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Why do BL Lacs look so different from other quasars (large variability, no broad emission lines)?

April 26, 2017BL broad different emission lacs large look quasars variability

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Why do BL Lacs look so different from other quasars (large variability, no broad emission lines)?

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One theory is that they are beamed sources — that we’re looking right down the radio jet in these sources. Another theory is that they are gravitationally-lensed quasars, but some data seems to suggest that at least some BL Lacs are not gravitationally lensed (see astro-ph/0406284).