VLBA Images the First Extragalactic Neutrino Source

SH18_vlbaNeutrinos.pngThe Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) demonstrated its unique ability to obtain the highest resolution images of parsec-scale relativistic jets with the discovery of a jet in the first known extragalactic neutrino source, the Blazar radio source TXS 0506+056. 

High energy neutrinos were detected by IceCube from TXS 0506+056. VLBA images with ~ 0.5 milli-arcsec resolution at 43 GHz detect complex jet structure and dynamics. Jet deceleration on scales ~ 100 parsec is seen – likely due to proton loading by jet-star interactions in the inner galaxy. 

Image Caption: Nov 2017 and May 2018:  Very Long Baseline Array 43 GHz images of the blazar TXS 0506+056 at ~ 0.5 milli-arcsec resolution, showing complex jet structure and dynamics in this first extragalactic neutrino source.

Publication: Eduardo Ros (Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie) et al., Apparent superluminal core expansion and limb brightening in the candidate neutrino blazar TXS 0506+056, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 633, L1 (January 2020).

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