Gamma Rays from Fast Black-Hole Winds

Massive black holes at the centers of galaxies can launch powerful wide-angle winds that, if sustained over time, can unbind the gas from the stellar bulges of galaxies. These winds may be responsible for the observed scaling relation between the masses of the central black holes and the velocity dispersions of stars in galactic bulges. Propagating through the galaxy, the wind should interact with the interstellar medium creating a strong shock, similar to those observed in supernovae explosions, which is able to accelerate charged particles to high energies. Here we report the Fermi Large Area Telescope detection of gamma-ray emission from these shocks in a small sample of galaxies exhibiting energetic winds. The detection implies that energetic black-hole winds transfer ~0.04% of their mechanical power to gamma rays and that the gamma-ray emission attests to the onset of the wind-host interaction.