Related papers: Limits from rapid TeV variability of Mrk 421
The extremely rapid burst of TeV photons from Mkn 421 (15 May 1996) can be reconciled with the standard properties of a relativistic gamma-ray emitting jet (bulk Lorentz factor $\approx$ 10; size $\10^{17}$ cm) if one assumes that the…
We discuss the implications of rapid (few-minute) variability in the TeV flux of blazars, which has been observed recently with the HESS and MAGIC telescopes. The variability timescales seen in PKS 2155-304 and Mrk 501 are much shorter than…
The fast TeV variability of the blazars Mrk 501 and PKS 2155--304 implies a compact emitting region that moves with a bulk Lorentz factor of Gamma_{em}~100 toward the observer. The Lorentz factor is clearly in excess of the jet Lorentz…
Recent Cherenkov observations of BL Lac objects showed that the TeV flux of PKS 2155-304 changed by a factor 2 in just 3-5 minutes. This fast variability can be accounted for if the emitting region is moving with a bulk Lorentz factor…
Constraints on the dynamics, dissipation, and production of VHE neutrinos in relativistic jets are derived using opacity calculations and VHE $\gamma$-ray observations. In particular, it is demonstrated how rapid variability of the…
We have developed a model for the variability of gamma ray emission in jets of active galactic nuclei in which the variability arises as a result of photon-photon pair production interactions with X-rays emitted by a hot spot in the inner…
We have used data from the TeV gamma-ray flare associated with the active galaxy Markarian 421 observed on 15 May 1996 to place bounds on the possible energy-dependence of the speed of light in the context of an effective quantum…
Some recent experiments detecting very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays above 10-20 TeV independently reported VHE bursts for some of bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). If these signals are truly from GRBs, these GRBs must emit a much larger…
The observation of rapidly variable very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays from non-aligned active galactic nuclei (AGNs), as reported from M87, proves challenging for conventional theoretical acceleration and emission models. We re-examine the…
We analyze observational constraints from TeV astrophysics on Lorentz violating nonlinear dispersion for photons and electrons without assuming any a priori equality between the photon and electron parameters. The constraints arise from…
The origin of the gamma-ray emission of the blazar Mrk 421 is still a matter of debate. We used 5.5 years of unbiased observing campaign data, obtained using the FACT telescope and the Fermi LAT detector at TeV and GeV energies, the longest…
The radio galaxy M87 has recently been found to be a rapidly variable TeV emitting source. We analyze the implications of the observed TeV characteristics and show that it proves challenging to account for them within conventional…
The possible existence of bulk singlet neutrinos in the scenario with large compactified dimensions and low string scale $M_*$ has important consequences for low-energy observables. We demonstrate that intergenerational mass splitting and…
The peak of the de-absorbed energy distribution of the TeV emitting BLs can reach values up to ~10 TeV. In the context of SSC models of relativistic uniformly moving blobs of plasma, such high energy peak emission can be reproduced only by…
Astrophysical models for the high-energy emission of blazars are reviewed. Blazars ejecting relativistic radio jets at small angles to the line-of-sight are the only type of active galactic nuclei (AGN) discovered above 100 MeV. The…
The TeV/PeV neutrino emission from our Galaxy is related to the distribution of cosmic-ray accelerators, their maximal energy of injection as well as the propagation of injected particles and their interaction with molecular gas. In the…
The Lorentz factor (LF) of gamma-ray burst (GRB) ejecta may be constrained by observations of high-energy (HE) spectral attenuation. The recent Fermi-LAT observations of prompt GeV emission from several bright GRBs have leaded to…
The variable flux of TeV gamma-rays detected from Mkn 421 and Mkn 501 requires the presence of high energy electrons, which could in principle produce large numbers of electron/positron pairs, leading to an electromagnetic cascade. We point…
Jets associated with Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) have been observed for almost a century, initially at optical and radio wavelengths. They are now widely accepted as "exhausts" produced electromagnetically by the central, spinning, massive…
Fermi observations of GeV emission from GRBs have suggested that the Lorentz factor of some GRBs is around a thousand or even higher. At the same time the same Fermi observations have shown an extended GeV emission indicating that this…