A lower-limit flux for the extragalactic background light

By Tanja M. Kneiske, H. Dole. 2010

195 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Context. The extragalactic background light (EBL) contains information about the evolution of galaxies from very early times up to the present. The spectral energy distribution is not known accurately, especially in the near- and mid-infrared range. Upper limits and absolute measurements come from direct observations which might be be polluted by foreground emission, while indirect upper limits can also be set by observations of high energy gamma-ray sources. Galaxy number counts integrations of observable galaxies, missing possible faint sources, give strict lower limits. Aims. A model is constructed, which reproduces the EBL lower limit flux. This model can be used for a guaranteed minimum correction of observed spectra of extragalactic gamma-ray sources for extragalactic absorption. Methods. A forward evolution model for the metagalactic radiation field is used to fit recent observations of satelites like Spitzer, ISO, Hubble and GALEX. The model is applied to calculate the Fazio-Stecker relation, and to compute the absorption factor at different redshifts and corrected blazar spectra. Results. A strict lower-limit flux for the evolving extragalactic background light (and in particular the cosmic infrared background) has been calculated up to a redshift of five. The computed flux is below the existing upper limits from direct observations, and agrees with all existing limits derived from very-high energy gamma-ray observations. The corrected spectra still agree with simple theoretical predictions. The derived strict lower-limit EBL flux is very close to the upper limits from gamma-ray observations. This is true for the present day EBL, but also for the diffuse flux at higher redshift. Conclusions. If future detections of high redshift gamma-ray sources require a lower EBL flux than derived here, the physics assumptions used to derive the upper limits have to be revised. The lower-limit EBL model is not only needed for absorption features in active galactic nuclei and other gamma-ray sources, but is also essential when alternative particle processes are tested, which could prevent the high energy gamma-rays from being absorbed. It can also be used for a guaranteed interaction of cosmic-ray particles. The model is available online.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/08ef65ba0fac094bcd62e60827249b50a4fa4fc2

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Citations in the corpus

2FHL: THE SECOND CATALOG OF HARD FERMI-LAT SOURCES (2015, methodology): “…can be parameterized by an optical depth τ that can be derived from empirical EBL models (e.g., Franceschini et al. 2008; Finke et al. 2010; Kneiske & Dole 2010; Domínguez et al. 2011b; Gilmore et al. 2012; Helgason & Kashlinsky 2012; Stecker et al. 2012; Scully et al. 2014; Khaire &…”
Semi-analytic modelling of the extragalactic background light and consequences for extragalactic gamma-ray spectra: Modelling of the EBL and gamma-ray spectra (2012, methodology): “…https://academ ic.oup.com /m nras/article/422/4/3189/1050758 by guest on 17 Septem ber 2022 & Goebel (2007) using MAGIC data and a low-level EBL similar to the level set by galaxy counts found z < 0.69, while Prandini et al. (2009) placed a limit z < 0.67 with the model of Kneiske & Dole (2010).”
TIME DELAY OF CASCADE RADIATION FOR TeV BLAZARS AND THE MEASUREMENT OF THE INTERGALACTIC MAGNETIC FIELD (2010, methodology): “For instance, the EBL model of Finke et al. (2010) gives λγγ (E) ∼= 200 Mpc, 125 Mpc, and 70 Mpc at E = 1, 3, and 10 TeV, respectively, and a low EBL model based on galaxy counts (Kneiske & Dole 2010) gives λγγ (E) ∼= 280 Mpc, 150 Mpc, and 85 Mpc, respectively.”
THE EMISSION BY DUST AND STARS OF NEARBY GALAXIES IN THE HERSCHEL KINGFISH SURVEY (2011, background): “A number of authors have investigated the EBL and have quantified it at different wavelengths (e.g., Hauser et al. 1998; Hauser & Dwek 2001; Dole et al. 2006; Béthermin et al. 2010; Kneiske & Dole 2010).”
MAGIC DISCOVERY OF VERY HIGH ENERGY EMISSION FROM THE FSRQ PKS 1222+21 (2011, methodology): “…due to pair-production with low energy photons of the EBL by using different state-of-the-art EBL models, namely the models by Dominguez et al. (2011); Kneiske & Dole (2010); Gilmore et al. (2009); Franceschini et al. (2008) and the “max high UV” EBL model described in Albert et al. (2008a).”
BLAZARS AS ULTRA-HIGH-ENERGY COSMIC-RAY SOURCES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TeV GAMMA-RAY OBSERVATIONS (2011, methodology): “For the EBL model, we employ the low-IR and best-fit models (Kneiske et al. 2004; Kneiske & Dole 2010, see Finke et al. 2011 for detailed discussions on the EBL).”
Extreme TeV blazars and the intergalactic magnetic field (2010, result): “…Gilmore et al. (2009), Finke et al. (2010), Dominguez et al. (2010), agree well (but see Orr et al. 2011) and are consistent with the low level of the EBL suggested by the rec nt observations of Cherenkov telescopes (e.g. Aharonian et al. 2006, Mazin & Raue 2007; see also Kneiske & Dole 2010).”
The intergalactic magnetic field constrained by Fermi/LAT observations of the TeV blazar 1ES 0229+200 (2010, background): “…et al. (2008), Gilmore et al. (2009), Finke et al. (2010) agree well (see e.g. the discussion of Finke et al. 2010) and are consiste t with the low level of the EBL suggested by recent observations f Cherenkov telescopes (e.g. Aharonian et al. 2006, Mazin & Raue 2007; see also Kneiske & Dole 2010).”
Indications for a pair-production anomaly from the propagation of VHE gamma-rays (2012, methodology): “These analyses constrain the maximum level of the EBL consistently to be close to [18–20] and even slightly below (in the mid-infrared) [21] the guaranteed level of the EBL [22].”
CONTRIBUTION OF GAMMA-RAY-LOUD RADIO GALAXIES’ CORE EMISSIONS TO THE COSMIC MeV AND GeV GAMMA-RAY BACKGROUND RADIATION (2011, background): “Here ω(Fγ [Lγ , z]) is the detection efficiency of Fermi at the photon flux Fγ , which corresponds to the flux from a source with a gamma-ray luminosity Lγ at redshift z. High-energy γ -rays ( 20 GeV) propagating through the universe are absorbed by the interaction with the extragalactic background ”
THE EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND LIGHT, THE HUBBLE CONSTANT, AND ANOMALIES: CONCLUSIONS FROM 20 YEARS OF TeV GAMMA-RAY OBSERVATIONS (2015, methodology): “Horns & Meyer (2012) model a sample of 50 spectra and assume an EBL intensity fixed to the model of Kneiske & Dole (2010).”
LOWER LIMIT ON THE STRENGTH AND FILLING FACTOR OF EXTRAGALACTIC MAGNETIC FIELDS (2011, methodology): “We use as EBL background the best-fit model from the calculations of Kneiske & Dole (2010).”