Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Nov 30;338(6111):1190-2.
doi: 10.1126/science.1227160. Epub 2012 Nov 1.

The imprint of the extragalactic background light in the gamma-ray spectra of blazars

M Ackermann  1 , M Ajello, A Allafort, P Schady, L Baldini, J Ballet, G Barbiellini, D Bastieri, R Bellazzini, R D Blandford, E D Bloom, A W Borgland, E Bottacini, A Bouvier, J Bregeon, M Brigida, P Bruel, R Buehler, S Buson, G A Caliandro, R A Cameron, P A Caraveo, E Cavazzuti, C Cecchi, E Charles, R C G Chaves, A Chekhtman, C C Cheung, J Chiang, G Chiaro, S Ciprini, R Claus, J Cohen-Tanugi, J Conrad, S Cutini, F D'Ammando, F de Palma, C D Dermer, S W Digel, E do Couto e Silva, A Domínguez, P S Drell, A Drlica-Wagner, C Favuzzi, S J Fegan, W B Focke, A Franckowiak, Y Fukazawa, S Funk, P Fusco, F Gargano, D Gasparrini, N Gehrels, S Germani, N Giglietto, F Giordano, M Giroletti, T Glanzman, G Godfrey, I A Grenier, J E Grove, S Guiriec, M Gustafsson, D Hadasch, M Hayashida, E Hays, M S Jackson, T Jogler, J Kataoka, J Knödlseder, M Kuss, J Lande, S Larsson, L Latronico, F Longo, F Loparco, M N Lovellette, P Lubrano, M N Mazziotta, J E McEnery, J Mehault, P F Michelson, T Mizuno, C Monte, M E Monzani, A Morselli, I V Moskalenko, S Murgia, A Tramacere, E Nuss, J Greiner, M Ohno, T Ohsugi, N Omodei, M Orienti, E Orlando, J F Ormes, D Paneque, J S Perkins, M Pesce-Rollins, F Piron, G Pivato, T A Porter, S Rainò, R Rando, M Razzano, S Razzaque, A Reimer, O Reimer, L C Reyes, S Ritz, A Rau, C Romoli, M Roth, M Sánchez-Conde, D A Sanchez, J D Scargle, C Sgrò, E J Siskind, G Spandre, P Spinelli, Łukasz Stawarz, D J Suson, H Takahashi, T Tanaka, J G Thayer, D J Thompson, L Tibaldo, M Tinivella, D F Torres, G Tosti, E Troja, T L Usher, J Vandenbroucke, V Vasileiou, G Vianello, V Vitale, A P Waite, B L Winer, K S Wood, M Wood
Affiliations

The imprint of the extragalactic background light in the gamma-ray spectra of blazars

M Ackermann et al. Science. .

Abstract

The light emitted by stars and accreting compact objects through the history of the universe is encoded in the intensity of the extragalactic background light (EBL). Knowledge of the EBL is important to understand the nature of star formation and galaxy evolution, but direct measurements of the EBL are limited by galactic and other foreground emissions. Here, we report an absorption feature seen in the combined spectra of a sample of gamma-ray blazars out to a redshift of z ∼ 1.6. This feature is caused by attenuation of gamma rays by the EBL at optical to ultraviolet frequencies and allowed us to measure the EBL flux density in this frequency band.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

  • Extragalactic background light measurements and applications.
    Cooray A. Cooray A. R Soc Open Sci. 2016 Mar 9;3(3):150555. doi: 10.1098/rsos.150555. eCollection 2016 Mar. R Soc Open Sci. 2016. PMID: 27069645 Free PMC article. Review.
  • A low level of extragalactic background light as revealed by gamma-rays from blazars.
    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, Le Gallou R, Lemière A, Lemoine-Goumard M, Leroy N, Lohse T, Martin JM, Martineau-Huynh O, Marcowith A, Masterson C, McComb TJ, de Naurois M, Nolan SJ, Noutsos A, Orford KJ, Osborne JL, Ouchrif M, Panter M, Pelletier G, Pita S, Pühlhofer G, Punch M, Raubenheimer BC, Raue M, Raux J, Rayner SM, Reimer A, Reimer O, Ripken J, Rob L, Rolland L, Rowell G, Sahakian V, Saugé L, Schlenker S, Schlickeiser R, Schuster C, Schwanke U, Siewert M, Sol H, Spangler D, Steenkamp R, Stegmann C, Tavernet JP, Terrier R, Théoret CG, Tluczykont M, van Eldik C, Vasileiadis G, Venter C, Vincent P, Völk HJ, Wagner SJ. Aharonian F, et al. Nature. 2006 Apr 20;440(7087):1018-21. doi: 10.1038/nature04680. Nature. 2006. PMID: 16625189
  • A gamma-ray determination of the Universe's star formation history.
    Fermi-LAT Collaboration. Fermi-LAT Collaboration. Science. 2018 Nov 30;362(6418):1031-1034. doi: 10.1126/science.aat8123. Science. 2018. PMID: 30498122
  • Quasars, blazars, and gamma rays.
    Dermer CD, Schlickeiser R. Dermer CD, et al. Science. 1992 Sep 18;257(5077):1642-7. doi: 10.1126/science.257.5077.1642. Science. 1992. PMID: 17841159
  • Fast variability of tera-electron volt gamma rays from the radio galaxy M87.
    Aharonian F, Akhperjanian AG, Bazer-Bachi AR, Beilicke M, Benbow W, Berge D, Bernlöhr K, Boisson C, Bolz O, Borrel V, Braun I, Brown AM, Bühler R, Büsching I, Carrigan S, Chadwick PM, Chounet LM, Coignet G, Cornils R, Costamante L, Degrange B, Dickinson HJ, Djannati-Ataï A, Drury LO, Dubus G, Egberts K, Emmanoulopoulos D, Espigat P, Feinstein F, Ferrero E, Fiasson A, Fontaine G, Funk S, Funk S, Füssling M, Gallant YA, Giebels B, Glicenstein JF, Goret P, Hadjichristidis C, Hauser D, Hauser M, Heinzelmann G, Henri G, Hermann G, Hinton JA, Hoffmann A, Hofmann W, Holleran M, Hoppe S, Horns D, Jacholkowska A, de Jager OC, Kendziorra E, Kerschhaggl M, Khélifi B, Komin N, Konopelko A, Kosack K, Lamanna G, Latham IJ, Le Gallou R, Lemière A, Lemoine-Goumard M, Lenain JP, Lohse T, Martin JM, Martineau-Huynh O, Marcowith A, Masterson C, Maurin G, McComb TJ, Moulin E, de Naurois M, Nedbal D, Nolan SJ, Noutsos A, Orford KJ, Osborne JL, Ouchrif M, Panter M, Pelletier G, Pita S, Pühlhofer G, Punch M, Ranchon S, Raubenheimer BC, Raue M, Rayner SM, Reimer A, Ripken J, Rob L, Rolland L, Rosier-Lees S, Rowell G, Sahakian V, Santangelo A, Saugé L, Schlenker S, Schlickeiser R, Schröder R, Schwanke U, … See abstract for full author list ➔ Aharonian F, et al. Science. 2006 Dec 1;314(5804):1424-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1134408. Epub 2006 Oct 26. Science. 2006. PMID: 17068224
See all similar articles

Cited by

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources