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Changing-look active galactic nuclei (CL AGN) are objects that exhibit dramatic spectral and flux changes within a timescale of years or decades. In this paper, we study a sample of AGN located at z ≤ 0.0200 in the 105-month Swift-BAT catalogue to identify CL AGN within the volume using their hard X-ray lightcurves. Among the 174 AGN (Seyfert 1 & 2) within the sample, we find that 27 i.e., (15.51 ± 0.03) %, show statistically significant flux changes suggesting that they are candidates for CL AGN. We then investigate the possible factors that could cause the changes seen in these AGN, based on the pattern of their X-ray lightcurves, and past studies. We find for one object, tidal disruption event is likely the cause. For three other candidates, patchy torus distribution could be the factor, which is in contradiction with the AGN unified model as this model suggests that AGN has a smooth and uniform distribution of torus. However, more data especially multiwavelength data are required in order to confirm all of these CL AGN candidates are indeed CL AGN, and in order to study the variation factors in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper treats Schwarzschild spaces as a model for gravity features. We study a wrapped product of metrics of Schwarzschild spaces. The paper demonstrates that there are two substantial components and coeffcients can be calculated basing on the physical considerations. We treated a phenomenon of gravitational distortion of beams, moving from periphery of the Universe to the terrestrial observer. The centers of active galactic nuclei (AGN) were selected as point sources of such quanta. The galaxies were selected as distant as possible due to the limitations on the registered distance. We defined the spatial properties of the quanta trajectories depending on the distribution of galaxies along the way of the beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KLYPVE-EUSO (K-EUSO) is a planned orbital detector of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), which is to be deployed on board the International Space Station. K-EUSO is expected to have a uniform exposure over the celestial sphere and register from 120 to 500 UHECRs at energies above 57 EeV in a 2-year mission. We employed the TransportCR and CRPropa 3 packages to estimate prospects of testing a minimal single source class model for extragalactic cosmic rays and neutrinos by Kachelrieß, Kalashev, Ostapchenko and Semikoz (2017) with K-EUSO in terms of the large-scale anisotropy. Nearby active galactic nuclei Centaurus A, M82, NGC 253, M87 and Fornax A were considered as possible sources of UHECRs. We demonstrate that an observation of more than 200 events will allow testing predictions of the model with a high confidence level providing the fraction of events arriving from any of the sources is ^10-15%, with a smaller contribution for larger samples. These numbers agree with theoretical expectations of a possible contribution of a single source in the UHECR flux. Thus, K-EUSO can provide good opportunities for verifying the minimal model basing on an analysis of the large-scale anisotropy of arrival directions of UHECRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study particle acceleration and magnetic field amplification in the termination shocks (hotspots) of radiogalaxy jets. The cut-off of the synchrotron spectrum in the hotspots of powerful radiogalaxies is typically observed between infrared and optical frequencies, indicating that the maximum energy of non-thermal electrons accelerated at the jet termination shock is about 1 TeV for a canonical magnetic field of 100 μG. Based on theoretical considerations and observational data we show that the maximum energy of electrons cannot be constrained by synchrotron losses as usually assumed, unless the jet density is unreasonable large and most of the jet kinetic energy goes to non-thermal electrons. The maximum energy is ultimately determined by the ability to scatter particles back and forth the shock, and this limit applies to both electrons and protons. Therefore, the maximum energy of protons is also about 1 TeV when radiative cooling is not efficient. We show that non-resonant hybrid (Bell) instabilities generated by the streaming of cosmic rays can grow fast enough to amplify the jet magnetic field up to 100 μG and accelerate particles up to the maximum energies observed in the hotspots of radiogalaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The High Energy cosmic-Radiation Detection (HERD) facility will be one of the space astronomy payloads on board the future Chinese space station. The ambitious aim of HERD is the direct detection of cosmic rays towards the "knee" region (~ 1 PeV), with a detector able to measure electrons, photons and nuclei with an excellent energy resolution (1% for electrons and photons at 200 GeV and 20% for nuclei at 100 GeV - PeV), an acceptance 10 times the one of present generation missions (~ 1 m2 sr), and long life-time (> 10 years). The primary objectives of HERD are the indirect search for dark matter particles and the precise measurement of energy distribution and composition of cosmic rays from 30 GeV up to a few PeV, determining the origin of the "knee" structure of the spectrum. Furthermore, HERD will monitor the high energy gamma-ray sky from 500 MeV, observing gamma-ray bursts, active galactic nuclei, galactic microquasars, etc. HERD will be composed of a homogeneous calorimeter, surrounded by a particle tracker and a plastic scintillator detector. Two possible trackers are under study: a 5-side tracker made of silicon strip detectors and a 4-side scintillating fiber tracker with a silicon strip top tracker. The total volume of HERD will be (2.3 × 2.3 × 2.6) m3 with a weight of about 4 t. The HERD design, perspectives, expected performances in terms of energy sensitivity and acceptance will be presented in this contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EAS arrays are survey instruments able to monitor continuously all the overhead sky. Their sensitivity in the sub-TeV/TeV energy domain cannot compete with that of Cherenkov telescopes, but the wide field of view (about 2 sr) is ideal to complement directional detectors by performing unbiased sky surveys, by monitoring variable or flaring sources such as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and to discover transients or explosive events (GRBs). Arrays are well suited to study extended sources, such as the Galactic diffuse emission, and to measure the spectra of Galactic sources at the highest energies (near or beyond 100 TeV). An EAS array is able to detect at the same time events induced by photons and charged cosmic rays, thus studying the