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The blazar S4 0954+65 (at a disputed redshift of z=0.368 or z≽0.45) underwent an exceptionally high state in the optical band during January and February 2015, as revealed by the Tuorla and St. Petersburg University blazar monitoring programs: a brightening of more than 3 magnitudes in the R-band from the average monitored states. Simultaneous data from the Fermi satellite at high energy gamma rays (HE, 100 MeV < E < 100 GeV) also show a period of increased activity. MAGIC observations, triggered by the enhanced emission state at lower energies, led to the discovery of very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) emission from S4 0954+65 (ATel #7080). The VHE flux above 150 GeV is estimated to be about 6% of the Crab nebula flux above the same threshold. In this contribution we present a comprehensive multiwavelength picture of this object, including data from mm/optical/Xray/HE and VHE gamma-ray bands. The high emission state during the flare allows us to compile the simultaneous broadband spectral energy distribution and to characterize it in the scope of blazar jet emission models. The agreement of the broadband spectrum with an emission mechanism commonly invoked for flat spectrum radio quasars (i.e. inverse Compton scattering on an external soft photon field from the dust torus) is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the launch of the Fermi satellite only two classes of AGNs were known to produce relativistic jets and thus emit up to the γ-ray energy range: blazars and radio galaxies, both hosted in giant elliptical galaxies. The first four years of observations by the Large Area Telescope on board Fermi confirmed that these two are the most numerous classes of identified sources in the extragalactic γ-ray sky, but the discovery of γ-ray emission from 5 radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies revealed the presence of a possible emerging third class of AGNs with relativistic jets. Considering that narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies seem to be typically hosted in spiral galaxy, this finding poses intriguing questions about the nature of these objects, the onset of production of relativistic jets, and the cosmological evolution of radio-loud AGN. Here, we discuss the radio-to-γ-rays properties of the γ-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies, also in comparison with the blazar scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of a relativistic jet in some radio-loud Narrow-Line Seyfert 1s (NLSy1) galaxies, first suggested by their variable radio emission and the flat radio spectra, is now confirmed by the Fermi-LAT detection of five NLSy1s in γ rays. In particular, a strong γ-ray flare from SBS 0846+513 was observed in 2011 June by Fermi-LAT reaching a γ-ray luminosity (0.1-300 GeV) of ∼1048 erg s-1, comparable to that of bright flat spectrum radio quasars. Apparent superluminal velocity in the jet was inferred from 2011-2012 VLBA images, suggesting the presence of a highly relativistic jet. Both the power released by this object during the flaring activity and the apparent superluminal velocity are strong indicators of the presence of a relativistic jet as powerful as those in blazars. In addition, variability and spectral properties in radio and γ-ray bands indicate a blazar-like behaviour, suggesting that, except for some distinct optical characteristics, SBS 0846+513 could be considered as a young blazar at the low end of the blazar's black hole mass distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]