Progress in Multi-Wavelength and Multi-Messenger Observations of Blazars and Theoretical Challenges

Böttcher, Markus

doi:10.3390/galaxies7010020

Volume 7, Issue 1

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Progress in Multi-Wavelength and Multi-Messenger Observations of Blazars and Theoretical Challenges

Markus Böttcher

Centre for Space Research, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa

Galaxies 2019, 7(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies7010020

Received: 6 November 2018 / Revised: 7 January 2019 / Accepted: 9 January 2019 / Published: 18 January 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cosmic Plasmas and Electromagnetic Phenomena)

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Abstract

This review provides an overview of recent advances in multi-wavelength and multi-messenger observations of blazars, the current status of theoretical models for blazar emission, and prospects for future facilities. The discussion of observational results will focus on advances made possible through the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope and ground-based gamma-ray observatories (H.E.S.S., MAGIC, VERITAS), as well as the recent first evidence for a blazar being a source of IceCube neutrinos. The main focus of this review will be the discussion of our current theoretical understanding of blazar multi-wavelength and multi-messenger emission, in the spectral, time, and polarization domains. Future progress will be expected in particular through the development of the first X-ray polarimeter, IXPE, and the installation of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), both expected to become operational in the early to mid 2020s. View Full-Text

Keywords: active galaxies; blazars; multi-wavelength astronomy; muti-messenger astronomy; neutrino astrophysics; polarization

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