2009/08/04 by The VERITAS Collaboration, the VLBA 43 GHz M 87 Monitoring Team, the H. E. S. S. Collaboration +1
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1175406
published as Science 325:444-448,2009 · 21 pages, 5 figures, published in Science, see: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/325/5939/444
arxiv created 2009/08/04 · arxiv updated 2012/08/27
The accretion of matter onto a massive black hole is believed to feed the relativistic plasma jets found in many active galactic nuclei (AGN). Although some AGN accelerate particles to energies exceeding 1012 electron Volts (eV) and are bright sources of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission, it is not yet known where the VHE emission originates. Here we report on radio and VHE observations of the radio galaxy M87, revealing a period of extremely strong VHE gamma-ray flares accompanied by a strong increase of the radio flux from its nucleus. These results imply that charged particles are accelerated to very high energies in the immediate vicinity of the black hole.