ROSAT observations of BL Lacertae objects

The sample contains all BL Lac objects detected during the pointed observation phase as a target or serendipitously. We have investigated the soft X-ray and broad band spectral properties and discuss the consequences for the X-ray emission processes.

For the first time a clear dependence of the X-ray spectral steepness on the radio to X-ray spectral energy distribution is found: {alpha}_rx_ and {alpha}_x_ are correlated in the X-ray selected (XBL) subsample and anticorrelated in the radio selected (RBL) subsample. The objects with intermediate {alpha}_rx_ values thus do have the steepest soft X-ray spectra. Simulated PSPC spectra based on a set of simple two component multifrequency spectra are in good agreement with the measurements and suggest a broad range of synchrotron cutoff energies.