Thesis Topic: Multi-wavelength studies of blazar

Thesis Supervisors: Paolo Padovani

Abstract

Blazars are a class of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) distinguished by thefact that their non-thermal, strongly anisotropic emission is believed tobe coming from material moving at relativistic speed pointing in ourdirection. Once considered rare sources, blazars are now being detected inincreasingly large numbers at mm and gamma-ray energies by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe(WMAP), the Planck, andFermi satellites. Faint blazars arealso being detected as serendipitous sources in SWIFT-XRT(X-ray) images and the recentlyreleased WISE(near-IR) data promise to be extremely interesting for blazar studies aswell.

Studies of blazars allow astronomers to touch upon a variety of topics,including the disk - jet relationship in AGN, jet physics, AGN feedback,radio source evolution, etc. In partnership with Paolo Giommi, who'sdirector of the ASI Science Data Center (ASDC) located at ESRIN, inFrascati, Italy, and is heavily involved with the SWIFT, Planck, and Fermimissions, I am proposing a range of thesis topics, including:


  • blazar survey WISE-based (the largest blazar sample ever):
    • efficiency optimization
    • optical identifications
    • spectral energy distribution (SED) characterization
    • sample building and cleaning
    • astrophysical results (e.g., number counts, luminosity functions, evolution, thermal/non-thermal ratio)
  • blazar contribution to the hard X-ray/gamma-ray/micro-wave backgrounds:
    • blazar SED characterization: how different types contribute in the hard X-ray and gamma-ray bands
    • Planck sources and the micro-wave background
  • extreme high synchrotron peaked BL Lacs and TeV source candidates: sourceselection with large synchrotron peak frequencies based on WISE data
  • unified schemes at low fluxes/powers: blazar/radio-galaxy transition
  • AGN/host galaxy relationship


    • All of the above are truly multi-wavelength studies, which will use radio,WMAP, Planck, Sloan, XMM, SWIFT, Rosat, Fermi, (and more) catalogues anddata. Follow-up and/or optical identification observations with ESOtelescope will also be needed. The thesis can be tailored to the student'spreference and skills.

     

     

     

     

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