Testing the blazar sequence and black hole mass scaling with BL Lac objects

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AbstractJets from accreting black holes appear remarkably similar over eight orders of magnitude in black hole mass, with more massive black holes generally launching more powerful jets. For example, there is an observed correlation, termed the fundamental plane of black hole accretion, between black hole mass, radio luminosity, and X-ray luminosity. Here, we probe the high-mass tail (108–109M⊙) of the accreting black hole distribution with BL Lac objects. We build SEDs for hundreds of SDSS BL Lacs, and we use these SEDs to test the blazar sequence, a proposed anti-correlation between jet power and peak frequency. We then show our BL Lacs fit on the fundamental plane, supporting the non-linear scaling of jet radiation with black hole mass. The subset of BL Lacs considered here compose the largest sample yet used in the above types of studies, reducing potential selection effects and biases.