Has the Optical Extragalactic Background Light Been Detected?

Mattila, K.

doi:10.1086/375182

Cited by 49 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The discrepancy between the resolved and total EBL could be explained by a population of ultra faint and numerous galaxies at U ≥ 27, beyond the current limits of the present surveys and with a log N-log S slope steeper than 0.5, or by an improper subtraction of the foreground components, as stated in Mattila (2003) and Bernstein (2007).…”

Section: The Uv Extragalactic Background Lightmentioning

confidence: 58%

Wide and deep near-UV (360 nm) galaxy counts and the extragalactic background light with the Large Binocular Camera

Grazian

Menci

Giallongo

et al. 2009

A&A

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Context. Deep multicolour surveys are the main tool for exploring the formation and evolution of the very faint galaxies that are beyond the spectroscopic limit of present technology. The photometric properties of these faint galaxies are usually compared with current renditions of semianalytical models to provide constraints on the detailed treatment of the fundamental physical processes involved in galaxy formation and evolution, namely the mass assembly and the star formation. Aims. Galaxy counts over large sky areas in the 360 nm near-UV band are particularly difficult to obtain given the low efficiency of near-UV instrumentation, even at 8 m class telescopes. Observing in the near-UV bands can provide a first assessment of the distribution of star formation activity in distant (up to z ∼ 3) galaxies. A relatively large instrumental field of view helps to minimize the biases caused by cosmic variance. Methods. We obtained deep images in the 360 nm U band provided by the blue channel of the Large Binocular Camera at the prime focus of the Large Binocular Telescope. Over an area of 0.4 sq. deg., we derived the galaxy number counts down to U = 27 in the Vega system (corresponding to U = 27.86 in the AB system) at a completeness level of 30% reaching the faintest current limit for this wavelength and sky area. Results. The shape of the galaxy number counts in the U band can be described by a double power-law, the bright side being consistent with the shape of shallower surveys of comparable or greater areas. The slope bends over significantly at U > 23.5 ensuring the convergence of the contribution by star-forming galaxies to the extragalactic background light in the near-UV band to a value that is more than 70% of the most recent upper limits derived for this band. We jointly compared our near-UV and K band counts collected from the literature with a few selected hierarchical CDM models, concentrating on specific critical issues in the physical description of the galaxy formation and evolution.

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Section: The Uv Extragalactic Background Lightmentioning

confidence: 58%

Wide and deep near-UV (360 nm) galaxy counts and the extragalactic background light with the Large Binocular Camera

Grazian

Menci

Giallongo

et al. 2009

A&A

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“…The reported values are presented in Table 2.2. It has been argued that these results are awed because of errors in the determination of the zodiacal light from their ground-based observations [175]. The applied corrections led to higher nominal uxes at the same time that the 1σ errors became so large that the reported detection has been put into question.…”

Section: Foreground Subtraction Of the Sky Brightnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting the EBL Attenuation of Blazars with GLAST

Reyes¹

2007

AIP Conference Proceedings

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The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope) due for launch in late 2007 will study the gamma-ray sky in the energy range 20 MeV to >300 GeV. GLAST-LAT's improved sensitivity with respect to previous missions will increase the number of known gamma-ray blazars from about 100 to thousands, with redshifts up to z∼3-5. Since γ-rays with energy above 10 GeV interact via pair-production with photons from the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL), the systematic attenuation of GLAST-detected blazars as a function of redshift would constitute and eective and unique probe of the optical-UV EBL density and its evolution over cosmic history.Analysis techniques introduced in this dissertation make use of the large number of blazars detected by GLAST to study the collective behavior of their spectra as a function of redshift. These techniques are shown to oer powerful ways to help separate the common level of attenuation due to the EBL from the intrinsic peculiarities of individual blazars.The capability of GLAST to perform these measurements depends in great measure on the acceptance of the instrument to high energy γ-rays (E > 10 GeV), which in previous space-experiments has been drastically reduced due to backsplash self-veto.This dissertation includes a study of the backsplash eect as measured with ightlike detectors during a beam test of the LAT calibration unit. This analysis was used to verify the capabilities of the GLAST simulations tools to reproduce backsplash eects.

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“…Claims that the extragalactic background radiation at optical wavelengths has now been detected (Bernstein et al, 2002a,b) remain contested (Mattila 2003;Bernstein et al, 2005). The uncertainties about the intensity and spectrum of the optical extragalactic background radiation also affect the interpretation of the interpretation of the nearinfrared extragalactic background light, for which measurements were reported recently by Matsumoto et al (2005).…”

Section: Cosmic Background Radiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commission 21: Light of the Night Sky

Gustafson¹,

Witt²,

Dwek³

et al. 2005

Proc. IAU

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Commission 21, one of IAU's smallest commissions, consists of some hundred members and consultants working to understand and describe the light of the night sky with emphasis on the diffuse components. Many more work on these topics without being members of the commission. Light is here defined in its broader sense of electromagnetic radiation of any frequency. The diffuse components of the light of the night sky encompass a variety of physical phenomena over the full range of cosmic distance scales and include scattered light, thermal emission, line emission, and any other emission phenomena producing a diffuse light source. These attract interest not only as scientific topics of study in their own right but also as an unwanted foreground or background against which all other sky phenomena are observed. Commission 21 has for mandate to promote research and availability of results on issues related to the diffuse light of the night sky. This document is a report on activities in this field and is not confined to the activities of its members, no distinction is made between work carried out by commission members and non commission members. The report is organized starting with a summary of the state of broad surveys that provide most of the observations. The report on developments in the various disciplines start with the sources closest to the observer known as airglow and progresses by way of the interplanetary and interstellar mediums to the increasingly distant integrated starlight, diffuse galactic light and diffuse emission in other galaxies ending with the extragalactic background radiation.

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Has the Optical Extragalactic Background Light Been Detected?

Cited by 49 publications

References 31 publications

Wide and deep near-UV (360 nm) galaxy counts and the extragalactic background light with the Large Binocular Camera

Wide and deep near-UV (360 nm) galaxy counts and the extragalactic background light with the Large Binocular Camera

Detecting the EBL Attenuation of Blazars with GLAST

Commission 21: Light of the Night Sky

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