Radio-submm flares from blazars in a discontinuous jet model

Abstract

We present a model in which AGN jets are described by a dense series of plasma blobs, distributed in masses and velocities. The blobs expand and collide, and ultimately form a continuous jet flow as observed on larger scales. When blobs collide, energetic electrons are produced by first order Fermi acceleration, and emit synchrotron radiation at the radio-optical frequencies with a double-broken power law spectrum. The difference of this model to the well-known Marscher&Gear-model is, that in our model shocks are produced on a range of scales, and exist only temporarily, which causes differences in the prediction for the spectral evolution of flares. We apply our model to radio-submm data obtained for 3C454.3, and briefly discuss implications for gamma-ray production.