Extragalactic background light models and GeV-TeV observation of blazars

Abstract

In this work, we use two different methods to determine the opacity of the TeV gamma-rays caused by the extragalactic background light (EBL) via e-e+ production due to photon-photon interaction. The first method, Model-Dependent Approach, uses various EBL models for estimating the opacity as a function of the redshift and energy of the TeV photons. The second method, Model-Independent Approach, relies on using the simultaneous observations of blazars in the MeV-GeV energy range from the Fermi-LAT and in the TeV band from the ground-based gamma-ray telescopes. We make the underline assumption that the extrapolation of the LAT spectrum of blazars to TeV energies is either a good estimate or an upper limit for the intrinsic TeV spectrum of a source. We apply this method on the simultaneous observations of a few blazars at different redshifts to demonstrate a comparative study of six prominent EBL models. Opacities of the TeV photons predicted by the model-independent approach are systematically larger than the ones estimated from the model-dependent method. Therefore, the gamma-ray observations of blazars can be used to set a strict upper limit on the opacity of the Universe to the TeV photons at a given redshift.

arXiv comment4 Figures, 4 Tables, Accepted for Publication in NRIAG JOURNAL OF ASTRONOMY AND GEOPHYSICS, Abstract shortened

References in corpus (59)

• Unified Schemes for Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Mission
• 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
• The Cosmic Infrared Background Resolved by Spitzer. Contributions of Mid-Infrared Galaxies to the Far-Infrared Background
• Comptonization of Infrared Radiation from Hot Dust by Relativistic Jets in Quasars
• 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
• Early star-forming galaxies and the reionization of the Universe
• Implications of Cosmological Gamma-Ray Absorption II. Modification of gamma-ray spectra
• Modeling the Emission Processes in Blazars
• Number Counts At 3 < lambda < 10 um From the Spitzer Space Telescope
• The Imprint of The Extragalactic Background Light in the Gamma-Ray Spectra of Blazars
• Evidence for a new light spin-zero boson from cosmological gamma-ray propagation?
• New constraints on the Mid-IR EBL from the HESS discovery of VHE gamma rays from 1ES 0229+200
• The Extragalactic Background Light and the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe
• The extragalactic background light revisited and the cosmic photon-photon opacity
• IRTS observation of the near-infrared extragalactic background light
• Absorption of High Energy Gamma Rays by Interactions With Starlight Photons in Extragalactic Space at High Redshifts and the High Energy Gamma-Ray Background
• A Lower-Limit Flux for the Extragalactic Background Light
• Simultaneous observations of PKS 2155-304 with H.E.S.S., Fermi, RXTE and ATOM: spectral energy distributions and variability in a low state
• A $\gamma$-ray determination of the Universe's star-formation history
• Extragalactic Background Light from Hierarchical Galaxy Formation: Gamma-ray Attenuation up to the Epoch of Cosmic Reionization and the First Stars
• GeV Gamma-Ray Attenuation and the High-Redshift UV Background
• Role of line-of-sight cosmic ray interactions in forming the spectra of distant blazars in TeV gamma rays and high-energy neutrinos
• The Cosmic Infrared Background at 1.25 microns and 2.2 microns using DIRBE and 2MASS: a contribution not due to galaxies ?
• An Empirically Based Calculation of the Extragalactic Infrared Background
• Extra-galactic background light measurements from the far-UV to the far-IR from deep ground and space-based galaxy counts
• Implications of Cosmological Gamma-Ray Absorption - I.Evolution of the Metagalactic Radiation Field
• Constraints on the Extremely High-Energy Cosmic Ray Accelerators from Classical Electrodynamics
• Measurement of the Extragalactic Background Light using MAGIC and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of blazars up to z = 1
• Gamma rays from the quasar PKS 1441+25: story of an escape
• Probing Galaxy Formation with TeV Gamma Ray Absorption
• The Discovery of gamma-Ray Emission From The Blazar RGB J0710+591
• Measurement of the EBL spectral energy distribution using the VHE gamma-ray spectra of H.E.S.S. blazars
• Strong New Constraints on the Extragalactic Background Light in the Near- to Mid-IR
• Discovery of Variability in the Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Emission of 1ES 1218+304 with VERITAS
• Limits on the extragalactic background light in the Fermi era
• The Resolved NIR Extragalactic Background
• The Resolved Near-Infrared Extragalactic Background
• A GeV-TeV Measurement of the Extragalactic Background Light
• Cascade photons as test of protons in UHECR
• Discovery of High-energy and Very High Energy Gamma-ray Emission from the Blazar RBS 0413
• Measurement of the extragalactic background light spectral energy distribution with VERITAS
• A method for setting upper limits to the extragalactic background light with Fermi-LAT and TeV observations of blazars
• The 1 um discontinuity in the Extragalactic Background Light spectrum: an artefact of foreground subtraction
• Optical depth for VHE gamma-rays from distant sources from a generic EBL density
• Potential of EBL and cosmology studies with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Extragalactic Background Light: Inventory of light throughout the cosmic history
• Intrinsic VHE Gamma-ray spectra of Blazars as a probe for Extragalactic Background Light
• Long term multi-wavelength view of the blazar 1ES 1218+304
• Extremely High energy peaked BL Lac nature of the TeV blazar Mrk 501
• Effects of Spatial Fluctuations in the Extra Galactic Background Light on Hard Gamma Ray Spectra
• Absorption of Very High Energy Gamma-Rays by Intergalactic Infrared Radiation: A New Determination
• The Diffuse Ultraviolet and Optical Background: Status and Future Prospects

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Multi-messenger High-Energy Signatures of Decaying Dark Matter and the Effect of Background Light
• Probing the evolution of the EBL photon density out to $z\sim 1$ via $\gamma$-ray propagation measurements with Fermi
• Artificial Neural Networks for cosmic gamma-ray propagation in the Universe
• Propagation of very-high-energy $\gamma$-rays from distant blazars
• Multi-messenger connection in high-energy neutrino astronomy
• Constraints on Extragalactic Background Light using TeV Observations of BL Lacertae objects
• Central Engine and Spectral Energy Distribution Properties of High Redshift Gamma Ray Blazars
• Viability of quantum communication across interstellar distances