Neutrino Secret: The Invisible Express in a Black Hole's Jet ⚡ экспресс
To explain neutrinos from blazar TXS 0506+056, extremely fast jets were needed, but radio images pointed to low velocities. Long-term VLBI monitoring revealed a disturbance propagating at an apparent speed of 21±1c, hidden by slower, bright components. This is interpreted as a stratified jet: an ultra-relativistic spine with Lorentz factor Γ>20, embedded in a slower sheath. The disturbance's movement along the spine gradually illuminates the sheath, producing a delayed radio flare and explaining the years-long offset between neutrino and radio signals. A similar pattern is observed in a second neutrino event, indicating a recurring mechanism. The results challenge the standard interpretation of jet speeds from VLBI and establish a testable model linking structured jets to the sources of the highest-energy neutrinos.
In a distant galaxy, a supermassive black hole shoots out a jet. In 2017, a neutrino was detected from there — a 'ghost particle' that pierces right through entire planets. But the radio signal from the jet indicated a speed too low for such acceleration. Archival images solved the mystery: inside the jet hides a super-fast core, racing at almost the speed of light. In the sky, it appears 21 times faster than light — an illusion, because the jet is aimed straight at us.
Neutrinos are born in the fast core, but their radio afterglow is delayed: it appears when the shock wave reaches the outer shell. The same double jet has been found in another neutrino source — this is a common rule. Physicists now have a key: to hunt for 'ghosts', you need to look into hidden ultra-fast cores.
🎯 The core streaks across the sky as if covering in one year a distance that light takes 21 years to travel — but this is just a spatial illusion, caused by the jet being aimed precisely in our direction.