connection between these two messengers of the non-thermal Universe. Therefore, these detectors are, by definition, multi-messenger instruments. All EAS arrays presently in operation or under installation are located in the Northern hemisphere. The scientific potential of a next-generation survey instrument in the Southern Hemisphere will be presented and briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data obtained by the γ-ray imager on board of the AGILE satellite, we systematically searched for transient γ-ray sources above 100 MeV in temporal and spatial coincidence with high-energy neutrino IceCube events. We found some significant γ-ray transients possibly associated with HESE neutrinos recently detected by the IceCube experiment. In this talk, we review the AGILE results and we will show that the probability of this association to be by chance is very low. One of the sources detected by AGILE is related to the blazar AGN TXS 0506+056. For the other sources, there are no obvious known counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray emission in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) arises from material located in the close vicinity of the supermassive black hole (SMBH). Thus, they are being used as unique laboratories to directly test the effects of general relativity dominating in these regions. In particular, the detection of a strong relativistic reflection component, in X-ray spectra, is potentially the most powerful method to measure SMBH spins. In this paper, we present an attempt to test the reliability of reflection-based SMBH spin measurements that can be currently achieved. This test is achieved through blind-fitting a set of simulated high-quality XMM-Newton and NuSTAR spectra, considering the most generic configuration of an AGN. Our main results show that at the high signal-to-noise ratio assumed in our simulations, neither the complexity of the spectra, nor the input value of the spin are the major drivers of our results. The height of the X-ray source instead plays a crucial role in recovering the spin. In particular, a high success rate in recovering the spin values is found among the accurate fits for a dimensionless spin parameter larger than 0.8 and a lamppost height lower than five gravitational radii. We discuss the implications of our results and how some of the limitations faced in spin determination can be overcome. We focus on the possible impact of ATHENA in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform an observational test of the hypothesis that ultra-high energy cosmic rays (E > 1020 eV) are accelerated in giant flares of active galactic nuclei (AGN). We use the observations of Fermi LAT during the first 7.4 years of the mission. We select highly variable AGNs with the redshift z ≤ 0.3 and use an empirical relation between the bolometric luminosity and the jet kinetic power in order to find the local kinetic emissivity of strong AGN flares: 𝓛 ~ 1.1 × 1045erg Mpc-3 yr-1. This is approximately one order of magnitude larger than the UHECR emissivity estimated from the data of Pierre Auger and Telescope Array observatories which makes the whole scenarion feasible provided the acceleration spectrum is sufficiently hard and/or narrow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have reconsidered the simultaneous optical R-band and near-Infrared J-band light curves of the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) PKS 0537-441 during the period from January 2011 to May 2015. The unevenly discrete time series have been analyzed with the an auto-regressive model of the 1st order (AR1 model). The periodogram indicates no reliable and significant quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) exists in this campaign, and the primary spectral peaks are not relevant to the previous work considering the low significance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are considered as potential extragalactic sources of very and ultra high energy cosmic rays. According to theoretical predictions cosmic ray acceleration can take place at the shock created by the expanding cocoons around active galactic nuclei as well as at AGN jets. The measurements of AGN TeV spectra, the variability time scale of TeV emission can provide essential information on the dynamics of AGN jets, the localization of acceleration region and an estimation of its size. SHALON observations yielded data on extragalactic sources of different AGN types in the energy range of 800 GeV-100 TeV. The data from SHALON observations are compared with those from other experiments at high and very high energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Perseus cluster of galaxies with the central galaxy NGC 1275 is ideally suitable for studying both the physics of relativistic jets from Active Galactic Nuclei and for revealing the feedback role of the central galaxy. We present the results of fifteen-year-long observations of the AGN NGC 1275 at energies 800 GeV-40 TeV discovered by the SHALON telescope in 1996. The data obtained at very high energies by SHALON, namely the images of the galaxy and its surroundings, and the flux variability indicate that TeV γ -ray emission is produced by a number of processes: in particular, part of this emission is generated by relativistic jets in the nucleus of NGC 1275 itself. Unique data on GK Per(Nova 1901) and the IC 310 radio galaxy TeV γ -ray emission were obtained with the SHALON experiment for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fraction of the magnetic luminosity (LB) produced by Kerr black holes in some active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can produce the necessary energy to accelerate ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) beyond the GZK limit, observed, e.g., by the Pierre Auger experiment. Nevertheless, the direct detection of those UHECRs has a lack of information about the direction of the source from where those cosmic rays are coming, since charged particles are deflected by the intergalactic magnetic field. This problem arises the needing of alternative methods to evaluate the luminosity of UHECRs (LCR) from a given source. Methods proposed in literature range from the observation of upper limits in gamma rays to the observation of upper limits in neutrinos produced by cascade effects during the propagation of UHECRs. In this aspect, the present work proposes a method to calculate limits of the main possible conversion fractions ηCR = LCR/LB for nine UHECR AGN Seyfert sources based on the respective observation of gamma ray upper limits from Fermi-LAT data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blazar emission models are usually divided into two big families, leptonic and hadronic, according to the particles