Related papers: Constraining blazars distances with combined GeV a…
Recent observations of the TeV gamma-ray spectra of the two closest active galactic nuclei (AGNs), Markarian 501 (Mrk 501) and Markarian 421 (Mrk 421), by the Whipple and HEGRA collaborations have stimulated efforts to estimate or limit the…
Aims: We derive limits on the EBL density from the energy spectra of distant sources of very high energetic gamma-rays (VHE gamma-rays). Methods: VHE gamma-rays are attenuated by the photons of the EBL via pair production, which leaves an…
The direct measurement of the extragalactic background light (EBL) is difficult at optical to infrared wavelengths because of the strong foreground radiation originating in the Solar System. Very high energy (VHE, E$>$100 GeV) gamma rays…
The Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) can be probed via the absorption imprint it leaves in the spectra of gamma-ray sources ($\gamma\gamma \rightarrow e^-e^+$). We recently developed a dedicated technique to reconstruct the EBL, and its…
TeV blazars are known as prominent nonthermal emitters across the entire electromagnetic spectrum with their photon power peaking in the X-ray and TeV bands. If distant, absorption of gamma-ray photons by the extragalactic background light…
Blazars are some of the brightest UV and X-ray sources in the sky and are valuable probes of the elusive warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM; $T{\simeq} 10^5-10^7$ K). However, many of the brightest blazars$-$called BL Lac objects such as…
Very high-energy gamma-ray emission from PKS 0447-439 was detected with the H.E.S.S. Cherenkov telescope array in December 2009. This blazar is one of the brightest extragalactic objects in the Fermi Bright Source List and has a hard…
We study the possible detection of and properties of very high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission (in the energy band above 100 GeV) from high redshift sources. We report on the detection of VHE gamma-ray flux from blazars with redshifts…
The very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray spectral indices of blazars show strong correlation with the source redshift. Absence of any such correlation in low energy gamma rays and X-rays indicate the presence of Extragalactic Background Light…
Very high energy (VHE) $\gamma$-rays above 10$'$s of GeV energy, emitted from distant blazars, are attenuated by photons from the extragalactic background light (EBL). Unfortunately, neither the EBL nor the intrinsic blazar spectrum is…
The study of the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) is crucial to understand many astrophysical problems (as the formation of first stars, the evolution of galaxies and the role of dust emission). At present, one of the most powerful ways…
We report on VERITAS very-high-energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) observations of six blazars selected from the Fermi Large Area Telescope First Source Catalog (1FGL). The gamma-ray emission from 1FGL sources was extrapolated up to the VHE band,…
The detection of TeV gamma-rays from the blazar H 1426+428 at an integral flux level of (4 +- 2(stat) +- 1(syst)) 10^(-12) erg cm^(-2) s^(-1) above 1 TeV with the HEGRA imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope system is reported. H 1426+428…
Ground-based observatories have been collecting 0.2 - 20 TeV gamma rays from blazars for about twenty years. These gamma rays can experience absorption along the line of sight due to interactions with the extragalactic background light…
When very high-energy photons (VHE, E>100 GeV) propagate over cosmological distances, they interact with background light by pair production. Observations of spectral features in the VHE band of extragalactic sources related to this…
Very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission from a distant source (z >~0.2) can be efficiently absorbed my means of the electron-positron pair creation process. Analyses of the unabsorbed spectra imply that the intrinsic TeV emission of some…
The synergy between the Fermi-LAT and ground-based Cherenkov telescope arrays gives us the opportunity for the first time to characterize the high energy emission (100 MeV - 10 TeV) from more than 30 blazars. In this study we performed a…
The bright gamma-ray quasar 4C +55.17 is a distant source ($z = 0.896$) with a hard spectrum at GeV energies as observed by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the {{\it Fermi}} satellite. This source is identified as a good source…
We discuss prospects for detecting a spectral break in gamma-ray spectra of blazars due to the extragalactic background light (EBL) density falling off between the near and mid-IR. A measurable spectral change in the TeV spectra at 1 TeV…
Gamma-rays propagating through space are likely to be extinguished via electron-positron pair production off of the ambient extragalactic background light (EBL). The spectrum of the EBL is produced by starlight (and starlight reprocessed by…