Scientists have finally cracked the code on a mysterious cosmic object called PKS 1424+240, a blazar that produces extremely energetic gamma rays and is the brightest neutrino-emitting blazar in the sky. Using 15 years of high-precision radio observation with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), researchers discovered the location of the supermassive black hole’s jet, which is pointing directly at Earth.
The study reveals that the magnetic field across the jet is donut-shaped or helical and can accelerate both electrons and protons to nearly the speed of light. This acceleration process produces neutrinos, extremely light particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and interact very little with matter. The researchers believe that solving this puzzle confirms that supermassive black holes are not only powerful accelerators of electrons but also of protons, which is the origin of high-energy neutrinos.
The study’s findings provide new insights into the behavior of blazars and their jets, shedding light on a long-standing mystery in astrophysics.
Source: https://www.iflscience.com/peering-down-through-a-black-holes-cosmic-jet-got-earth-hit-by-record-breaking-neutrinos-80423