Extragalactic Gamma-ray Background Research Articles

Extragalactic electromagnetic cascades and cascade gamma-ray emission in magnetic fields of various strength

We discuss the magnetic field influence on diffuse gamma-ray emission from extragalactic electromagnetic cascades initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Regions in space vary considerably in field strength: it is possibly of 10−12 G and lower in voids, of ∼10−6 G inside galaxies, galactic clusters and groups, of ∼10−7 G around them, and of ∼10−8–10−9 G in filaments. Structures having fields higher than in voids occupy comparatively small fraction of the Universe, so they affect weakly on cascade emission. Still knowledge of this influence may be relevant studying large-scale component of the extragalactic magnetic field and to the search for exotic particles, as in the latter case contribution of all components to extragalactic gamma-ray background should be known, one of which is cascade emission. To study magnetic field effect we simulate particle propagation in homogeneous magnetic field of ∼10−6, 10−9, and 10−12 G and lower. It is found that in fields of ∼10−9 G and lower the spectra of diffuse cascade gamma-rays at energies E ≤ 1017 eV coincide. Thus no specific models of EGMF are required to study contribution of cascade emission in the extragalactic gamma-ray background at E ≤ 1017 eV. In the case of uniform field of 10−6 G (which seems to be unrealistic), this inference is valid in the energy range of ∼107109 eV. Results obtained can be also used studying large-scale component of the extragalactic magnetic field.

Primordial black holes induced stochastic axion-photon oscillations in primordial magnetic field

Primordial black holes (PBHs) can be produced in the very early Universe due to the large density fluctuations. The cosmic background of axion-like particles (ALPs) could be non-thermally generated by PBHs. In this paper, we investigate the ALPs emitted by ultra-light PBHs with the mass range 10g ≲ M PBH ≲ 109 g, in which PBHs would have completely evaporated before the start of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and can therefore not be directly constrained. In this case, the minimal scenario that ALPs could interact only with photons is supposed. We study the stochastic oscillations between the ALPs and photons in the cosmic magnetic field in detail. The primordial magnetic field (PMF) can be modelled as the stochastic background field model with the completely non-homogeneous component of the cosmic plasma. Using the latest stringent limits on PMF, we show the numerical results of ALP-photon oscillation probability distributions with the homogeneous and stochastic magnetic field scenarios. The PBH-induced stochastic ALP-photon oscillations in the PMF may have the effects on some further phenomena, such as the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the cosmic X-ray background (CXB), and the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB).

Influence of Extragalactic Magnetic Fields on Extragalactic Cascade Gamma-Ray Emission

We discuss the influence of extragalactic magnetic fields on the intensity of gamma-ray emission produced in electromagnetic cascades from ultra-high energy cosmic rays propagating in extragalactic space. Both cosmic rays and cascade particles propagate mostly out of galaxies, galactic clusters, and large-scale structures, as their relative volume is small. Therefore, their magnetic fields weakly affect emission produced in cascades. Yet, estimates of this influence can be useful in searching for dark matter particles when components of extragalactic gamma-ray background should be known, including cascade gamma-ray emission. To study magnetic field influence on cascade emission, we calculated cosmic particle propagation in fields of ~10−6 and 10−12 G (the former is typical inside galaxies and clusters and the latter is common in voids and outside galaxies and clusters). The calculated spectra of cascade gamma-ray emissions are similar in the range of ~107–109 eV, so analyzing cascade emission in this range it is not necessary to specify models of an extragalactic magnetic field.

High-energy Emission Component, Population, and Contribution to the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background of Gamma-Ray-emitting Radio Galaxies

In this study, we systematically studied the X-ray to GeV gamma-ray spectra of 61 Fermi Large Area Telescope detected radio galaxies. We found an anticorrelation between peak frequency and peak luminosity in the high-energy spectral component of radio galaxies, similar to blazars. With this sample, we also constructed a gamma-ray luminosity function (GLF) of gamma-ray-loud radio galaxies. We found that blazar-like GLF shapes can reproduce their redshift and luminosity distribution, but the log N–log S relation prefers models with more low-z radio galaxies. Utilizing our latest GLF, the contribution of radio galaxies to the extragalactic gamma-ray background is found to be 1%–10%. We further investigated the nature of gamma-ray-loud radio galaxies. Compared to radio or X-ray flux-limited radio galaxy samples, the gamma-ray-selected sample tends to lack high radio power galaxies like FR II radio galaxies. We also found that only ∼10% of radio galaxies are GeV gamma-ray loud. Radio galaxies may contribute to the cosmic MeV gamma-ray background comparable to blazars if gamma-ray-quiet radio galaxies have X-ray to gamma-ray spectra like Cen A, with a small gamma-ray-to-X-ray flux ratio.

