Abstract
I summarize the results obtained from X-ray imaging observations of active galactic nuclei and quasars with the Einstein Observatory. The X-ray luminosities of these objects form a continuous sequence with the least active objects, Seyfert 2 galaxies, being the least luminous and the most active objects, quasars, being the most luminous.
X-rays are detected from the jets in 3C273 and M87. The entire electromagnetic spectrum of both of these jets can be interpreted as syncrotron emission from radiating particles with the higher energy particles suffering radiation losses.
For quasars there is a correlation between radio emission and X-ray emission. For a given optical luminosity the average X-ray emission of a radio loud quasar is ∿3 times higher than that of a radio quiet quasar. Allowing for the differences in X-ray luminosity between radio quiet and loud quasars, and low and high redshift quasars, we estimate that all the X-ray background can be produced by quasars brighter than mB ≈ 21.5. This means that the optical log N — log mB relation for quasars cannot be extrapolated with the same slope much beyond mB ≈ 20. Most quasars are not variable on time scales of hours.
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Henry, J.P. (1981). X-Ray Imaging Observations of Active Galactic Nuclei and Quasars. In: Giacconi, R. (eds) X-Ray Astronomy with the Einstein Satellite. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 87. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8459-2_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8459-2_15
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