Context. High-redshift blazars provide valuable input to studies of the evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets and provide constraints on cosmological models. Detections at high energies (0.1a< Ea< 100 GeV) of these distant sources are rare, but when they exhibit bright gamma-ray flares, we are able to study them. However, contemporaneous multi-wavelength observations of high-redshift objects (z">"4) during their different periods of activity have not been carried out so far. An excellent opportunity for such a study arose when the blazar TXS 1508+572 (z"="4.31) exhibited a γ-ray flare in 2022 February in the 0.1 300 GeV range with a flux 25 times brighter than the one reported in the in the fourth catalog of the Fermi Large Area Telescope. Aims. Our goal is to monitor the morphological changes, spectral index and opacity variations that could be associated with the preceding γ-ray flare in TXS 1508+572 to find the origin of the high-energy emission in this source. We also plan to compare the source characteristics in the radio band to the blazars in the local Universe (za< 0.1). In addition, we aim to collect quasi-simultaneous data to our multi-wavelength observations of the object, making TXS 1508+572 the first blazar in the early Universe (z">"4) with contemporaneous multi-frequency data available in its high state. Methods. In order to study the parsec-scale structure of the source, we performed three epochs of very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) follow-up observations with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) supplemented with the Effelsberg 100-m Telescope at 15, 22, and 43 GHz, which corresponds to 80, 117, and 228 GHz in the rest frame of TXS 1508+572. In addition, one 86 GHz (456 GHz) measurement was performed by the VLBA and the Green Bank Telescope during the first epoch. Results. We present total intensity images from our multi-wavelength VLBI monitoring that reveal significant morphological changes in the parsec-scale structure of TXS 1508+572. The jet proper motion values range from 0.12 mas yr¹ to 0.27 mas yr¹, which corresponds to apparent superluminal motion β_app" 14.3 32.2.c. This is consistent with the high Lorentz factors inferred from the spectral energy distribution (SED) modeling for this source. The core shift measurement reveals no significant impact by the high-energy flare on the distance of the 43-GHz radio core with respect to the central engine, that means this region is probably not affected by e.g., injection of new plasma as seen in other well-studied sources like CTA 102. We determine the average distance from the 43-GHz radio core to the central supermassive black hole to be 46.1 ± 2.3.μas, that corresponds to a projected distance of 0.32 ± 0.02 pc. We estimate the equipartition magnetic field strength 1 pc from the central engine to be on the order of 1.8 G, and the non-equipartition magnetic field strength at the same distance to be about 257 G, the former of which values agrees well with the magnetic field strength measured in low to intermediate redshift AGN. Conclusions. Based on our VLBI analysis, we propose that the γ-ray activity observed in February 2022 is caused by a shock-shock interaction between the jet of TXS 1508+572 and new plasma flowing through this component. Similar phenomena have been observed, for example, in CTA 102 in a shock-shock interaction between a stationary and newly emerging component. In this case, however, the core region was also affected by the flare as the core shift stays consistent throughout the observations.

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Blazars can be detected from very large distances due to their high luminosity. However, the detection of γ-ray emission of blazars beyond z = 3 has only been confirmed for a small number of sources. Such observations probe the growth of supermassive black holes close to the peak of star formation in the history of galaxy evolution. As a result from a continuous monitoring of a sample of 80 z > 3 blazars with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT), we present the first detection of a γ-ray flare from the z = 4.31 blazar TXS 1508+572. This source showed high γ-ray activity from 2022 February to August, reaching a peak luminosity comparable to the most luminous flares ever detected with Fermi-LAT. We conducted a multiwavelength observing campaign involving XMM-Newton, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the Effelsberg 100 m radio telescope, and the Very Long Baseline Array. In addition, we make use of the monitoring programs by the Zwicky Transient Facility and the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer at optical and infrared wavelengths, respectively. We find that the source is particularly variable in the infrared band on daily timescales. The spectral energy distribution collected during our campaign is well described by a one-zone leptonic model, with the γ-ray flare originating from an increase of external Compton emission as a result of a fresh injection of accelerated electrons.

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High-redshift gamma-ray blazars (z>3) offer the possibility to study black hole growth, accretion processes and jet acceleration in the early Universe. The most luminous blazars, detectable out to high redshifts, tend to have the peaks in their non-thermal spectral energy distributions at relatively low frequencies, with the high-energy peak often appearing at MeV energies. In addition, the cosmological redshift further shifts the SED peaks towards lower frequencies. Because of their low fluxes and soft gamma-ray spectra, the detection of gamma-ray emission from these sources is difficult and only about a dozen have been detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi satellite. Flaring events provide a unique opportunity to detect and characterize the gamma-ray emission from high-z blazars and to gather contemporaneous multiwavelength observations that are necessary to interpret their spectral energy distribution. For this reason, we have designed a program to find flares in high-z blazars by using the public Fermi-LAT data, which is suitable to trigger multi-wavelength observations. In February 2022, we detected a long-term flare by the very distant blazar GB 1508+5714 (z=4.31), whose detection at gamma-ray energies was reported in 2017. The flaring event was accompanied by a significant spectral hardening, indicating considerable changes in the gamma-ray spectrum. We obtained follow-up observations across the electromagnetic spectrum and put a focus on observations at radio frequencies. We launched a dense, long-term monitoring campaign with the Effelsberg radio telescope to study the radio-gamma correlation for this high-redshift blazar. Previous VLBI observations revealed an extended jet emission being visible for GB 1508+5714. Hence, we acquired three VLBI observations with the VLBA and Effelsberg, which were taken with a cadence of five months in order to search for potential changes in the appearance of the jet. We will present the VLBI maps and broadband modelling of GB 1508+5714 with simultaneous multi-wavelength data taken during the flare, and put our findings in the context of future MeV missions.@en