Probing the EBL evolution at high redshift using GRBs detected with the Fermi-LAT

Abstract

The extragalactic background light (EBL), from ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths, is predominantly due to emission from stars, accreting black holes and reprocessed light due to Galactic dust. The EBL can be studied through the imprint it leaves, via $\gamma$-$\gamma$ absorption of high-energy photons, in the spectra of distant $\gamma$-ray sources. The EBL has been probed through the search for the attenuation it produces in the spectra of BL Lacertae (BL Lac) objects and individual $\gamma$-ray bursts (GRBs). GRBs have significant advantages over blazars for the study of the EBL especially at high redshifts. Here we analyze a combined sample of twenty-two GRBs, detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope between 65 MeV and 500 GeV. We report a marginal detection (at the ~2.8 $\sigma$ level) of the EBL attenuation in the stacked spectra of the source sample. This measurement represents a first constraint of the EBL at an effective redshift of ~1.8. We combine our results with prior EBL constraints and conclude that Fermi-LAT is instrumental to constrain the UV component of the EBL. We discuss the implications on existing empirical models of EBL evolution.

on behalf of the Fermi-LAT collaboration, accepted for publication on ApJ

References in corpus (61)

• High Redshift Galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field. Color Selection and Star Formation History to z=4
• UV Luminosity Functions at redshifts z~4 to z~10: 10000 Galaxies from HST Legacy Fields
• The extragalactic optical-infrared background radiations, their time evolution and the cosmic photon-photon opacity
• The Cosmic Infrared Background: Measurements and Implications
• Extragalactic Background Light Inferred from AEGIS Galaxy SED-type Fractions
• The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background: I. Limits and Detections
• Modeling the Extragalactic Background Light from Stars and Dust
• Semi-analytic modeling of the EBL and consequences for extragalactic gamma-ray spectra
• Fermi Observations of GRB 090902B: A Distinct Spectral Component in the Prompt and Delayed Emission
• Development of the Model of Galactic Interstellar Emission for Standard Point-Source Analysis of Fermi Large Area Telescope Data
• Deep Galaxy Counts, Extragalactic Background Light, and the Stellar Baryon Budget
• Intergalactic Photon Spectra from the Far IR to the UV Lyman Limit for $0<z<6$ and the Optical Depth of the Universe to High Energy Gamma-Rays
• Implications of Cosmological Gamma-Ray Absorption II. Modification of gamma-ray spectra
• 2FHL: The Second Catalog of Hard Fermi-LAT Sources
• The First Fermi LAT Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog
• The Imprint of The Extragalactic Background Light in the Gamma-Ray Spectra of Blazars
• A Comprehensive Analysis of Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Data. I. Spectral Components and Their Possible Physical Origins of LAT/GBM GRBs
• On the generation of high energy photons detected by the Fermi Satellite from gamma-ray bursts
• The Extragalactic Background Light and the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe
• Detection of a spectral break in the extra hard component of GRB 090926A
• External forward shock origin of high energy emission for three GRBs detected by Fermi
• The First Fermi-LAT Catalog of Sources Above 10 GeV
• The extragalactic background light, the Hubble constant, and anomalies: conclusions from 20 years of TeV gamma-ray observations
• Tracing the first stars with cosmic infrared background fluctuations
• Measurement of the extragalactic background light imprint on the spectra of the brightest blazars observed with H.E.S.S
• IRTS observation of the near-infrared extragalactic background light
• A Lower-Limit Flux for the Extragalactic Background Light
• A new interpretation of the gamma-ray observations of active galactic nuclei
• Extragalactic Background Light from Hierarchical Galaxy Formation: Gamma-ray Attenuation up to the Epoch of Cosmic Reionization and the First Stars
• Determination of intergalactic magnetic fields from gamma ray data
• Indications for a pair-production anomaly from the propagation of VHE gamma-rays
• GeV Gamma-Ray Attenuation and the High-Redshift UV Background
• Extra-galactic background light measurements from the far-UV to the far-IR from deep ground and space-based galaxy counts
• Cosmic Infrared Background and Early Galaxy Evolution
• On the Origin of Near-Infrared Extragalactic Background Light Anisotropy
• Chasing the heaviest black holes of jetted Active Galactic Nuclei
• The redshift and afterglow of the extremely energetic gamma-ray burst GRB 080916C
• New measurements of the cosmic infrared background fluctuations in deep Spitzer/IRAC survey data and their cosmological implications
• Detection of the cosmic γ-ray horizon from multiwavelength observations of blazars
• Cosmic Optical Background: the View from Pioneer 10/11
• Klein-Nishina effects on the high-energy afterglow emission of gamma-ray bursts
• The Firm Redshift Lower Limit of the Most Distant TeV-Detected Blazar PKS 1424+240
• An Empirical Determination of the Intergalactic Background Light from UV to FIR Wavelengths Using FIR Deep Galaxy Surveys and the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe
• The Near Infrared Background: Interplanetary Dust or Primordial Stars?
• The Resolved Near-Infrared Extragalactic Background
• The Resolved NIR Extragalactic Background
• Observational Gamma-ray Cosmology
• Spectral analysis of Fermi-LAT blazars above 50 GeV
• MAGIC observations of the February 2014 flare of 1ES 1011+496 and ensuing constraint of the EBL density
• Reconstructing the γ-ray Photon Optical Depth of the Universe to z~4 from Multiwavelength Galaxy Survey Data
• Discovery of an extra hard spectral component in the high-energy afterglow emission of GRB 130427A
• Extragalactic background Light: a measurement at 400 nm using dark cloud shadow II. Spectroscopic separation of dark cloud's light, and results
• Measurement of the expansion rate of the Universe from γ-ray attenuation
• First stars and the extragalactic background light: How recent gamma-ray observations constrain the early universe
• An Empirical Determination of the Intergalactic Background Light Using NIR Deep Galaxy Survey Data out to 5 microns and the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe
• Cosmic infrared background from Population III stars and its effect on spectra of high-z gamma-ray bursts
• Dark matter powered stars: Constraints from the extragalactic background light
• Constraining the near-IR background light from Population-III stars using high redshift gamma-ray sources
• Constraints on the Intergalactic Transport of Cosmic Rays
• Photospheric Emission in the Joint GBM and Konus Prompt Spectra of GRB 120323A
• Upper Bound on the First Star Formation History

Cited by in corpus (11)

• A decade of Gamma-Ray Bursts observed by $Fermi$-LAT: The 2${}^{nd}$ GRB catalog
• A $\gamma$-ray determination of the Universe's star-formation history
• An observational determination of the evolving extragalactic background light from the multiwavelength HST/CANDELS survey in the Fermi and CTA era
• Measurement of the Extragalactic Background Light using MAGIC and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of blazars up to z = 1
• A GeV-TeV Measurement of the Extragalactic Background Light
• Modeling the Extragalactic Background Light and the Cosmic Star Formation History
• GAMA/DEVILS: Constraining the cosmic star-formation history from improved measurements of the 0.3-2.2 micron Extragalactic Background Light
• Normalization of the extragalactic background light from high-energy gamma-ray observations
• Probing the evolution of the EBL photon density out to $z\sim 1$ via $\gamma$-ray propagation measurements with Fermi
• Disentangling the nature of the prototype radio weak BL Lac: Contemporaneous multifrequency observations of WISE J141046.00 + 740511.2
• The second H.E.S.S. gamma-ray burst catalogue: 15 years of observations with the H.E.S.S. telescopes