Poster Title: Investigating the nature of relativistic jets by studying the demographics of Blazars
Abstract: We present an overview and selected results of our on-going FIRST Flat Spectrum Sample (FFSS) project. The goal of the FFSS is to shed light on the true nature and physical properties of radio-loud AGN jets, and in turn their relationship with the SMBH and accretion disk from which they are ultimately powered, through the understanding of the demographics of blazars. The FFSS is "designed" to give us a true(r) census of the different types of blazars, resolving a long-standing uncertainty, and the first step towards understanding how Nature makes jets. In order to do so, it is crucial to strive to select in an unprejudiced way all "flavors" of blazar (e.g. not distinguish a priori between BL Lac and FSRQ), and to be sensitive to both extrema of the SED "color" phenomenology. The FFSS is now 95% identified. It comprises ~600 objects, selected from the FIRST radio survey, representing a very diverse mix of FSRQ (currently 60%), BL Lacs (20%), and "galaxies" (15%), and it spans across the full range of SED colors, with relatively uniform statistics. We will discuss the modeling techniques that we are implementing, whose first goal is to test the current luminosity-color sequence paradigm, and to discriminate among competing unification schemes.
Link to poster: N/A