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Title: Observational signatures of gamma-rays from bright blazars and wakefield theory
ABSTRACT Gamma-ray observations have revealed strong variability in blazar luminosities in the gamma-ray band over time-scales as short as minutes. We show, for the first time, that the correlation of the spectrum with intensity is consistent with the behaviour of the luminosity variation of blazar spectral energy distributions (SEDs) along a blazar sequence for low synchrotron peak blazars. We show that the observational signatures of variability with flux are consistent with wakefield acceleration of electrons initiated by instabilities in the blazar accretion disc. This mechanism reproduces the observed time variations as short as 100 s. The wakefield mechanism also predicts a reduction of the electron spectral index with increased gamma-ray luminosity, which could be detected in higher energy observations well above the inverse Compton peak.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1915005
NSF-PAR ID:
10347847
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
493
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0035-8711
Page Range / eLocation ID:
2229 to 2237
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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