BLAZAR FLARES FROM COMPTON DRAGGED SHELLS

ABSTRACT We compute the dynamics and emission of dissipative shells that are subject to a strong Compton drag, under simplifying assumptions about the dissipation mechanism. We show that under conditions prevailing in blazars, substantial deceleration is anticipated on sub-parsec and parsec scales i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 809; no. 1; pp. 23 - 9
Main Authors Golan, Omri, Levinson, Amir
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States The American Astronomical Society 10.08.2015
Subjects
ACCELERATION
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BLACK HOLES
Blazars
Curves (geometry)
Deceleration
DIAGRAMS
Dissipation
Dynamics
Emission
Flares
FLARING
galaxies: active
GAMMA RADIATION
QUASARS
quasars: general
radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
STELLAR FLARES
Surface chemistry
VISIBLE RADIATION
X-RAY GALAXIES
X-rays: galaxies
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Summary:ABSTRACT We compute the dynamics and emission of dissipative shells that are subject to a strong Compton drag, under simplifying assumptions about the dissipation mechanism. We show that under conditions prevailing in blazars, substantial deceleration is anticipated on sub-parsec and parsec scales in cases of rapid dissipation. Such episodes may be the origin of some of the flaring activity occasionally observed in gamma-ray blazars. The shape of the light curves thereby produced reflects the geometry of the emitting surface if the deceleration is very rapid, or the dynamics of the shell if the deceleration is delayed, or initially more gradual, owing, e.g., to continuous injection of energy and momentum.
Bibliography:ApJ99054
Compact Objects
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/809/1/23