Data di Pubblicazione:
2009
Abstract:
BL Lac objects of the intermediate subclass (IBLs) are known to emit a substantial fraction of their power in the energy range 0.1-10 GeV. Detecting γ-ray emission from such sources provides therefore a direct probe of the emission mechanisms and of the underlying powerhouse. The γ-ray satellite, AGILE , detected the remarkable IBL S5 0716+714 ( z ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/icons/Entities/sime.gif] {sime} 0.3) during a high state in the period from 2007 September-October, marked by two very intense flares reaching peak fluxes of 200 × 10 –8 photons cm –2 s –1 above 100 MeV, with simultaneous optical and X-ray observations. We present here a theoretical model for the two major flares and discuss the overall energetics of the source. We conclude that 0716+714 is among the brightest BL Lac's ever detected at γ-ray energies. Because of its high power and lack of signs for ongoing accretion or surrounding gas, the source is an ideal candidate to test the maximal power extractable from a rotating supermassive black hole via the pure Blandford-Znajek (BZ) mechanism. We find that during the 2007 γ-ray flares 0716+714 approached or just exceeded the upper limit set by BZ for a black hole of mass 10 9 M ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/icons/Entities/sun.gif] {sun} .
Tipologia CRIS:
03A-Articolo su Rivista
Elenco autori:
V. Vittorini;M. Tavani;A. Paggi;A. Cavaliere;A. Bulgarelli;A. W. Chen;F. D’Ammando;I. Donnarumma;A. Giuliani;F. Longo;L. Pacciani;G. Pucella;S. Vercellone;A. Ferrari;S. Colafrancesco;P. Giommi
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