Neutrino Secret: The Invisible Express in a Black Hole's Jet ⚡ экспресс
For a long time, the jet of blazar TXS 0506+056 was thought to be too slow to produce high-energy neutrinos. New VLBI radio observations revealed a hidden disturbance with an apparent speed of 21 times the speed of light. This points to a stratified jet: an ultra-relativistic spine (Lorentz factor >20) inside a slower sheath. The disturbance in the spine illuminates the sheath—like lightning illuminating a cloud—triggering a radio flare years after the neutrino event. The same pattern repeats, pointing to a universal mechanism. This changes our understanding of jet speeds and provides a testable model for neutrino sources.
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.