A low level of extragalactic background light as revealed by γ-rays from blazars

被引:466
作者
Aharonian, F
Akhperjanian, AG
Bazer-Bachi, AR
Beilicke, M
Benbow, W
Berge, D
Bernlöhr, K
Boisson, C
Bolz, O
Borrel, V
Braun, I
Breitling, F
Brown, AM
Chadwick, PM
Chounet, LM
Cornils, R
Costamante, L
Degrange, B
Dickinson, HJ
Djannati-Ataï, A
Drury, LO
Dubus, G
Emmanoulopoulos, D
Espigat, P
Feinstein, F
Fontaine, G
Fuchs, Y
Funk, S
Gallant, YA
Giebels, B
Gillessen, S
Glicenstein, JF
Goret, P
Hadjichristidis, C
Hauser, D
Hauser, M
Heinzelmann, G
Henri, G
Hermann, G
Hinton, JA
Hofmann, W
Holleran, M
Horns, D
Jacholkowska, A
de Jager, OC
Khélifi, B
Klages, S
Komin, N
Konopelko, A
Latham, IJ
机构
[1] Max Planck Inst Kernphys, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany
[2] Yerevan Phys Inst, Yerevan 375036, Armenia
[3] UPS, CNRS, Ctr Etud Spatiale Rayonnements, F-31029 Toulouse 4, France
[4] Univ Hamburg, Inst Expt Phys, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany
[5] Humboldt Univ, Inst Phys, D-12489 Berlin, Germany
[6] Observ Paris, Sect Meudon, LUTH, CNRS,UMR 8102, F-92195 Meudon, France
[7] Univ Durham, Dept Phys, Durham DH1 3LE, England
[8] Ecole Polytech, Lab Leprince Ringuet, CNRS, IN2P3, F-91128 Palaiseau, France
[9] APC, F-75231 Paris 05, France
[10] Dublin Inst Adv Studies, Dublin 2, Ireland
[11] Landessternwarte Konigstuhl, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
[12] Univ Montpellier 2, Lab Phys Theor & Astroparticules, CNRS, IN2P3, F-34095 Montpellier 5, France
[13] Univ Grenoble 1, Lab Astrophys Grenoble, CNRS, INSU, F-38041 Grenoble 9, France
[14] Ctr Etud Saclay, CEA, DSM, DAPNIA, F-91191 Gif Sur Yvette, France
[15] North West Univ, Unit Space Phys, ZA-2520 Potchefstroom, South Africa
[16] Univ Paris 06, Lab Phys Nucl & Hautes Energies, CNRS, IN2P3, F-75252 Paris 5, France
[17] Univ Paris 07, Lab Phys Nucl & Hautes Energies, CNRS, IN2P3, F-75252 Paris 5, France
[18] Ruhr Univ Bochum, Inst Theoret Phys, Lehrstuhl Weltraum & Astrophys 4, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
[19] Charles Univ Prague, Inst Nucl & Particle Phys, CR-18000 Prague 8, Czech Republic
[20] Univ Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
基金
新加坡国家研究基金会;
关键词
D O I
10.1038/nature04680
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The diffuse extragalactic background light consists of the sum of the starlight emitted by galaxies through the history of the Universe, and it could also have an important contribution from the 'first stars', which may have formed before galaxy formation began. Direct measurements are difficult and not yet conclusive, owing to the large uncertainties caused by the bright foreground emission associated with zodiacal light(1). An alternative approach(2-5) is to study the absorption features imprinted on the gamma-ray spectra of distant extragalactic objects by interactions of those photons with the background light photons(6). Here we report the discovery of gamma-ray emission from the blazars(7) H 2356-309 and 1ES 1101-232, at redshifts z=0.165 and z=0.186, respectively. Their unexpectedly hard spectra provide an upper limit on the background light at optical/near-infrared wavelengths that appears to be very close to the lower limit given by the integrated light of resolved galaxies(8). The background flux at these wavelengths accordingly seems to be strongly dominated by the direct starlight from galaxies, thus excluding a large contribution from other sources-in particular from the first stars formed(9). This result also indicates that intergalactic space is more transparent to gamma-rays than previously thought.
引用
收藏
页码:1018 / 1021
页数:4
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