The New Surprising Behaviour of the Two 'Prototype' Blazars PKS 2155-304 and 3C 279

Journal Article · Mon Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2011 · AIP Conference Proceedings

OSTI ID:1029914

Costamante, Luigi; Aharonian, Felix; Buhler, Rolf; Khangulyan, Dmitry; Reimer, Anita; Reimer, Olaf

Recent VHE observations have unveiled a surprising behaviour in two well-known blazars at opposite sides of the blazar sequence. PKS 2155-304 have shown for the first time in an HBL a large Compton dominance, high {gamma}-ray luminosities and a cubic relation between X-ray and VHE fluxes. 3C 279 is the first FSRQ detected at VHE. The high luminosity required to overcome the significant absorption caused by the BLR emission cannot be easily reconciled with the historical and quasi-simultaneous SED properties. Both cases shed a new light on the structure and ambient fields of blazars. Contrary to previous claims, it is also shown that 3C 279 - as any FSRQ - cannot provide robust constraints on the EBL.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1029914
• Report Number(s): SLAC-REPRINT-2011-080; APCPCS; TRN: US201123%%483
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1085, Issue 1; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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