Variability of Soft X—ray Spectral Shape in Blazars Observed by ROSAT

1 INTRODUCTION Blazars, including BL Lac objects, highly polarized and optically violently variable quasars,and flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), are characterized by highly variable non-thermalemission which dominates their characteristics from radio to y-ray bands. The mechanismbelieved to be responsible for their broadband emission is synchrotron radiation followed by in-verse Compton (IC) scattering at higher energies (e.g. Blandford & Konigl 1979). Relativisticbeaming of a jet…

Variability of Soft X-ray Spectral Shape in Blazars Observed by ROSAT

In previous paper we have shown that the soft X-ray spectra of two types of Seyfert 1 galaxies behave statistically differently with increasing intensity. In order to see how the spectrum of blazars changes, we made plots of Hardness Ratio 1 versus Count Rates (HR1-Cts) for 18 blazars observed by ROSAT/PSPC. According to our criteria, ten showed a positive HR1-Cts correlation, two a negative correlation, and the remaining six, no clear correlation. Thus,most blazars of our sample show a hardening spectrum during overall flux increase, though some vary randomly. By investigating the photon index of these objects and different radiation theories, we argue that relative dominance between the synchrotron and inverse Compton emission in the soft X-ray band can well account for the differing spectral behaviours and that the different spectral variations might represent a sequence of synchrotron peaked frequency.