which are responsible for the gamma-ray component of their spectral energy distributions. Even though leptonic models have been successful in explaining the gamma-ray emission from most blazars, hadronic models still present an intriguing alternative. They have the unique advantage to link the emission of photons, neutrinos, and cosmic rays from the astrophysical source. We have developed a stationary one-zone lepto-hadronic code to model the emission from blazars in both leptonic and hadronic scenarios. In this contribution we focus on hadronic modeling of a few selected TeV blazars of the BL Lac type and the radio galaxy Centaurus A detected by Cherenkov telescopes. We study in particular their associated neutrino emission, for different hadronic scenarios, and how it compares to the sensitivity of current neutrino detectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blazars are active galactic nuclei, and the most numerous High Energy (HE) and Very High Energy (VHE) γ-ray emitters. Their optical emission is often dominated by non-thermal, and, in the case of BL Lacs, featureless continuum radiation. This makes the determination of their redshift extremely difficult. Indeed, as of today only about 50% of γ-ray blazars have a measured spectroscopic redshift. The knowledge of redshift is fundamental because it allows the precise modeling of the VHE emission and also of its interaction with the extragalactic background light (EBL). The beginning of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) operations in the near future will allow the detection of several hundreds of new blazars. Using the Fermi catalogue of sources above 50 GeV (2FHL), we performed simulations which indicate that a significant fraction of the 2FHL blazars detectable by CTA will not have a measured redshift. As a matter of fact, the organization of observing campaigns to measure the redshift of these blazars has been recognized as a necessary support for the AGN Key Science Project of CTA. We are planning such an observing campaign. In order to optimize our chances of success, we will perform preliminary deep imaging observations aimed at detecting or setting upper limits to the host galaxy. We will then take spectra of the candidates with the brightest host galaxies. Taking advantage of the recent success of an X-shooter GTO observing campaign, these observations will be different with respect to previous ones due to the use of higher resolution spectrographs and of 8 meter class telescopes. We are starting to submit proposals for these observations. In this paper we briefly describe how candidates are selected and the corresponding observation program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: At the low accretion-rates typical for BL Lac-objects, magnetospheres of active galactic nuclei can develop vacuum gaps with strong electric fields accelerating charged seed particles parallel to the magnetic fields up to ultra-relativistic energies. The seed particles sustain electromagnetic cascades by inverse-Compton-scattering and subsequent pair-production in soft background-radiation-fields from the accretion-disk and/or photo-ionised clouds, along the direction of the primary particle beams. Method: The one-dimensional kinetic equation describing this linear inverse-Compton-Klein-Nishina-pair-cascade is inferred. We have developed a novel code, that can numerically solve this kinetic equation for an ample variety of input-parameters. By this, quasi-stationary particle- and photon-spectra are obtained. Application: We use the code to model the cascaded interaction of electrons, that have been accelerated in a vacuum gap in the magnetosphere of Mrk 501, with Lyman-alpha-photons. The resulting spectrum on top of a synchrotron-self-Compton-background can cause a narrow TeV-bump in the spectrum of of Mrk 501. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gamma-ray detection by Fermi-LAT from non blazar active galactic nuclei shows that these are different and potentially very interesting classes of gamma-ray emitters. This provides an alternative approach for studying high energy emission processes compared to blazars where the emission is strongly Doppler boosted. Up to now there are 32 non-blazar AGNs detected in the gamma-ray band which are included in the third catalog of AGNs detected by Fermi LAT. We will present a detailed investigation of the gamma-ray emission from non-blazar AGNs based on seven years of Fermi LAT data. The accumulation of a larger data set allows detailed temporal analysis in short and long time scales as well as to study the spectrum with better statistics at energies above several GeV. Also the possible origin of the observed gamma-rays will be discussed considering both compact and extended regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A gamma-ray nearly-periodic oscillation was observed from the well-known GeV/TeV BL Lac object PG 1553+113 by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). The quasi-periodicity in the gamma-ray flux (E>100 MeV and E>1 GeV), reported for the first time in an active galactic nucleus, is significant with a < 1% probability over red-noise fluctuations. The period of the gammaray modulation is 2.18 ± 0.08 observed with 3.5 oscillation maxima. It is supported by significant cross-correlated variations observed in radio and optical flux light curves. Interestingly, one of the physical scenarios that can account for such variability pattern is the presence of a supermassive black hole binary in the nucleus of PG 1553+113. The MAGIC telescopes have observed PG 1553+113 at VHE since 2005. An intense multi-wavelength (MWL) campaign started in 2015 aimed at revealing the physical scenarios that can account for such a variability pattern. The campaign will regularly monitor the source activity from radio to VHE (E>100 GeV) gamma rays and will cover the next maximum of activity, expected between the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017. The MWL data collected during this campaign, coupled with the gamma-ray ones form MAGIC, will be the key to determine the nature of the periodicity to disentangle the processes driving the periodic modulation from flaring activity typical in blazar objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cut-off region of the gamma-ray spectrum of astrophysical sources encodes important information about the acceleration processes producing the parent particle population. For bright AGNs the cut-off happens in an energy range around a few tens of GeV, a region where satellites are limited by their effective area and current ground based telescopes by energy threshold. In the attempt to maximise the statistics, we have looked at two of the brightest AGNs seen by the Fermi-LAT (3C 