Comptonization of Infrared Radiation from Hot Dust by Relativistic Jets in Quasars

Abstract

We demonstrate the importance of near-infrared radiation from hot dust for Compton cooling of electrons/positrons in quasar jets. In our model, we assume that the nonthermal radiation spectra observed in optically violent variable (OVV) quasars are produced by relativistic electrons/positrons accelerated in thin shells that propagate down the jet with relativistic speeds. We show that the Comp-tonization of the near-IR Ñux is likely to dominate the radiative output of OVV quasars in the energy range from tens of keV up to hundreds of MeV, where it exceeds that produced by Comptonization of the UV radiation reprocessed and rescattered in the broad emission line (BEL) region. The main reason for this lies in the fact that the jet encounters the ambient IR radiation over a relatively large distance as compared to the distance where the energy density of the BEL light peaks. In the soft to mid-energy X-ray band, the spectral component resulting from Comptonization of the near-IR radiation joins smoothly with the synchrotron self-Compton component, which may be responsible for the soft X-ray Ñux. At the highest observed c-ray energies, in the GeV range, Comptonization of broad emission lines dominates over other components.