the flare period. One arises from a strong dissipation zone that may occur randomly along the jet. This component is responsible for the sudden enhancement of the blazar's flux. The other is a quasi-stable component, which results from the superposition of numerous but comparatively weak dissipation zones, which constitute background emission or the low state emission of the blazar. The spectral feature of a flare depends on the position where the strong dissipation occurs. Generally speaking, if the strong dissipation occurs at a small/large distance from the SMBH, the inverse Compton/synchrotron radiation dominates and an orphan $\gamma$-ray/optical flare tends to appear. On the other hand, we may expect a multiwavelength flare if the dissipation occurs at a moderate distance. The model can be successfully applied to reproduce the spectral energy distribution of different flares from the flat spectrum radio quasar 3C 279 and the BL Lac object PKS 2155-304, respectively.
Keywords
blazar; orphan flare; leptonic model
| Subcategory | Theoretical Results |
|---|---|
| Collaboration | other (fill field below) |
| other Collaboration | Nanjing University |
