Blazar Emission

Recent works by the researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics on blazars have provided insights into the processes happening close to black holes.

Active Galactic Nucleus

AGN or active galactic nucleus is the region at the centre of galaxies that that has above average luminosity that is not produced by the stars. The luminosity is produced from the accretion of matter by a supermassive black hole at the galactic centre. A galaxy with an active galactic nucleus is called an active galaxy.

Blazar

Blazar is a type of active galactic nucleus that emits a ‘relativistic jet’- jets of ionised particles that are aligned with the observer’s line of sight. Such jets are produced only by a minority of AGNs (about 15%). Some blazars are believed to possess binary black holes. Hence they are targets for gravitational wave research.

Emissions from Blazar

The jet emitted from the blazar consists of radiation from across the electromagnetic spectrum. They are noted for emission of high energy gamma radiations. A key focus of research in astrophysics is determining the site of gamma ray production. The recent studies by IIA aims to locate the emission site and also to understand the emission process.