Y.Y. Kovalev et al.
The “Sauron Eye” – an impressive image of the plasma jet at Blazar Pks 1424+240, seen from the front.
A view of the throat of an active galaxy reveals a ring -shaped magnetic field that can explain extreme gamma radiation and neutrinos.
A team of astronomers captured an image of the origin of a cosmic jet. The image and its artificial color remind the Sauron eyefrom the work The Lord of the Ringsfrom Jrr Tolkien.
LOCATED TO THOUSAND MILLIONS OF LIGHT YEARS FAR, THE BLAZAR PKS 1424+240 He had long confused astronomers.
Stood out as the Blazar neutrinos brilliant Known in the sky – as identified by the Icecube neutrinos Observatory – and also shone in very high energy rays observed by terrestrial cherenkov telescopes.
However, strangely, His radio jet seemed to move slowlycontradicting expectations that only the fastest jets can feed such intense high energy emissions, a press note from the Max Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy (MPIFR).
Now, thanks to 15 years of ultra-pre-precedered radio observations of the Very Long Baseline Array (Vlba), the researchers were able to create a deep image of this jet with unprecedented resolution.
These observations were detailed in a published this week in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
“When we reconstruct the image, It seemed absolutely stunning“, it says Yuri kovalevMax Planck researcher and main author of the study. “We never saw anything like it – a Toroidal magnetic field almost perfecto with a jet, pointing directly to us. ”
B. Saxton, Y.Y. Kovalev et al. / NSF /AUI / NRAO
A vision of the interior of the Blazar PKS plasma cone 1424+240 with a Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radiotelescope
How the jet is aligned almost exactly towards the earthits high energy emission is dramatically amplified by the effects of special relativity.
“This alignment causes an increase in shine by a 30 or more factor,” explains Jack Livingstonalso researcher at MPIFR and co -author of the study. “At the same time, the jet seems to move slowly Due to projection effects – A classical optical illusion. ”
This frontal geometry allowed scientists to observe directly The heart of Blazar’s jet – an extremely rare opportunity.
Polarized radio signs helped the team map the structure of the jet magnetic field, revealing their Probable helical or toroidal form. This structure plays a key role in launching and collimation of plasma flow, and can be essential to accelerate particles to extreme energies.
“Resolving this puzzle confirms that active galactic nuclei with supermassive black holes They are not just powerful accelerators of electronsbut also from Protons – The Origin of High Energy Neutrinos Observed, ”concludes Kovalev.
