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Long-duration γ-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous sources of electromagnetic radiation known in the Universe. They arise from outflows of plasma with velocities near the speed of light that are ejected by newly formed neutron stars or black holes (of stellar mass) at cosmological distances 1 , 2 . Prompt flashes of megaelectronvolt-energy γ-rays are followed by a longer-lasting afterglow emission in a wide range of energies (from radio waves to gigaelectronvolt γ-rays), which originates from synchrotron radiation generated by energetic electrons in the accompanying shock waves 3 , 4 . Although emission of γ-rays at even higher (teraelectronvolt) energies by other radiation mechanisms has been theoretically predicted 5 – 8 , it has not been previously detected 7 , 8 . Here we report observations of teraelectronvolt emission from the γ-ray burst GRB 190114C. γ-rays were observed in the energy range 0.2–1 teraelectronvolt from about one minute after the burst (at more than 50 standard deviations in the first 20 minutes), revealing a distinct emission component of the afterglow with power comparable to that of the synchrotron component. The observed similarity in the radiated power and temporal behaviour of the teraelectronvolt and X-ray bands points to processes such as inverse Compton upscattering as the mechanism of the teraelectronvolt emission 9 – 11 . By contrast, processes such as synchrotron emission by ultrahigh-energy protons 10 , 12 , 13 are not favoured because of their low radiative efficiency. These results are anticipated to be a step towards a deeper understanding of the physics of GRBs and relativistic shock waves. Observations of teraelectronvolt-energy γ-rays starting about one minute after the γ-ray burst GRB 190114C reveal a distinct component of the afterglow emission with power comparable to the synchrotron emission.

Supermassive black holes with masses of millions to billions of solar masses are commonly found in the centers of galaxies. Astronomers seek to image jet formation using radio interferometry but still suffer from insufficient angular resolution. An alternative method to resolve small structures is to measure the time variability of their emission. Here we report on gamma-ray observations of the radio galaxy IC 310 obtained with the MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov) telescopes, revealing variability with doubling time scales faster than 4.8 min. Causality constrains the size of the emission region to be smaller than 20% of the gravitational radius of its central black hole. We suggest that the emission is associated with pulsar-like particle acceleration by the electric field across a magnetospheric gap at the base of the radio jet.

The blazar TXS 0506+056 got into the spotlight of the astrophysical community in 2017 September, when a high-energy neutrino detected by IceCube (IceCube-170922A) was associated at the 3σ level with a γ-ray flare from this source. This multi-messenger photon-neutrino association remains, as per today, the most significant association ever observed. TXS 0506+056 was a poorly studied object before the IceCube-170922A event. To better characterize its broadband emission, we organized a multiwavelength campaign lasting 16 months (2017 November to 2019 February), covering the radio band (Metsähovi, OVRO), the optical/UV (ASAS-SN, KVA, REM, Swift/UVOT), the X-rays (Swift/XRT, NuSTAR), the high-energy γ rays (Fermi/LAT), and the very high-energy (VHE) γ rays (MAGIC). In γ rays, the behavior of the source was significantly different from the behavior in 2017: MAGIC observations show the presence of flaring activity during 2018 December, while the source only shows an excess at the 4σ level during the rest of the campaign (74 hr of accumulated exposure); Fermi/LAT observations show several short (on a timescale of days to a week) flares, different from the long-term brightening of 2017. No significant flares are detected at lower energies. The radio light curve shows an increasing flux trend that is not seen in other wavelengths. We model the multiwavelength spectral energy distributions in a lepto-hadronic scenario, in which the hadronic emission emerges as Bethe-Heitler and pion-decay cascade in the X-rays and VHE γ rays. According to the model presented here, the 2018 December γ-ray flare was connected to a neutrino emission that was too brief and not bright enough to be detected by current neutrino instruments.

Classical novae are cataclysmic binary star systems in which the matter of a companion star is accreted on a white dwarf 1 , 2 . Accumulation of hydrogen in a layer eventually causes a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of the white dwarf 3 , brightening the white dwarf to ~10 5 solar luminosities and triggering ejection of the accumulated matter. Novae provide the extreme conditions required to accelerate particles, electrons or protons, to high energies. Here we present the detection of gamma rays by the MAGIC telescopes from the 2021 outburst of RS Ophiuchi, a recurrent nova with a red giant companion, which allowed us to accurately characterize the emission from a nova in the 60 GeV to 250 GeV energy range. The theoretical interpretation of the combined Fermi LAT and MAGIC data suggests that protons are accelerated to hundreds of gigaelectronvolts in the nova shock. Such protons should create bubbles of enhanced cosmic ray density, of the order of 10 pc, from the recurrent novae. Detection of the 2021 outburst of the nova RS Oph in very-high-energy gamma rays by the MAGIC telescopes is reported. Investigation of the gamma-ray emission provides evidence for acceleration of protons within the nova shock, which then propagate outwards to create bubbles of enhanced cosmic ray density.

