TeV gamma-ray blazar X-ray spectral studies

Variability studies require simultaneous coverage, ideally sampling different flux states of each source. This is achieved using X-ray observations by disentangling the high-energy end of the synchrotron emission and the low-energy end of the Compton emission, which are produced by the same electron population.

We focused on a sample of 29 TeV {gamma}-ray emitting blazars with the best signal-to-noise X-ray observations collected with Swift/XRT in the energy range 0.3-10keV during 10yr of Swift/XRT operations. We investigate the X-ray spectral shapes and the effects of different corrections for neutral hydrogen absorption and decompose the synchrotron and inverse Compton components. For five sources (3C 66A, S5 0716+714, W Comae, 4C +21.35 and BL Lacertae) a superposition of both components is observed in the X-ray band, permitting simultaneous, time-resolved studies of both ends of the electron distribution.