On the Origin of VHE Gamma-Ray Emission in M87

Recent very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray observations have demonstrated that the radio galaxy M87 is a rapidly variable TeV emitting source. While a number of models for the origin of the observed TeV emission has been put forward, we show that at the current stage near-black-hole scenarios look most promising. We discuss one realization where electrons are centrifugally acceleration along rotating magnetic field lines in the vicinity of the central black hole, and Compton up-scatter the ambient disk photons, resulting in TeV characteristics close to the observed one. This suggests that in nearby, low- luminous (non-aligned) Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), VHE processes close to the supermassive black hole may become observable and allow a fundamental diagnosis of its environment