English

GeV-TeV $\gamma$-ray energy spectral break of BL Lac objects

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2018-08-08 v1

Abstract

In this paper, we compile the very-high-energy and high-energy spectral indices of 43 BL Lac objects from the literature. Based on a simple math model, ΔΓobs=αz+β\Delta\Gamma_{obs}=\alpha {\rm{z}}+\beta , we present evidence for the origin of an observed spectral break that is denoted by the difference between the observed very-high-energy and high-energy spectral indices, ΔΓobs\Delta\Gamma_{obs}. We find by linear regression analysis that α0\alpha\ne 0 and β0\beta\ne 0. These results suggest that the extragalactic background light attenuation and the intrinsic curvature dominate on the GeV-TeV γ\gamma-ray energy spectral break of BL Lac objects. We argue that the extragalactic background light attenuation is an exclusive explanation for the redshift evolution of the observed spectral break.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1808.00599,
  title  = {GeV-TeV $\gamma$-ray energy spectral break of BL Lac objects},
  author = {W. Zhong and W. G. Liu and Y. G. Zheng},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.00599},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in APSS