454.3 and 3C 279) during extremely luminous flares. Our analysis showed the difficulty to obtain good constraints on the cut-off parameters when a power-law with modified exponential cut-off was assumed to fit the SEDs. We discuss the potential of future low-threshold Cherenkov telescope arrays, in particular CTA, showing the impact that a much bigger effective area can have on the determination of spectral parameters in the cut-off region. This preliminary study serves as an example, demonstrating the importance of having good wide-energy coverage around 10 GeV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central regions of galaxies are rich environments, with abundant stars and medium inhomogeneities. For galaxies hosting active galactic nuclei, the interaction of a relativistic jet with obstacles can lead to the formation of shocks, where particles can be accelerated up to relativistic energies. In this work, we analyze the non-thermal radiation produced by electrons accelerated in these shocks. We first characterize the stellar population inside the jet. Then, we study the transport of relativistic electrons, and compute their synchrotron and inverse Compton emission. In particular, we focus our research on AGN jets aligned with the line of sight, where the observed emission is significantly enhanced by Doppler boosting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mildly relativistic, oblique shocks are generally considered to be among the most plausible sites of relativistic particle acceleration and the subsequent production of strongly variable, polarized multi-wavelength emission from relativistic jet sources such as blazars, via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). This paper summarizes recent results on a self-consistent coupling of DSA and radiation transfer in blazar jets. We demonstrate that the observed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of blazars strongly constrain the nature of hydromagnetic turbulence responsible for pitch-angle scattering by requiring a strongly energy-dependent pitch-angle mean free path. In the case of low-frequency-peaked blazars, we find that the scaling of the pitch-angle-scattering mean-free-path, λpas sometimes needs to be as strong as λpas ∝ p³, where p is particle momentum. The prominent soft X-ray excess in the SED of the BL Lac object AO 0235+164 can be modelled as the signature of bulk Compton scattering of external radiation fields by the thermal electron population, which places additional constraints on the level of hydromagnetic turbulence. A prediction of this interpretation is that the soft X-ray emission in this soft excess is expected to be highly polarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 2012, the peculiar TeV emitting active galactic nucleus of IC 310 showed an impressively bright gammaray flare on variability time scales of minutes. The shock-in-jet model fails to explain the photon flux flickering and the hard energy spectrum, if the source has a viewing angle of 10-20 degrees as radio observations suggest. Preferably, a magnetospheric model for the acceleration of particles and gamma-ray emission is proposed. An extensive multi-wavelength campaign in November 2012 until January 2013 was conducted including instruments from the radio up to the very-high-energy range. Here, we present the status of the results of this campaign and an interpretation consistent with an afterglow from the black hole lightning, with which we associated the 2012 event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The VERITAS array of four 12-m imaging atmospheric-Cherenkov telescopes began full-scale operations in 2007, and is one of the worlds most sensitive detectors of astrophysical very high energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma rays. Observations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are a major focus of the VERITAS Collaboration, and more than 60 AGN, primarily blazars, are known to emit VHE photons. Approximately 4000 hours have been devoted to the VERITAS AGN observation program, resulting in 34 detections. Most of these detections are accompanied by contemporaneous, broadband observations, enabling a more detailed study of the underlying jet-powered processes. Recent highlights of the VERITAS AGN observation program are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent cosmological simulations of galaxy formation have demonstrated that feedback by star formation, supernovae and active galactic nuclei appears to be critical in obtaining realistic disk galaxies, to slow down star formation to the small observed rates, to move gas and metals out of galaxies, and to balance radiative cooling of low-entropy gas at the centers of galaxy clusters. However the particular physical processes underlying these feedback processes still remain elusive. In particular, these simulations neglected cosmic rays (CRs) and magnetic fields, which provide a comparable pressure support in comparison to turbulence in our Galaxy, and are known to couple dynamically and thermally to the gas. We will present our recent efforts to model CR physics in the cosmological simulation code AREPO and demonstrate that CRs matter on all scales relevant for galaxy formation. Presenting global simulations of galaxy formation that couple CRs to the magneto-hydrodynamics, we show how CRs can launch powerful galactic winds, which reduces the available amount of gas for star formation. In particular, we highlight the importance of the γ-ray window in understanding the properties of galactic winds and discuss the non-thermal radio and γ-ray emission of Milky-Way like galaxies with bubble-shaped outflows. On scales of galaxy clusters, we show that cosmic-ray heating can balance radiative cooling of the low-entropy gas at the centers of galaxy clusters and helps in mitigating the star formation of the brightest cluster galaxies. Combining low-frequency radio and γ-ray emission of M87, the closest active galaxy interacting with the cooling cluster plasma, enable us to put forward a comprehensive, physics-based model of feedback by active galactic nuclei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-blazar Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) have emerged as a new γ-ray emitting source class on the extragalactic sky and started to deepen our understanding of the physical processes and the nature of AGN in general. The detection of Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies in the Fermi-LAT energy regime, for example, offers important information for our understanding of jet formation and radio-loudness. Radio galaxies, on the other hand, have become particularly interesting at high (HE) and very high (VHE) gamma-ray energies. With their jets not directly pointing towards us (i.e. "misaligned"), they offer a unique tool to probe into the nature of the fundamental (and often "hidden") physical processes in AGN. This review highlights and discusses some of the observational and theoretical progress achieved in the gamma-ray regime during recent years, including the evidence for unexpected spectral hardening in Centaurus A and extreme short-term variability as seen in IC 310 and M87. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on research into the process by which astrophysical jets emitted from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are formed. It states that it is believed astrophysical jets require magnetized accreting plasma and a rotating black hole and suggests plasma embedded in a black hole's magnetic field could sometimes be considered a collection of non-linear strings, or flux tubes. It comments on the use of simulations to show the formation of collimated bubble-structured relativistic jets.

