Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

Spectral Studies of flaring FSRQs at GeV energies using Pass 8 Fermi-LAT data

Richard Britto
Soebur Razzaque and Benoit Lott, on behalf of the Fermi-LAT Collaboration

Abstract:

Flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) are bright active galactic nuclei surrounded by gas clouds within a UV-visible intense radiation field that form the so-called broad line region (BLR). These objects emit relativistic jets from a region close to the central supermassive black hole and through the BLR. The Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) is sensitive to gamma-ray photons from ~30 MeV to more than 300 GeV. We are performing spectral analysis of bright FSRQs in a 5.5 year data sample of Fermi-LAT data (2008-2014), using the new Pass 8 event selection and instrument response function. Also, the study of flaring episodes in a limited time range brings interesting comparative studies with respect to the 5.5 year data samples.