MODELING OF NON-HBL VHE γ-RAY BLAZARS

Abstract

This is a summary of recent modeling results of three newly detected TeV blazars of the intermediate BL Lac object (IBL) and flat-spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) sub-classes: W Comae, 3C 66A, and 3C 279. For model fits to the spectral energy distributions of W Comae and 3C 66A, a non-negligible contribution from a source of soft radiation external to the jets of these blazars is strongly preferred over pure synchrotron-self-Compton or synchrotron-proton-blazar models, respectively. This indicates that IBLs are truly intermediate between the "classical" TeV blazars (high-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects) and FSRQs. The VHE γ-ray detection of the FSRQ 3C 279 poses severe challenges for leptonic models, and seems to favor a hadronic origin of the high-energy emission. However, even a hadronic model suffers from problems with extreme energy requirements.