While only a fraction of Active Galactic Nuclei are observed to host a powerful relativistic jet, a cohesive picture is emerging that radio-loud AGN may represent an important phase in the evolution of galaxies and the growth of the central super-massive black hole. I will review my own recent observational work in radio-loud AGN unification in the context of understanding how and why jets form and their the connection to different kinds of accretion and growing the black hole, along with a brief discussion of possible connections to recent modeling work in jet formation. Starting from the significant observational advances in our understanding of jetted AGN as a population over the last decade thanks to new, more sensitive instruments such as Fermi and Swift as well as all-sky surveys at all frequencies, I will lay out the case for a dichotomy in the jetted AGN population connected to accretion mode onto the black hole. In recent work, we have identified two sub-populations of radio-loud AGN which appear to be distinguished by jet structure, where low-efficiency accreting systems produce 'weak' jets which decelerate more rapidly than the 'strong' jets of black holes accreting near the Eddington limit. The two classes are comprised of: (1)The weak jet sources, corresponding to the less collimated, edge-darkened FR Is, with a decelerating or spine-sheath jet with velocity gradients, and (2) The strong jet sources, having fast, collimated jets, and typically displaying strong emission lines. The dichotomy in the vp-Lp plane can be understood as a "broken power sequence" in which jets exist on one branch or the other based on the particular accretion mode (Georganopolous 2011).We suggest that the intrinsic kinetic power (as measured by low-frequency, isotropic radio emission), the orientation, and the accretion rate of the SMBH system are the the fundamental axes needed for unification of radio-loud AGN by studying a well-characterized sample of several hundred Fermi-detected jets. Finally, we present very recent findings that the most powerful strong jets produce gamma-rays by external Compton rather than SSC emission, placing the origin of the IC emission in these strong jets at a radius inside the BLR and/or molecular torus (Meyer 2012). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution, we summarize our main results of a big campaign of global VLBI observations of the AGN in M81 (M81*) phase-referenced to the radio supernova SN 1993J. Thanks to the precise multi-epoch and multi-frequency astrometry, we have determined the normalized core-shift of the relativistic jet of M81* and estimated both the magnetic field and the particle density at the jet base. We have also found evidence of jet precession in M81* coming from the systematic time evolution of the jet orientation correlated with changes in the overall flux density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe new implementations of leptonic and hadronic models for the broadband emission from relativistic jets in AGN in a temporary steady state. The new model implementations are used to fit snap-shot spectral energy distributions of a representative set of Fermi-LAT detected blazars from the first LAT AGN catalogue. We find that the leptonic model is capable of producing acceptable fits to the SEDs of almost all blazars with reasonable parameters close to equipartition between the magnetic field and the relativistic electron population. If charge neutrality in leptonic models is provided by cold protons, our fits indicate that the kinetic energy carried by the jet should be dominated by protons. We also find satisfactory representations of the snapshot SEDs of most blazars in our sample with the hadronic model presented here. All of our hadronic model fits require powers in relativistic protons in the range 1047 - 1049 erg/s. As a potential way to distinguish between the leptonic and hadronic high-energy emission models considered here, we suggest diagnostics based on the predicted X-ray and γ-ray polarization, which are drastically different for the two types of models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some active galactic nuclei are supposed to harbor binary systems of supermassive black holes. They are an attractive target for gravitational wave experiments. The identification of these systems is mostly based on the detection of periodic features in their light curves. Such identifications, however, are far from being conclusive. In this work we study the perturbations in the emission spectrum of the accretion disk of the primary black hole caused by the orbital motion of the secondary. Then we proceed to determine the kind of spectral energy distributions expected at gamma-ray energies from the inverse Compton up-scattering of disk photons by relativistic electrons in a jet. Gamma-ray observations with instruments such as the future Cherenkov Telescope Array may contribute to a definitive identification of supermassive binary black hole systems at high-energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mapping the relativistic jets emanating from AGN requires the use of a deconvolution algorithm to account for the effects of missing baseline spacings. The CLEAN algorithm is the most commonly used algorithm in VLBI imaging today and is suitable for imaging polarisation data. The Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) is presented as an alternative with some advantages over the CLEAN algorithm, including better spatial resolution and a more rigorous and unbiased approach to deconvolution. We have developed a MEM code suitable for deconvolving VLBI polarisation data. Monte Carlo simulations investigating the performance of CLEAN and the MEM code on a variety of source types are being carried out. Real