The Electron Spectrum in 3C 279 and the Klein-Nishina Effects

Abstract

Blazars show rapid time variability in X-rays to gamma-rays with large amplitude. The main radiation mechanisms of blazars are thought to be synchrotron radiation and inverse Compton scattering off soft photons by relativistic nonthermal electrons in the relativistic jet. In order to obtain the emission spectrum from the jet, we solve kinetic equations of electrons and radiation simultaneously. We then show that the electron spectrum of 3C 279, one of blazars well studied with multiwavelength observations, is strongly affected by the Klein-Nishina effects and the electron spectrum is not a simple broken power law.