Implications of Cosmological Gamma-Ray Absorption - I.Evolution of the Metagalactic Radiation Field

Abstract

Gamma-ray absorption due to gamma-gamma-pair creation on cosmological scales depends on the line-of-sight integral of the evolving density of low-energy photons in the Universe, i.e. on the history of the diffuse, isotropic radiation field. Here we present and discuss a semi-empirical model for this metagalactic radiation field based on stellar light produced and reprocessed in evolving galaxies. With a minimum of parameters and assumptions, the present-day background intensity is obtained from the far-IR to the ultraviolet band. Predicted model intensities are independent of cosmological parameters, since we require that the comoving emissivity, as a function of redshift, agrees with observed values obtained from deep galaxy surveys. The far-infrared background at present day prediced from optical galaxy surveys falls short in explaining the observed one, and we show that this deficit can be removed by taking into account (ultra)luminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs/LIGs) with a seperate star formation rate. The accuracy and reliability of the model, out to redshifts of 5, allow a realistic estimate of the attenuation length of GeV-to-TeV gamma-rays and its uncertainty, which is the focus of a subsequent paper.

12 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

References in corpus (4)

• The Cosmic Infrared Background: Measurements and Implications
• A Long-Wavelength View on Galaxy Evolution from Deep Surveys by the Infrared Space Observatory
• Infrared Emission from the Radio Supernebula in NGC 5253: A Proto-Globular Cluster?
• The First Detections of the Extragalactic Background Light at 3000, 5500, and 8000A (I): Results

Cited by in corpus (91)