polarisation (VLBA) data taken at multiple wavelengths have also been deconvolved using MEM, and several of the resulting polarisation and Faraday rotation maps are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We started two observing programs with the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) monitoring changes in the flux density and polarization of relativistic jets in gamma-ray bright AGNs simultaneously at 22, 43, 86, 129 GHz. One is a single-dish weekly-observing program in dual polarization with KVN 21-m diameter radio telescopes beginning in 2011 May. The other is a VLBI monthly-observing program with the three-element VLBI network at an angular resolution range of 1.0-9.2 mas beginning in 2012 December. The monitoring observations aim to study correlation of variability in gamma-ray with that in radio flux density and polarization of relativistic jets when they flare up. These observations enable us to study the origin of the gamma-ray flares of AGNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to high resolution radio observations it is possible to obtain a direct imaging of the innermost regions of Active Galactic Nuclei; in particular, it is possible to investigate about the jet's morphology and any proper motions, and the time evolution of physical parameters, such as flux densities and spectral index. Furthermore, with the study of the polarization properties, it is possible to obtain important information about the magnetic field structure and the emission mechanisms. In this work we present recent results about the nearby (z=0.031) TeV blazar Mrk 421. We analyzed data obtained with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), both in total and polarized intensity, at twelve epochs (one observation per month from January to December 2011) at 15, 24 and 43 GHz, in the context of a broadband campaign from the radio to gamma-ray. We investigate the inner jet structure on parsec scale through the study of model-fit components for each epoch. At these frequencies the source shows a compact (about 0.13 mas, or 0.08 pc) and bright component, with a one sided jet detected out to about 10 mas. All model-fit components in the jet appear to be almost stationary during our observation period, and the spectral index is fairly flat in the core region and steepens along the jet's length. In particular, we present a preliminary study of the polarization properties for the 15 GHz dataset: we found a degree of polarization of ~ 1 % for the core region and for the C3 component, at near 1 mas from the core, we found a value of near 14%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present multi wavelength parsec-scale Faraday rotation measure properties of twenty active galactic nuclei, observed with the Very Long Baseline Array simultaneously at 1.4, 1.6, 2.2, 2.4, 4.6, 5.0, 8.1, 8.4 and 15.4 GHz in the full polarization mode. For the observed sources we construct Faraday rotation measure and Faraday-corrected linear polarization maps. Direction of electrical field in the optically thick core regions confirms bimodal distribution. No significant changes of a Faraday rotation measure transverse to the jet direction are found in any of the observed sources. We propose a new magnetic field spatial geometry reconstruction method based on core shift measurements. This technique is applied to the quasar 1004+141. Results indicate an existence of a large scale poloidal magnetic field in the jet of 1004+141. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faraday Rotation measurements are a very important tool for investigating the magnetic (B) fields associated with the relativistic jets of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN); for example, a toroidal or helical B field component should give rise to a systematic gradient in the observed Faraday rotation across the jet. However, real observed radio images have finite resolution. Typical beam sizes for cm-wavelength Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations are often comparable to or larger than the observed jet widths, raising questions about how well resolved a jet must be in the transverse direction in order to reliably detect transverse Faraday-rotation structure. The results of new simulations of Faraday rotation images designed to directly investigate this question are presented, together with studies of the probabilities of observing spurious Faraday Rotation gradients as a result of random noise and finite resolution. These simulations clearly demonstrate the possibility of detecting transverse Faraday-rotation structures even when the observed intrinsic jet widths are considerably smaller than the beam width. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rotation measures (RMs) have proven to be an excellent tool to study magnetic field structures in AGNs. Here we study RM properties on kiloparsec scales of the M87 jet via stacked multi wavelength polarized VLA observations. Our results show for the first time an indication of the RM gradient transverse to the jet in knot A, and possibly knot C and HST-1. Motivated by the shape of the RM in knots A and B, we discuss that part of it may be a filamentary structure of higher RM due to an external Faraday screen, although we consider this unlikely The data presented here can be easily explained by a helical magnetic field. By combining this result together with polarization direction plus the shape and degree of the fractional polarization across the jet, we can fairly conclude the presence of systematically wrapped, possibly helical, magnetic fields tightly wounded in knots A and C, in agreement with an MHD quad shock model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout most of the history of radio interferometry studies of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) using VLBI, attempts to extract physically meaningful information from VLBI observations have been dominated by visibility-based approaches to analysis, such as model fitting of the self-calibrated visibility data. This approach has been extremely valuable in multi-epoch studies of superluminal motion, for example; however, as polarization-sensitive and multi-frequency studies of the parsec-scale jets of AGN have become more common, it has often proven difficult to unambiguously relate features observed in total intensity and polarization, or at multiple frequencies. This has necessitated the development of new image-based analysis techniques, as well as studies aimed at improving our understanding of the uncertainties in quantities derived from images. These new techniques have provided a wide range of key information about the relativisitic jets of AGN on parsec scales, including measurements of typical magnetic-field strengths in the VLBI core components and information about the three-dimensional magnetic-field structures of the jets. These properties of the jets are, in turn, intrinsically related to fundamental questions such as the formation, launching and collimation of the jet structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the variability of polarized AGN jet emission in the radio band is crucial for understanding the dynamics of moving shocks as well as the structure of the underlying magnetic field. The 100-m Effelsberg Telescope is a high-quality instrument for studying the long-term variability of both total and polarized intensity as well as the electric-vector position angle. Since 2007, the F-GAMMA program has been monitoring the linear polarized emission of roughly 60 blazars at 11 frequencies between 2.7 and 43 GHz. Here, we describe the calibration of the polarimetric data at 5 and 10 GHz and the resulting F-GAMMA full-Stokes light curves for the exemplary case of the radio galaxy 3C 111. