Production of the active galactic nuclei continuum via coherent plasma processes

Abstract

It appears possible to explain both the typical continuum electromagnetic spectrum and the relativistic velocities of electrons in the region of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) by invoking stimulated Raman scattering processes. The gist of our proposal is that seed photons beat through Raman forward scattering (RFS), thereby creating Langmuir plasma waves which can very rapidly accelerate electrons to Lorentz factors > 1000. These electrons preferentially lose their energy through Raman back scattering (RBS) off spatially quasi-periodic magnetic fields. Such fields are naturally produced via magnetic modulational instabilities acting on the Langmuir waves. Reasonable density distri- butions that satisfy various physical constraints seem to be capable of yielding the high luminosities and broken power-law continua typically found in quasars and Seyfert Type 1 galaxies. Additional bremsstrahlung emission in the optical and UV bands could possibly explain the "big blue bump".