• Extragalactic Background Light Inferred from AEGIS Galaxy SED-type Fractions
• The Cosmic Energy Inventory
• Modeling the Extragalactic Background Light from Stars and Dust
• Semi-analytic modeling of the EBL and consequences for extragalactic gamma-ray spectra
• Very-High-Energy Gamma Rays from a Distant Quasar: How Transparent Is the Universe?
• Multiwavelength Observations of Strong Flares From the TeV-Blazar 1ES 1959+650
• 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
• Evidence for a new light spin-zero boson from cosmological gamma-ray propagation?
• 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
• Determination of intergalactic magnetic fields from gamma ray data
• 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
• Dark Matter and Fundamental Physics with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• Modelling the TeV gamma-ray spectra of two low redshift AGNs: Mkn 501 and Mkn 421
• Simultaneous Constraints on the Spectrum of the Extragalactic Background Light and the Intrinsic Tev Spectra of Mrk 421, Mrk 501, and H1426+428
• Fermi Large Area Telescope Constraints on the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe
• Stochastic particle acceleration and synchrotron self--Compton radiation in TeV blazars
• The History of Cosmological Star Formation: Three Independent Approaches and a Critical Test Using the Extragalactic Background Light
• Discovery of Very High Energy gamma-rays from 1ES 1011+496 at z=0.212
• Detection of the cosmic γ-ray horizon from multiwavelength observations of blazars
• Measurement of the Extragalactic Background Light using MAGIC and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of blazars up to z = 1
• PeV neutrinos from intergalactic interactions of cosmic rays emitted by active galactic nuclei
• High energy electromagnetic cascades in extragalactic space: physics and features
• Probing Intergalactic Magnetic Fields in the GLAST Era through Pair Echo Emission from TeV Blazars
• Transparency of the Universe to gamma rays
• Evidence for an axion-like particle from PKS 1222+216?
• A Three-Year Multi-Wavelength Study of the Very High Energy Gamma-ray Blazar 1ES 0229+200
• Photon propagation and the VHE gamma-ray spectra of blazars: how transparent is really the Universe?
• Cosmogenic Neutrinos Challenge the Cosmic Ray Proton Dip Model
• High Energy gamma-rays From FR I Jets
• 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
• Strong New Constraints on the Extragalactic Background Light in the Near- to Mid-IR
• New Fermi-LAT event reconstruction reveals more high-energy gamma rays from Gamma-ray bursts
• Limits on the extragalactic background light in the Fermi era
• The stellar contribution to the extra-galactic background light and absorption of high-energy gamma-rays
• Star formation history, dust attenuation and extragalactic background light
• Probing the Nature of the Weakest Intergalactic Magnetic Fields with the High Energy Emission of Gamma-Ray Bursts
• Multiwavelength Observations of the Blazar Mrk 421 in December 2002 and January 2003
• Shower Power: Isolating the Prompt Atmospheric Neutrino Flux Using Electron Neutrinos
• Observability of the very-high-energy emission from GRB 221009A
• Detectability of Pair Echos from Gamma-Ray Bursts and Intergalactic Magnetic Fields
• Contribution to the Extragalactic Gamma-ray Background from the Cascades of Very-high Energy Gamma Rays from Blazars
• Modeling the Extragalactic Background Light and the Cosmic Star Formation History
• Temporal Evolution of Pair Attenuation Signatures in Gamma-Ray Burst Spectra
• Analytic calculations of the spectra of ultra high energy cosmic ray nuclei. II. The general case of background radiation
• Counting gamma rays in the directions of galaxy clusters
• Blazar halos as probe for extragalactic magnetic fields and maximal acceleration energy
• IceCube astrophysical neutrinos without a spectral cutoff and (10^15-10^17) eV cosmic gamma radiation
• Constraints on the Extragalactic Background Light from Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Observations of Blazars
• Effects of Cosmic Infrared Background on High Energy Delayed Gamma-Rays from Gamma-Ray Bursts
• A method for setting upper limits to the extragalactic background light with Fermi-LAT and TeV observations of blazars
• Cosmogenic Neutrinos from Cosmic Ray Interactions with Extragalactic Infrared Photons
• Kiloparsec-Scale Jets in FR I Radio Galaxies and the Gamma-Ray Background
• Optical depth for VHE gamma-rays from distant sources from a generic EBL density
• First stars and the extragalactic background light: How recent gamma-ray observations constrain the early universe
• Possible Effects of Pair Echoes on Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Emission
• High-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae objects as spectral candles to measure the Extragalactic Background Light in the Fermi and air Cherenkov telescopes era
• No Indications of Axion-Like Particles From Fermi
• BL Lac Contribution to the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background
• VERITAS Observations of the BL Lac Object PG 1553+113
• 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
• Multiwavelength Observations of 1ES 1959+650, One Year After the Strong Outburst of 2002
• Dark matter powered stars: Constraints from the extragalactic background light
• Prospects for Very High Energy Blazar Survey by the Next Generation Cherenkov Telescopes
• Insights into the emission of the blazar 1ES 1011+496 through unprecedented broadband observations during 2011 and 2012
• Exploring the Gamma Ray Horizon with the next generation of Gamma Ray Telescopes. Part 1: Theoretical predictions
• Very High Energy gamma-rays from electron/positron Pair Halos
• Very High Energy Gamma-ray Afterglow Emission of Nearby Gamma-ray Bursts
• 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
• Testing the effective scale of Quantum Gravity with the next generation of Gamma Ray Telescopes
• Exploring the Gamma Ray Horizon with the next generation of Gamma Ray Telescopes. Part 2: Extracting cosmological parameters from the observation of gamma-ray sources
• Novel bounds on decaying axionlike particle dark matter from the cosmic background
• X-ray and TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from Parallel Electron-Positron or Electron-Proton Beams in BL Lac Objects
• Quantum gravity phenomenology at the dawn of the multi-messenger era -- A review
• Constraining the star formation rate with the extragalactic background light
• A search for pair halos around active galactic nuclei through a temporal analysis of Fermi-LAT data
• Extragalactic background light models and GeV-TeV observation of blazars
• Constraining Extragalactic Background Light From TeV Blazars
• Probing the evolution of the EBL photon density out to $z\sim 1$ via $\gamma$-ray propagation measurements with Fermi
• The origin of multi-TeV flares from the nearest blazar Markarian 421
• An Explanation for 13 consecutive days activities of Mrk 421
• The nature of the intrinsic spectra from the VHE emission of H 2356-309 and 1ES 1101-232
• Separating source-intrinsic and Lorentz invariance violation induced delays in the very high energy emission of blazar flares
• Searching for an EBL attenuation signature in the Fermi/LAT 1st year catalog data
• Revisiting the evidences for spectral anomalies in distant blazars: new data on the photon-ALP mixing
• Simultaneously unveiling the EBL and intrinsic spectral parameters of gamma-ray sources with Hamiltonian Monte Carlo
• Intermediate-mass black holes and contribution to extragalactic background light from Population III stars in Milky Way-like galaxies
• Very High Energy Active Galactic Nuclei Synchrotron self-Compton Modeling Tour
• Predictions of TeV emission for a set of hard BL Lac objects