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a new Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to deconvolve light curves of blazars into individual flares, including proper estimation of the fit errors. We use the method to fit 15 GHz light curves obtained within the OVRO 40-m blazar monitoring program where a large number of AGN have been monitored since 2008 in support of the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope mission. The time scales obtained from the fitted models are used to calculate the variability brightness temperature of the sources. Additionally, we have calculated brightness temperatures of a sample of these objects using Very Long Baseline Array data from the MOJAVE survey. Combining these two data sets enables us to study the intrinsic brightness temperature distribution in these blazars at 15 GHz. Our preliminary results indicate that the mean intrinsic brightness temperature in a sample of 14 sources is near the equipartition brightness temperature of ~ 1011K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain a better understanding of the location and mechanisms for the production of the gamma-ray emission in jets of AGN we present a detailed study of the HST-1 structure, 0.8 arcsec downstream the jet of M87, previously identified as a possible candidate for TeV emission. HST-1 shows a very peculiar structure with superluminal as well as possible stationary sub-components, and appears to be located in the transition from a parabolic to a conical jet shape, presumably leading to the formation of a recollimation shock. This scenario is supported by our new RHD simulations in which the interaction of a moving component with a recollimation shock leads to the appearance of a new superluminal component. To discern whether HST-1 is produced by a recollimation shock or some other MHD instability, we present new polarimetric 2.2 and 5 GHz VLBA, as well as 15, 22 and 43 GHz JVLA observations obtained between November 2012 and March 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the parsec-scale kinematics and statistical polarization properties of 200 AGN jets based on 15 GHz VLBA data obtained between 1994 Aug 31 and 2011 May 1. Nearly all of the 60 most heavily observed jets show significant changes in their innermost position angle over a 12 to 16 year interval, ranging from 10° to 150° on the sky, corresponding to intrinsic variations of ~ 0.5° to ~ 2°. The BL Lac jets show smaller variations than quasars. Roughly half of the heavily observed jets show systematic position angle trends with time, and 20 show indications of oscillatory behavior. The time spans of the data sets are too short compared to the fitted periods (5 to 12 y), however, to reliably establish periodicity. The rapid changes and large jumps in position angle seen in many cases suggest that the superluminal AGN jet features occupy only a portion of the entire jet cross section, and may be energized portions of thin instability structures within the jet. We have derived vector proper motions for 887 moving features in 200 jets having at least five VLBA epochs. For 557 well-sampled features, there are sufficient data to additionally study possible accelerations. The moving features are generally non-ballistic, with 70% of the well-sampled features showing either significant accelerations or non-radial motions. Inward motions are rare (2% of all features), are slow (< 0.1 mas per y), are more prevalent in BL Lac jets, and are typically found within 1 mas of the unresolved core feature. There is a general trend of increasing apparent speed with distance down the jet for both radio galaxies and BL Lac objects. In most jets, the speeds of the features cluster around a characteristic value, yet there is a considerable dispersion in the distribution. Orientation variations within the jet cannot fully account for the dispersion, implying that the features have a range of Lorentz factor and/or pattern speed. Very slow pattern speed features are rare, comprising only 4% of the sample, and are more prevalent in radio galaxy and BL Lac jets. We confirm a previously reported upper envelope to the distribution of speed versus beamed luminosity for moving jet features. Below 1026 W Hz-1 there is a fall-off in maximum speed with decreasing 15 GHz radio luminosity. A preliminary analysis of the multi-epoch jet polarization properties indicates a wide range of behavior in the core electric vector position angles over time, with the latter remaining relatively stable in some jets, and varying rapidly in others. The fractional polarization level generally increases down the jet, and high-synchrotron peaked (HSP) blazars tend to have lower core fractional polarization levels. A general trend of decreasing maximum jet speed for higher synchrotron peaked blazars further suggests lower Doppler factors in the radio-emitting jets of HSP BL Lac objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature there is now a wealth of images of AGN in both linear and circular polarization at milliarcsecond resolution of many sources at multiple epochs and wavelengths. This review is a broad overview of our current state of knowledge of the polarization properties of AGN jets, and of what we can infer about the structure of their magnetic fields and the distribution of Faraday rotating material, and also what is premature to infer. We suggest that while many of the observations of transverse rotation measure gradients may be correct, they have in general been observed with neither enough resolution nor sensitivity to be incontrovertible. Fortunately, this could be remedied using the new broad-band receivers on the VLBA. We also argue that while a transverse rotation measure gradient is a strong indicator of a toroidal