Six years of BeppoSAX observations of blazars: A spectral catalog

¹ George Mason University, School of Computational Sciences, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA e-mail: davide@physics.gmu.edu
² George Mason University, Dept. Of Physics & Astronomy, MS 3F3, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA

Received: 21 October 2003
Accepted: 13 December 2004

Abstract

We present a spectral catalog for blazars based on the BeppoSAX archive. The sample includes 44 High-energy peaked BL Lacs (HBLs), 14 Low-energy peaked BL Lacs (LBLs), and 28 Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs). A total of 168 LECS, MECS, and PDS spectra were analyzed, corresponding to observations taken in the period 1996-2002. The 0.1-50 keV continuum of LBLs and FSRQs is generally fitted by a single power law with Galactic column density. A minority of the observations of LBLs (25%) and FSRQs (15%) is best fitted by more complex models like the broken power law or the continuously curved parabola. These latter models provide also the best description for half of the HBL spectra. Complex models are more frequently required for sources with fluxes  erg cm^-2 s^-1, corresponding to spectra with higher signal-to-noise ratio. As a result, considering sources with flux above this threshold, the percentage of spectra requiring those models increases for all the classes. We note that there is a net separation of X-ray spectral properties between HBLs on one side, and LBLs and FSRQs on the other, the distinction between LBLs and FSRQs is more blurry. This is most likely related to ambiguities in the optical classification of the two classes.