Internal shocks in blazar jets
arXiv:astro-ph/9906111 · doi:10.1002/1521-3994(199908)320:4/5<232::AID-ASNA232>3.0.CO;2-B
Abstract
The discovery of strong gamma-ray and hard X-ray emission and the results from various multifrequency campaigns have disclosed new aspects of the blazar phenomenology, leading to a much more robust understanding of the mechanisms underlying their emission, and offering clues for the energetics of their relativistic jets. I review these aspects, and propose that all the diversity in the blazar phenomenology depends on only one parameter. I also suggest that some of the blazar characteristics can be explained by the internal shock scenario, as proposed to explain the emission from gamma-ray bursts.
4 pages, 2 figures, invited paper at the 4th ASCA symp. Submitted to Astronomische Nachrichten. Editors: H.Inoue, T.Ohashi and T.Takahashi