We have conducted a detailed investigation of the broadband spectral properties of the γ-ray selected blazars of the Fermi LAT Bright AGN Sample (LBAS). By combining our accurately estimated Fermi γ-ray spectra with Swift, radio, infra-red, optical, and other hard X-ray/γ-ray data, collected within 3 months of the LBAS data taking period, we were able to assemble high-quality and quasi-simultaneous spectral energy distributions (SED) for 48 LBAS blazars. The SED of these γ-ray sources is similar to that of blazars discovered at other ABDO ET AL. Vol. 716 wavelengths, clearly showing, in the usual log ν-log ν F ν representation, the typical broadband spectral signatures normally attributed to a combination of low-energy synchrotron radiation followed by inverse Compton emission of one or more components. We have used these SED to characterize the peak intensity of both the low-and the high-energy components. The results have been used to derive empirical relationships that estimate the position of the two peaks from the broadband colors (i.e., the radio to optical, α ro , and optical to X-ray, α ox , spectral slopes) and from the γ-ray spectral index. Our data show that the synchrotron peak frequency (ν S peak) is positioned between 10 12.5 and 10 14.5 Hz in broad-lined flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and between 10 13 and 10 17 Hz in featureless BL Lacertae objects. We find that the γ-ray spectral slope is strongly correlated with the synchrotron peak energy and with the X-ray spectral index, as expected at first order in synchrotron-inverse Compton scenarios. However, simple homogeneous, one-zone, synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) models cannot explain most of our SED, especially in the case of FSRQs and low energy peaked (LBL) BL Lacs. More complex models involving external Compton radiation or multiple SSC components are required to reproduce the overall SED and the observed spectral variability. While more than 50% of known radio bright high energy peaked (HBL) BL Lacs are detected in the LBAS sample, only less than 13% of known bright FSRQs and LBL BL Lacs are included. This suggests that the latter sources, as a class, may be much fainter γ-ray emitters than LBAS blazars, and could in fact radiate close to the expectations of simple SSC models. We categorized all our sources according to a new physical classification scheme based on the generally accepted paradigm for Active Galactic Nuclei and on the results of this SED study. Since the LAT detector is more sensitive to flat spectrum γ-ray sources, the correlation between ν S peak and γ-ray spectral index strongly favors the detection of high energy peaked blazars, thus explaining the Fermi overabundance of this type of sources compared to radio and EGRET samples. This selection effect is similar to that experienced in the soft X-ray band where HBL BL Lacs are the dominant type of blazars.

Observational information on high-energy astrophysical neutrinos is being continuously collected by the IceCube observatory. However, the sources of the neutrinos are still unknown. In this study, we use radio very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) data for a complete VLBI flux density–limited sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We address the problem of the origin of astrophysical neutrinos with energies above 200 TeV in a statistical manner. It is found that AGNs positionally associated with IceCube events have typically stronger parsec-scale cores than the rest of the sample. The posttrial probability of a chance coincidence is 0.2%. We select the four strongest AGNs as highly probable associations: 3C 279, NRAO 530, PKS 1741−038, and OR 103. Moreover, we find an increase of radio emission at frequencies above 10 GHz around neutrino arrival times for several other VLBI-selected AGNs on the basis of RATAN-600 monitoring. The most pronounced example of such behavior is PKS 1502+106. We conclude that AGNs with bright Doppler-boosted jets constitute an important population of neutrino sources. High-energy neutrinos are produced in their central parsec-scale regions, probably in proton–photon interactions at or around the accretion disk. Radio-bright AGNs that are likely associated with neutrinos have very diverse γ-ray properties, suggesting that γ-rays and neutrinos may be produced in different regions of AGNs and not directly related. A small viewing angle of the jet–disk axis is, however, required to detect either of them.

We have compared the radio emission from a sample of parsec-scale AGN jets as measured by the VLBA at 15 GHz, with their associated γ-ray properties that are reported in the Fermi LAT 3-month bright source list. We find in our radio-selected sample that the γ-ray photon flux correlates well with the quasi-simultaneously measured compact radio flux density. The LAT-detected jets in our radio-selected complete sample generally have higher compact radio flux densities, and their parsec-scale cores are brighter (i.e., have higher brightness temperature) than the jets in the LAT non-detected objects. This suggests that the jets of bright γ-ray AGN have preferentially higher Doppler-boosting factors. In addition, AGN jets tend to be found in a more active radio state within several months from LAT-detection of their strong γ-ray emission. This result becomes more pronounced for confirmed γ-ray flaring sources. We identify the parsec-scale radio core as a likely location for both the γ-ray and radio flares, which appear within typical timescales of up to a few months of each other.