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Relativistic plasmas in AGN jets

From synchrotron radiation to γ-ray emission

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Abstract

Relativistic jets of plasma are a key ingredient of many types of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Today we know that AGNs are powered by the accretion of interstellar material into the gravitational field of a Super Massive Black Hole, and that this process can release as much power as an entire galaxy the size of the Milky Way, from a region that is comparable to the Solar System in size. Depending on the properties of the central energy source, a large fraction of this power can be involved in the acceleration of magnetized plasmas at relativistic speeds, to form large-scale jets. The presence of jets affects the spectrum of AGNs through the emission of synchrotron radiation and Inverse Compton scattering of low energy photons, thus leading to a prominent non-thermal spectrum, sometimes extending from radio frequencies all the way up to γ-ray energies. Here we review some characteristic processes of radiation emission in AGN jets, which lead to the emission of photons in the radio, optical, X-ray and γ-ray bands, and we present the results of a spectroscopic campaign of optical counterparts. We discuss our observations and their connection with γ-ray properties in a scenario that traces the role of relativistic jets in different classes of AGNs, detected in both the local and the remote Universe.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia – Università di Padova, via F. Marzolo 8, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Giovanni La Mura, Giovanni Busetto, Stefano Ciroi, Piero Rafanelli, Marco Berton, Enrico Congiu, Valentina Cracco & Michele Frezzato

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  1. Giovanni La Mura
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  2. Giovanni Busetto
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Correspondence to Giovanni La Mura.

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Contribution to the Topical Issue “Physics of Ionized Gases (SPIG 2016)”, edited by Goran Poparic, Bratislav Obradovic, Dragana Maric and Aleksandar Milosavljevic

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La Mura, G., Busetto, G., Ciroi, S. et al. Relativistic plasmas in AGN jets. Eur. Phys. J. D 71, 95 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2017-70745-2

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