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Promotionskolloquium |
Ms. Efthalia Traianou
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MPI für Radioastronomie
Blazars are the most luminous sub-class of active galactic nuclei (AGN).
Powered by an accreting supermassive black hole (SMBH), these systems
are characterized by an axisymmetric pair of powerful relativistic jets
that emanate from their central region and are closely aligned to our
line of sight. Thanks to this geometrical coincidence, blazars
constitute a unique case of astrophysical objects in which we can study
the extreme physical conditions associated with the jet launching region
and the strong magnetic fields in the vicinity of the central engine. To
date, a number of open questions are related to those objects. In this
thesis, the origin of the high-energy emission and the seed photon
field, the true nature of the observed jet base, and the jet
phenomenology are investigated. For this purpose, we employ a
state-of-the-art observational technique called Very-Long-Baseline
Interferometry (VLBI). Simultaneous radio observations at 86 GHz using
the largest radio antennas in the world, as well as complementary
observations of ground array elements with the space radio telescope
RadioAstron, give us the unique opportunity to focus on three case
studies: the blazars TXS 2013+370, OJ 287 and 3C 454.3. [Referees:
Prof. Dr. Anton Zensus, Prof. Dr. Andreas Eckart, Prof. Dr. Carsten
Münker, Dr. Steffen Rost]