Related papers: Detecting a unique EBL signature with TeV gamma ra…
The intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) in cosmic voids can be indirectly probed through its effect on electromagnetic cascades initiated by a source of TeV gamma rays, such as blazars, a subclass of active galactic nuclei. Blazars that are…
Gamma rays from extragalactic sources are attenuated by pair-production interactions with diffuse photons of the extragalactic background light (EBL). Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are a source of high-redshift photons above 10 GeV, and could be…
Published EGRET spectra from blazars extend only to 10 GeV, yet EGRET has detected approximately 2000 gamma-rays above 10 GeV of which about half are at high Galactic latitude. We report a search of these high-energy gamma-rays for…
We calculate the gamma-ray spectrum of a distant blazar, PKS 1424+240, located at redshift z > 0.6035, where the optical depth to primary gamma rays of the highest observed energies is \tau > 5. The spectral shape agrees well with what is…
Extremely High energy peaked BL Lac (EHBL) objects are a special class of blazars with peculiar observational properties at X-ray and $\gamma$--ray energies. The observations of these sources indicate hard X-ray and $\gamma$--ray spectra…
The absorption of TeV $\gamma$-ray photons produced in relativistic jets by surrounding soft photon fields is a long-standing problem of jet physics. In some cases the most likely emission site close to the central black hole is ruled out…
Our goal is to limit the redshifts of three blazars PG 1553+113, 3C 66A and PKS 1424+240, through the investigation of their Fermi and VHE (very high energy) $\gamma$-ray observations. We assume that the intrinsic spectra of PG 1553+113, 3C…
Axion-like particles (ALPs) provide a feasible explanation for the observed lower TeV opacity of the Universe. If the anomaly TeV transparency is caused by ALPs, then the fluxes of distant extragalactic sources will be enhanced at photon…
The extragalactic background light records the history of infrared, optical and ultraviolet light radiation including re-radiation since the epoch of reionization. While challenging to measure directly, it can be measured indirectly via its…
1ES 1218+304 is among a group of several TeV blazars that exhibit surprisingly hard energy spectra given their redshifts. The VERITAS collaboration has carried out an intensive observing campaign of 1ES 1218+304 in early 2009 to…
The recent detection by LHAASO up to 18 TeV of the gamma ray burst GRB 221009A at redshift $z = 0.151$ challenges standard physics because of the strong absorption due to the extragalactic background light (EBL) for photons with energies…
Since 2002, the number of detected blazars at E_\gamma > 100 GeV has more than doubled. I study all currently known BL Lac-type objects with published energy spectra. Their intrinsic energy spectra are reconstructed by removing…
The extragalactic background light (EBL) is all the electromagnetic energy released by resolved and unresolved extragalactic sources since the recombination era. Its intensity and spectral shape provide information about the evolution of…
Astrophysical sources outside the Milky Way, such as active galactic nuclei and star-forming galaxies, leave their imprint on the gamma-ray sky as nearly isotropic emission referred to as the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background (EGB). While…
Very high energy (VHE $>$100 GeV) gamma rays coming from blazars can produce pairs when interacting with the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) and the Cosmic Microwave Background, generating an electromagnetic cascade. Depending on the…
We introduce a new method to determine the redshift of unknown-redshift BL Lac Objects. The method relies on simultaneous multi-wavelength (MWL) observations of BL Lac objects in optical, X-ray, HE (E>100 MeV) gamma-rays and VHE (E>100…
TeV gamma-rays from the BL Lac object 1ES1959+650 have been measured during the years 2000 and 2001 with a significance of 5.2 sigma at a value of 5.3% of the Crab flux and in May 2002 during strong outbursts with > 23 sigma at a flux level…
In recent years, blazar surveys at radio and X-ray energies have greatly increased our understanding of this type of active galaxy. The combination of multi-wavelength data has shown that blazars follow a well defined sequence in terms of…
The Fermi Gamma-ray Observatory discovered about a thousand extragalactic sources emitting energy from 100 MeV to 100 GeV. The majority of these sources belong to the class of blazars characterized by a quasi-featureless optical spectrum…
The recent detection of gamma-ray burst GRB~221009A has attracted attention due to its record brightness and first-ever detection of $\gtrsim 10$ TeV $\gamma$ rays from a GRB. Despite being the second-nearest GRB ever detected, at a…