text: Active galactic nuclei are the most numerous class 
  of identiﬁed VHE γ-ray sources. These objects emit 
  non-thermal radiation across ∼20 orders of magnitude 
  in energy and rank among the most powerful particle 
  accelerators in the universe. A small fraction of AGN 
  possess strong collimated outﬂows (jets) powered by 
  accretion onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH). 
  VHE γ-ray emission can be generated in these jets, 
  likely in a compact region very near the SMBH event 
  horizon. Blazars, a class of AGN with jets pointed 
  along the line-of-sight to the observer, are of par- 
  ticular interest in the VHE regime. Approximately 
  30 blazars, primarily high-frequency-peaked BL Lacs 
  (HBL), are identiﬁed as sources of VHE γ-rays, and 
  some are spectacularly variable on time scales com- 
  parable to the light crossing time of their SMBH (∼2 
  min; [1]). VHE blazar studies probe the environment 
  very near the central SMBH and address a wide range 
  of physical phenomena, including the accretion and 
  jet-formation processes. These studies also have cos- 
  mological implications, as VHE blazar data can be 
  used to strongly constrain primordial radiation ﬁelds 
  (see the extragalactic background light (EBL) con- 
  straints from, e.g., [2, 3]). 
  
  **2. VERITAS**