component of magnetic field, it does not necessarily imply a helical magnetic field. In jets where the dominant field component appears to be parallel to the jet, it more likely consists of sheared loops or compressed random fields that are not vector ordered. Finally, we draw attention to the power of imaging in all four Stokes parameters at multiple frequencies to constrain the three-dimensional magnetic field structure and the particle content of jets and measure fundamental physical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the interaction of early-type stars with the jets of active galactic nuclei. A bow-shock will form as a consequence of the interaction of the jet with the winds of stars and particles can be accelerated up to relativistic energies in these shocks. We compute the non-thermal radiation produced by relativistic electrons from radio to gamma-rays. This radiation may be significant, and its detection might yield information on the properties of the stellar population in the galaxy nucleus, as well as on the relativistic jet. This emission is expected to be relevant for nearby non-blazar sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to the Fermi γ-ray satellite, it is now confirmed that Misaligned Active Galactic Nuclei (MAGN), i.e. radio galaxies and steep spectrum radio quasars, are a new class of GeV emitters. In this work we present the first γ-ray and multiwavelength study of the two steep spectrum radio quasars, i.e. 3C 207 and 3C 380, belonging to the MAGN sample. From the γ-ray variability study we estimate the physical size of the zone where high-energy photons are dissipated: for both sources this region should be very compact, not larger than 0.05 pc. As a successive step, we build multiwavelength light curves of 3C 207 and 3C 380 to search for possible simultaneous outbursts in different wavebands with the aim of localizing the compact emitting region. This is an important issue with strong impact on theoretical models: indeed, knowing where high-energy photons are dissipated (at sub-pc or pc-scale) provides information on the nature of the seed photons involved in the production of the GeV radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the launch of the Fermi satellite only two classes of AGNs were known to produce relativistic jets and thus emit up to the γ-ray energy range: blazars and radio galaxies, both hosted in giant elliptical galaxies. The first four years of observations by the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi confirmed that these two are the most numerous classes of identified sources in the extragalactic γ-ray sky, but the discovery of γ-ray emission from 5 radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies revealed the presence of a possible emerging third class of AGNs with relativistic jets. Considering that narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies seem to be typically hosted in spiral galaxy, this finding poses intriguing questions about the nature of these objects, the onset of production of relativistic jets, and the cosmological evolution of radio-loud AGN. Here, we discuss the radio-to-γ-rays properties of the γ-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies, also in comparison with the blazar scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast majority of AGN belong to the low-luminosity class (LLAGN): they exhibit a low radiation efficiency (L≤1042 erg s-1; L /L edd ≤ 10-3) and the absence of the big blue bump in their spectrum, a signature of the accretion disk. The study of LLAGN is a complex task due to the contribution of the host galaxy, whose light outshines these faint nuclei. As a consequence, numerical models are usually compared with relatively poorly defined spectral energy distributions (SEDs). For a sample of six prototype nearby LLAGN, a multiwavelength dataset including radio, IR, optical/UV and X-ray measurements with a few tenths of arcsec resolution has been collected. These high-spatial resolution SEDs reveal that: i) the mid-IR bump, indicative of thermal emission from the torus, is missing in LLAGN; ii) the continuum emission of these nuclei is largely described by a self-absorbed synchrotron spectrum, suggesting that jet emission dominates the overall energy output in these objects. The optically thin radiation in the IR-to-UV range is produced in the jet launching region, very close to the central black hole. The very steep slope found in this component --with a spectral index in the 1-3 range-- suggests that a large number of LLAGN are powered by young and compact jets with very high radiative losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review the gamma-ray variability properties of AGN with a jet not directly pointing at the observer, i.e. Misaligned AGN. This class is mainly populated by nearby low power radio galaxies (i.e. FRIs). The high power radio sources (i.e. FRIIs) are indeed rare in the GeV sky. Our Fermi-LAT inspection of 4 years of data reveals different temporal behaviors, supporting the idea that beaming/jet structural differences could characterize the FRI-FRII jets. The case of 3C111 (FRII) and NGC6251 (FRI) are treated in detail. New insights into the location and dimension of the gamma-ray dissipation regions are provided for galaxies with different radio morphologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mkn 421 is a nearby active galactic nucleus dominated at all wavelengths by a very broad non- thermal continuum thought to arise from a relativistic jet seen at a small angle to the line of sight. Its spectral energy distribution peaks in the X-ray and TeV γ-ray bands, where the energy output is dominated by cooling of high-energy electrons in the jet. In order to study the electron distribution and its evolution, we carried out a dedicated multi-wavelength campaign, including extensive observations by the recently launched highly sensitive hard X-ray telescope NuSTAR, between December 2012 and May 2013. Here we present some initial results based on NuSTAR data from January through March 2013, as well as calibration observations conducted in 2012. Although the observations cover some of the faintest hard X-ray flux states ever observed for Mkn 421, the sensitivity is high enough to resolve intra-day spectral variability. We find that in this low state the dominant flux variations are smooth on timescales of hours, with typical intra-hour variations of ≲ 5%. We do not find evidence for either a cutoff in the hard X-ray spectrum, or a rise towards a high-energy component, but rather that at low flux the spectrum assumes a power law shape with a photon index of approximately 3. The spectrum is found to harden with increasing brightness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]