Abstract
Contributors to the previous chapters describe an impressive body of research carried out over the past 50 years. One can argue that there is now considerable evidence supporting the hypothesis that the quasar phenomenon is driven by accretion onto a supermassive object. Hard X-ray emission may be the most direct signature of that accretion process and perhaps the only universal property shared by all types of AGN. This possibility brings us closer to an operational definition of the quasar phenomenon and therefore may answer the question posed in the Introduction.
Contributions by Jack W. Sulentic, Paola Marziani, and Mauro D’Onofrio
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Notes
- 1.
ESA—Space Science News: Raging storms sweep away galactic gas, May 9, 2011.
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Sulentic, J.W., Marziani, P., D’Onofrio, M. (2012). Fifty Years of Quasars: Current Impressions and Future Perspectives. In: D'Onofrio, M., Marziani, P., Sulentic, J. (eds) Fifty Years of Quasars. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 386. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27564-7_9
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