Probing the evolution of the EBL photon density out to $z\sim 1$ via $\gamma$-ray propagation measurements with Fermi

Abstract

The redshift ($z$) evolution of the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) photon density is very important to understand the history of cosmological structure formation of galaxies and stars since the epoch of recombination. The EBL photons with the characteristic spectral energy distribution ranging from ultraviolet/optical to far-infrared provide a major source of opacity of the Universe to the GeV-TeV $\gamma$-rays travelling over cosmological distances. The effect of the EBL is very significant through $\gamma \gamma \to e^{-}{e}^{+}$ absorption process on the propagation of the $\gamma$-ray photons with energy $E>$ 50 GeV emitted from the sources at $z\sim 1$. This effect is characterized by the optical depth ($\tau$) which strongly depends on $E$, $z$ and density of the EBL photons. The proper density of the EBL photons increases with $z$ due to expansion of the Universe whereas evolution of radiation sources contributing to the EBL leads to a decrease in the density with increasing $z$. Therefore, the resultant volumetric evolution of the EBL photon density is approximated by a modified redshift dependence. In this work, we probe evolution of the EBL photon density predicted by two prominent models using cosmic gamma-ray horizon ($\tau (E,z)=$ 1) determined by the measurements from the \emph{Fermi}-Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations. The modified redshift dependence of the EBL photon density is optimized for a given EBL model by estimating the same gamma-ray horizon as predicted by the \emph{Fermi}-LAT observations. We further compare the optical depth estimates in the energy range $E=$ 4 GeV-1 TeV and redshift range $z=0.01-1$ from the \emph{Fermi}-LAT observations with the values derived from the two EBL models to further constrain the evolution of the EBL photon density in the $z\sim 1$ Universe.

arXiv comment9 Pages, 6 Figures: Accepted for Publication in Astrophysics and Space Science

References in corpus (50)

• Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
• Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae
• Constraining the Evolution of the Ionizing Background and the Epoch of Reionization with z ~ 6 Quasars II: A Sample of 19 Quasars
• 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
• A low level of extragalactic background light as revealed by gamma-rays from blazars
• 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
• Deep Galaxy Counts, Extragalactic Background Light, and the Stellar Baryon Budget
• The Imprint of The Extragalactic Background Light in the Gamma-Ray Spectra of Blazars
• 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
• New limits on the density of the extragalactic background light in the optical to the far-infrared from the spectra of all known TeV blazars
• The extragalactic background light, the Hubble constant, and anomalies: conclusions from 20 years of TeV gamma-ray observations
• The extragalactic background light revisited and the cosmic photon-photon opacity
• A Lower-Limit Flux for the Extragalactic Background Light
• A $\gamma$-ray determination of the Universe's star-formation history
• GeV Gamma-Ray Attenuation and the High-Redshift UV Background
• New synthesis models of consistent extragalactic background light over cosmic time
• Protostars: Forges of cosmic rays?
• An observational determination of the evolving extragalactic background light from the multiwavelength HST/CANDELS survey in the Fermi and CTA era
• 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
• Very-high-energy gamma-rays from the Universe's middle age: detection of the z=0.940 blazar PKS 1441+25 with MAGIC
• New Spectral Evidence of an Unaccounted Component of the Near-infrared Extragalactic Background Light from the CIBER
• 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
• The Skeleton of the Milky Way
• Detection of very high energy gamma-ray emission from the gravitationally-lensed blazar QSO B0218+357 with the MAGIC telescopes
• Measurement of the EBL spectral energy distribution using the VHE gamma-ray spectra of H.E.S.S. blazars
• 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
• Monte Carlo studies for the optimisation of the Cherenkov Telescope Array layout
• The Resolved Near-Infrared Extragalactic Background
• The Resolved NIR Extragalactic Background
• Limits on the extragalactic background light in the Fermi era
• Measurement of the Cosmic Optical Background using the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager on New Horizons
• MAGIC observations of the February 2014 flare of 1ES 1011+496 and ensuing constraint of the EBL density
• A GeV-TeV Measurement of the Extragalactic Background Light
• Measurement of the extragalactic background light spectral energy distribution with VERITAS
• Optical depth for VHE gamma-rays from distant sources from a generic EBL density
• The evolution of the UV-to-mm extragalactic background light: evidence for a top-heavy initial mass function?
• Extragalactic Background Light: Inventory of light throughout the cosmic history
• Probing the EBL evolution at high redshift using GRBs detected with the Fermi-LAT
• Probing the peak of the star formation rate density with the extragalactic background light
• Intrinsic VHE Gamma-ray spectra of Blazars as a probe for Extragalactic Background Light
• Constraining Dark Energy With Stacked Concave Lenses
• Extragalactic background light models and GeV-TeV observation of blazars
• An Artificial Intelligence based approach for constraining the redshift of blazars using $\gamma$--ray observation

Cited by in corpus (3)

• γ-Ray and ultra-high energy neutrino background suppression due to solar radiation
• Artificial Neural Networks for cosmic gamma-ray propagation in the Universe
• Constraints on Extragalactic Background Light using TeV Observations of BL Lacertae objects