A NuSTAR view of powerful γ-ray loud blazars

¹ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, Italy
e-mail: gabriele.ghisellini@brera.inaf.it
² Space Science Data Center – Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (SSDC–ASI), Via del Politecnico, s.n.c., 00133 Roma, Italy
³ INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00078 Monteporzio Catone, Italy
⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica G. Occhialini, Univ. Milano–Bicocca, P.za della Scienza 3, 20126 Milano, Italy
⁵ Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Via Bonomea 265, 34135 Trieste, Italy
⁶ Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA

Received: 22 April 2019
Accepted: 1 June 2019

Abstract

We observed three blazars at z >  2 with the NuSTAR satellite. These were detected in the γ-rays by Fermi/LAT and in the soft X-rays, but have not yet been observed above 10 keV. The flux and slope of their X-ray continuum, together with Fermi/LAT data allows us to estimate their total electromagnetic output and peak frequency. For some of them we were able to study the source in different states, and investigate the main cause of the different observed spectral energy distribution. We then collected all blazars at redshifts greater than 2 observed by NuSTAR, and confirm that these hard and luminous X-ray blazars are among the most powerful persistent sources in the Universe. We confirm the relation between the jet power and the disk luminosity, extending it at the high-energy end.