MeV blazars are a sub-population of the blazar family, exhibiting larger-than-average jet powers, accretion luminosities, and black hole masses. Because of their extremely hard X-ray continua, these objects are best studied in the X-ray domain. Here, we report on the discovery by the Fermi Large Area Telescope and subsequent followup observations with NuSTAR, Swift, and GROND of a new member of the MeV blazar family: PMN J0641 −0320. Our optical spectroscopy provides confirmation that this is a flat-spectrum radio quasar located at a redshift of z = 1.196. Its very hard NuSTAR spectrum (power-law photon index of ∼1 up to ∼80 keV) indicates that the emission is produced via inverse Compton scattering off of photons coming from outside the jet. The overall spectral energy distribution of PMN J0641−0320 is typical of powerful blazars and, using a simple onezone leptonic emission model, we infer that the emission region is located either inside the broad line region or within the dusty torus.
NuSTAR, Swift, and GROND Observations of the Flaring MeV Blazar PMN J064-0320
MASSARO, Francesco;
2016-01-01
Abstract
MeV blazars are a sub-population of the blazar family, exhibiting larger-than-average jet powers, accretion luminosities, and black hole masses. Because of their extremely hard X-ray continua, these objects are best studied in the X-ray domain. Here, we report on the discovery by the Fermi Large Area Telescope and subsequent followup observations with NuSTAR, Swift, and GROND of a new member of the MeV blazar family: PMN J0641 −0320. Our optical spectroscopy provides confirmation that this is a flat-spectrum radio quasar located at a redshift of z = 1.196. Its very hard NuSTAR spectrum (power-law photon index of ∼1 up to ∼80 keV) indicates that the emission is produced via inverse Compton scattering off of photons coming from outside the jet. The overall spectral energy distribution of PMN J0641−0320 is typical of powerful blazars and, using a simple onezone leptonic emission model, we infer that the emission region is located either inside the broad line region or within the dusty torus.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.