Black hole lightning due to particle acceleration at subhorizon scales

Aleksic J, Ansoldi S, Antonelli LA, Antoranz P, Babic A, Bangale P, Barrio JA, Becerra Gonzalez J, Bednarek W, Bernardini E, Biasuzzi B, Biland A, Blanch O, Bonnefoy S, Bonnoli G, Borracci F, Bretz T, Carmona E, Carosi A, Colin P, Colombo E, Contreras JL, Cortina J, Covino S, Da Vela P, Dazzi F, De Angelis A, De Caneva G, De Lotto B, De Ona Wilhelmi E, Delgado Mendez C, Dominis Prester D, Dorner D, Doro M, Einecke S, Eisenacher D, Elsaesser D, Fonseca MV, Font L, Frantzen K, Fruck C, Galindo D, Garcia Lopez RJ, Garczarczyk M, Garrido Terrats D, Gaug M, Godinovic N, Gonzalez Munoz A, Gozzini SR, Hadasch D, Hanabata Y, Hayashida M, Herrera J, Hildebrand D, Hose J, Hrupec D, Idec W, Kadenius V, Kellermann H, Kodani K, Konno Y, Krause J, Kubo H, Kushida J, La Barbera A, Lelas D, Lewandowska N, Lindfors E, Lombardi S, Longo F, Lopez M, Lopez-Coto R, Lopez-Oramas A, Lorenz E, Lozano I, Makariev M, Mallot K, Maneva G, Mankuzhiyil N, Mannheim K, Maraschi L, Marcote B, Mariotti M, Martinez M, Mazin D, Menzel U, Miranda JM, Mirzoyan R, Moralejo A, Munar-Adrover P, Nakajima D, Niedzwiecki A, Nilsson K, Nishijima K, Noda K, Orito R, Overkemping A, Paiano S, Palatiello M, Paneque D, Paoletti R, Paredes JM, Paredes-Fortuny X, Persic M, Poutanen J, Prada Moroni PG, Prandini E, Puljak I, Reinthal R, Rhode W, Ribo M, Rico J, Rodriguez Garcia J, Ruegamer S, Saito T, Saito K, Satalecka K, Scalzotto V, Scapin V, Schultz C, Schweizer T, Shore SN, Sillanpaa A, Sitarek J, Snidaric I, Sobczynska D, Spanier F, Stamatescu V, Stamerra A, Steinbring T, Storz J, Strzys M, Takalo L, Takami H, Tavecchio F, Temnikov P, Terzic T, Tescaro D, Teshima M, Thaele J, Tibolla O, Torres DF, Toyama T, Treves A, Uellenbeck M, Vogler P, Zanin R, Kadler M, Schulz R, Ros E, Bach U, Krauss F, Wilms J (2014)

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2014

Journal

Publisher: AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE

Book Volume: 346

Pages Range: 1080-1084

Journal Issue: 6213

DOI: 10.1126/science.1256183

Abstract

Supermassive black holes with masses of millions to billions of solar masses are commonly found in the centers of galaxies. Astronomers seek to image jet formation using radio interferometry but still suffer from insufficient angular resolution. An alternative method to resolve small structures is to measure the time variability of their emission. Here we report on gamma-ray observations of the radio galaxy IC 310 obtained with the MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov) telescopes, revealing variability with doubling time scales faster than 4.8 min. Causality constrains the size of the emission region to be smaller than 20% of the gravitational radius of its central black hole. We suggest that the emission is associated with pulsar-like particle acceleration by the electric field across a magnetospheric gap at the base of the radio jet.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Institut de Fisica d'Altes Energies (IFAE) / The Institute for High Energy Physics Spain (ES) Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg Germany (DE) Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) Spain (ES) National Institute for Astrophysics / Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) Italy (IT) Sveučilište u Rijeci / University of Rijeka Croatia (HR) Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY Germany (DE) Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) / Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Spain (ES) University of Udine / Università degli Studi di Udine Italy (IT) Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) Spain (ES) Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut, MPP) / Max Planck Institute for Physics Germany (DE) Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) Spain (ES) Kyoto University / 京都大学 Kyōto daigaku Japan (JP) University of Pisa / Università di Pisa (UniPi) Italy (IT) University of Padua / Universita degli Studi di Padova Italy (IT) University of Lodz / Uniwersytet Łódzki Poland (PL) Technische Universität Dortmund Germany (DE) Universitat de Barcelona (UB) / University of Barcelona Spain (ES) Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich Switzerland (CH) Università degli Studi di Siena (UNISI) / University of Siena Italy (IT) University of Turku / Turun yliopisto Finland (FI) Institute for Nuclear Researches and Nuclear Energy (INRNE) / Институт за ядрени изследвания и ядрена енергетика (ИЯИЯЕ) Bulgaria (BG) Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie / Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy Germany (DE) University of Insubria / Università degli Studi dell'Insubria Italy (IT) Institute of Space Science (ISS) / Institutul de Științe Spațiale Romania (RO)

How to cite

APA:

Aleksic, J., Ansoldi, S., Antonelli, L.A., Antoranz, P., Babic, A., Bangale, P.,... Wilms, J. (2014). Black hole lightning due to particle acceleration at subhorizon scales. Science, 346(6213), 1080-1084. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1256183

MLA:

Aleksic, J., et al. "Black hole lightning due to particle acceleration at subhorizon scales." Science 346.6213 (2014): 1080-1084.

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