The extragalactic background light (EBL) is of fundamental importance both for understanding the entire process of galaxy evolution and for gamma-ray astronomy. However, the overall spectrum of the EBL between 0.1 and 1000 microns has never been determined directly neither from observed luminosity functions (LFs), over a wide redshift range, nor from any multiwavelength observation of galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs). The evolving, overall spectrum of the EBL is derived here utilizing a novel method based on observations only. It is emphasized that the local EBL seems already well constrained from the UV up to the mid-IR. Since different independent methodologies such as direct measurement, galaxy counts, gamma-ray attenuation and realistic EBL modelings point towards the same EBL intensity level. A relevant contribution from Pop III stars to the local EBL seems unlikely.
@article{arxiv.1111.4435,
title = {An empirical approach to the extragalactic background light from AEGIS galaxy SED-type fractions},
author = {Alberto Domínguez},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1111.4435},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Contributed talk at the IAU 284 SED2011 Symposium, Preston, UK, September 5-9, 2011; 4 pages, 1 figure. Online material available at http://side.iaa.es/EBL