Synchrotron Emission from Shock Waves in Active Galactic Nuclei

The origin of the sharp near infrared cutoff in the continuous energy distribution of many compact non-thermal sources (BL Lacs, OVVs, red quasars and certain jets) is considered under the assumption that particle acceleration takes place in shocks. This model predicts a highest frequency v* of electron synchrotron emission which depends principally on the shock velocity and the ratio a of photon to magnetic energy density in the acceleration region. For near relativistic flows and reasonable values of a a spectral cutoff is predicted in the range 3 1014 < v < 2 1015 Hz. The model thus leads to 1) near relativistic flows, 2) a gradual steepening of optical continuum spectra as one follows a jet outwards, 3) a correlation between spectral hardening and luminosity, 4) a correlation between optical spectrum and X-ray emission, 5) a possible synchrotron contribution to the X-ray emission in Quasars from secondary particles, and 6) the production of very high energy particles such as observed in cosmic rays, of up to ~1012 GeV.

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