Document Type
Article
Publication Title
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Abstract
The distance of a Fermi-detected blazar γ-ray emission site from a supermassive black hole is a matter of active debate. Here we present a method for testing if the GeV emission of powerful blazars is produced within the subparsec-scale broad-line region (BLR) or farther out in the parsec-scale molecular torus (MT) environment If the GeV emission takes place within the BLR, the inverse Compton (IC) scattering of the BLR ultraviolet (UV) seed photons that produces the γ-rays takes place at the onset of the Klein–Nishina regime. This causes the electron cooling time to become practically energy-independent and the variation of the γ-ray emission to be almost achromatic. If, on the other hand, the γ-ray emission is produced farther out in the parsec-scale MT, the IC scattering of the infrared (IR) MT seed photons that produces the γ-rays takes place in the Thomson regime, resulting in energy-dependent electron cooling times, manifested as faster cooling times for higher Fermi energies. We demonstrate these characteristics and discuss the applicability and limitations of our method.
DOI
10.1088/2041-8205/758/1/L15
Publication Date
10-10-2012
Recommended Citation
Dotson, Amanda; Georganopoulos, Markos; Kazanas, Demosthenes; and Perlman, Eric S., "A Method For Localizing Energy Dissipation In Blazars Using Fermi Variability" (2012). Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications. 205.
https://repository.fit.edu/apss_faculty/205