The origin of TeV electrons in blazars

There is increasing observational evidence that relativistic particles of e nergies similar to 1 TeV provide a significant pressure component of the pl asma which powers at least some of the relativistic jets associcated with A GN. Furthermore, observations of flares with duration similar to 15 min at TeV energies indicate that the associated electrons are accelerated to the required energies on these or shorter time scales, which are comparable to the synchrotron loss time for the values of the magnetic fields thought pre sent in these jets. As such, they push the potential acceleration mechanism s to their limits and prompt us to examine the conditions under which it ma y be possible for hadronic processes to provide the electrons of the requis ite energies. Relativistic hadrons could presumably exist within the Row, h aving been accelerated efficiently near the compact object and then transpo rted along with it, releasing their energy by an instability due to p-gamma reactions once a well defined threshold is reached.