The atmospheric Cherenkov gamma-ray telescope MAGIC, designed for a low-energy threshold, has detected very-high-energy gamma rays from a giant flare of the distant Quasi-Stellar Radio Source (in short: radio quasar) 3C 279, at a distance of more than 5 billion light-years (a redshift of 0.536). No quasar has been observed previously in very-high-energy gamma radiation, and this is also the most distant object detected emitting gamma rays above 50 gigaelectron volts. Because high-energy gamma rays may be stopped by interacting with the diffuse background light in the universe, the observations by MAGIC imply a low amount for such light, consistent with that known from galaxy counts.

One fundamental question about pulsars concerns the mechanism of their pulsed electromagnetic emission. Measuring the high-end region of a pulsar's spectrum would shed light on this question. By developing a new electronic trigger, we lowered the threshold of the Major Atmospheric γ-ray Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescope to 25 giga--electron volts. In this configuration, we detected pulsed γ-rays from the Crab pulsar that were greater than 25 giga--electron volts, revealing a relatively high cutoff energy in the phase-averaged spectrum. This indicates that the emission occurs far out in the magnetosphere, hence excluding the polar-cap scenario as a possible explanation of our measurement. The high cutoff energy also challenges the slot-gap scenario.

Microquasars are binary star systems with relativistic radio-emitting jets. They are potential sources of cosmic rays and can be used to elucidate the physics of relativistic jets. We report the detection of variable gamma-ray emission above 100 gigaelectron volts from the microquasar LS I 61 + 303. Six orbital cycles were recorded. Several detections occur at a similar orbital phase, which suggests that the emission is periodic. The strongest gamma-ray emission is not observed when the two stars are closest to one another, implying a strong orbital modulation of the emission or absorption processes.

Long-duration [gamma]-ray bursts (GRBs) originate from ultra-relativistic jets launched from the collapsing cores of dying massive stars. They are characterized by an initial phase of bright and highly variable radiation in the kiloelectronvolt-to-megaelectronvolt band, which is probably produced within the jet and lasts from milliseconds to minutes, known as the prompt emission.sup.1,2. Subsequently, the interaction of the jet with the surrounding medium generates shock waves that are responsible for the afterglow emission, which lasts from days to months and occurs over a broad energy range from the radio to the gigaelectronvolt bands.sup.1-6. The afterglow emission is generally well explained as synchrotron radiation emitted by electrons accelerated by the external shock.sup.7-9. Recently, intense long-lasting emission between 0.2 and 1 teraelectronvolts was observed from GRB 190114C.sup.10,11. Here we report multi-frequency observations of GRB 190114C, and study the evolution in time of the GRB emission across 17 orders of magnitude in energy, from 5 × 10.sup.-6 to 10.sup.12 electronvolts. We find that the broadband spectral energy distribution is double-peaked, with the teraelectronvolt emission constituting a distinct spectral component with power comparable to the synchrotron component. This component is associated with the afterglow and is satisfactorily explained by inverse Compton up-scattering of synchrotron photons by high-energy electrons. We find that the conditions required to account for the observed teraelectronvolt component are typical for GRBs, supporting the possibility that inverse Compton emission is commonly produced in GRBs.

Long-duration [gamma]-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous sources of electromagnetic radiation known in the Universe. They arise from outflows of plasma with velocities near the speed of light that are ejected by newly formed neutron stars or black holes (of stellar mass) at cosmological distances.sup.1,2. Prompt flashes of megaelectronvolt-energy [gamma]-rays are followed by a longer-lasting afterglow emission in a wide range of energies (from radio waves to gigaelectronvolt [gamma]-rays), which originates from synchrotron radiation generated by energetic electrons in the accompanying shock waves.sup.3,4. Although emission of [gamma]-rays at even higher (teraelectronvolt) energies by other radiation mechanisms has been theoretically predicted.sup.5-8, it has not been previously detected.sup.7,8. Here we report observations of teraelectronvolt emission from the [gamma]-ray burst GRB 190114C. [gamma]-rays were observed in the energy range 0.2-1 teraelectronvolt from about one minute after the burst (at more than 50 standard deviations in the first 20 minutes), revealing a distinct emission component of the afterglow with power comparable to that of the synchrotron component. The observed similarity in the radiated power and temporal behaviour of the teraelectronvolt and X-ray bands points to processes such as inverse Compton upscattering as the mechanism of the teraelectronvolt emission.sup.9-11. By contrast, processes such as synchrotron emission by ultrahigh-energy protons.sup.10,12,13 are not favoured because of their low radiative efficiency. These results are anticipated to be a step towards a deeper understanding of the physics of GRBs and relativistic shock waves.

Tau-pair production in the process \\(e^ + e^- e^ + e^-^ + ^-\\) was studied using data collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP2 during the years 1997 - 2000. The corresponding integrated luminosity is 650 pb-1. The values of the cross-section obtained are found to be in agreement with QED predictions. Limits on the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau lepton are deduced.