Large-Scale Blazar Jets: Clues on High-Energy Emission from Low-Frequency Radio Observations

超过100个AGN喷流已经在光学和x射线波段用弧秒分辨率成像。在低功率FR I源的情况下，x射线喷射发射通常可以解释为无线电同步加速器光谱的延伸。与此相反，FR II喷流的射电、光学和x射线宽带光谱清楚地表明，其他发射过程在起作用。最初提出了微波背景光子的逆复合（IC/CMB）。这个模型需要千秒差距尺度上的体相对论运动（这很难观察到）和延伸到小于~ 100的洛伦兹因子的电子能量分布，这比像VLA这样的GHz仪器所追踪的能量范围要低。最近，对AGN喷流的高分辨率LOFAR观测的第一个结果涉及数百MHz的国际基线，发现一个类星体的无线电通量密度远低于通过外推GHz光谱估计的值，因此无法根据IC/CMB模型解释观测到的x射线结发射。在本项目中，我们将在千秒尺度上对类星体喷流的长波射电发射进行系统的LOFAR研究，并将其与短波射电、高能光学和x射线宽带光谱数据相结合，以测试IC/CMB和其他发射模型。我们将利用LOFAR-VLBI技术进一步开发和优化低和超低射频、总极化和线性极化强度的高分辨率成像技术，以测量磁场几何形状，约束射流组成和发射模型。

More than 100 AGN jets have been imaged with arcsec resolution in the optical and X-ray band. In the case of low-power FR I sources, the X-ray jet emission can generally be interpreted as an extension of the radio synchrotron spectrum. In contrast to this, the radio, optical and X-ray broadband spectra of FR II jets clearly show that other emission processes are at play. Originally, inverse-Comptonization of CMB photons (IC/CMB) was suggested. This model requires bulk relativistic motion on kiloparsec scales (which is difficult to observe) and an electron energy distribution extending down to Lorentz factors smaller than ∼100, which is lower than the energy regimes traced by GHz instruments like the VLA. Very recently, first results of high-resolution LOFAR observations of AGN jets involving international baselines at hundreds of MHz found radio flux densities in one quasar well below the values estimated by extrapolating the GHz spectra and thus falling short of explaining the observed X-ray knot emission in terms of the IC/CMB model. In this project, we will perform a systematic LOFAR study of the long-wavelength radio emission of quasar jets on kiloparsec scales and combine this with shorter-wavelength radioand higher-energy optical and X-ray broadband spectral data to test the IC/CMB and alternative emission models. We will further develop and optimize high-resolution imaging techniques at the low and ultralow radio frequencies in total and linearly-polarized intensity with LOFAR-VLBI techniques to measure magnetic-field geometries and constrain jet-composition and emission models.