Constraints on ultracompact minihalos from the extragalactic gamma-ray background observation

Ultracompact minihalo (UCMH) is a special type of dark matter halo with a very steep density profile that may form in the early Universe seeded by an overdense region or a primordial black hole. Constraints on its abundance give valuable information on the power spectrum of primordial perturbation. In this work, we update the constraints on the UCMH abundance in the Universe using the extragalactic gamma-ray background observation. Comparing to previous works, we adopt the updated Fermi-LAT extragalactic gamma-ray background measurement and derive constraints based on a full consideration of the astrophysical contributions. With these improvements, we place constraints on UCMH abundance 1--2 orders of magnitude better than previous results. With the background components considered, we can also attempt to search for possible additional components beyond the known astrophysical contributions.

Multiwavelength radiation models for low-luminosity GRBs and the implications for UHECRs

ABSTRACT We study the prompt phase of low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts (ll-GRBs) as potential source of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-rays and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). Within the internal shock model, we choose parameters for the relativistic outflow such that our representative events have observed properties similar to GRBs 980425, 100316D, and 120714B, and self-consistently calculate the full spectral and temporal properties in a leptonic synchrotron self-Compton scenario. To investigate the conditions under which inverse Compton radiation may lead to a peak in the GeV–TeV range, we vary the fraction of internal energy supplying the magnetic field. Further, we determine the maximal energies achievable for UHECR nuclei and derive constraints on the baryonic loading/typical duration by comparing to the extragalactic gamma-ray background. We find that ll-GRBs are potential targets for multiwavelength studies and in reach for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) and optical/UV instruments. For comparable sub-MeV emission and similar dynamical evolution of the outflow, weak (strong) magnetic fields induce high (low) fluxes in the VHE regime and low (high) fluxes in the optical. VHE emission may be suppressed by γγ-absorption close to the engine or interactions with the extragalactic background light for redshifts z > 0.1. For UHECRs, the maximal energies of iron nuclei (protons) can be as high as ≃1011 GeV (1010 GeV) if the magnetic energy density is large (and the VHE component is correspondingly weak). These high energies are possible by decoupling the production regions of UHECR and gamma-rays in our multizone model. Finally, we find basic consistency with the energy budget needed to accommodate the UHECR origin from ll-GRBs.

Effect of axion-like particles on the spectrum of the extragalactic gamma-ray background

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 energies beyond TeV, resulting in an enhancement of the observed extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB) spectrum. In this work, we have investigated the ALP modulation on the EGB spectrum at TeV energies. Our results show that in the most optimistic case, the existence of ALPs can cause the EGB spectrum to greatly deviate from the prediction of a pure extragalactic-background-light (EBL) absorption scenario. The deviation occurs at approximately ≳1 TeV, and the current EGB measurements by Fermi-LAT cannot identify such an effect. We also find that most of the sensitive ALP parameters have been ruled out by existing constraints, leaving only a small region of unrestricted parameters that can be probed using the EGB effect investigated in this work. Observations from forthcoming very-high-energy instruments like LHAASO and CTA may be beneficial for the study of this effect.

Cosmological Evolution of Fermi Large Area Telescope Gamma-Ray Blazars Using Novel Nonparametric Methods

Abstract Multiwavelength analyses of spectra of active galactic nuclei provide useful information on the physical processes in the accretion disk and jets of black holes. This, however, is limited to bright sources and may not represent the population as a whole. Another approach is through the investigation of the cosmological evolution of the luminosity function (LF), which shows varied evolution (luminosity and density) at different wavelengths. These differences and the correlations between luminosities can shed light on the jet-accretion disk connection. Most such studies use forward fitting parametric methods that involve several functions and many parameters. We use nonparametric, nonbinning methods developed by Efron & Petrosian and Lynden-Bell, for obtaining unbiased description of the evolution of the LF, from data truncated by observational selection effects. We present an analysis of the evolution of gamma-ray LF of blazars with a main focus on flat-spectrum radio quasars. This requires analysis of both gamma-ray and optical data, essential for redshift measurements, and a description of the joint LF. We use a new approach that divides the sample into two subsamples, each with its own flux limit. We use the Fermi Large Area Telescope and GAIA observations, and present results on the gamma-ray LF and its evolution, and determine the intrinsic correlation between the gamma-ray and optical luminosities corrected for the well-known false correlation induced by their similar redshift dependence and evolution of the two luminosities. We also present a direct estimation of the contribution of blazars to the spectrum of the extragalactic gamma-ray background.

Starburst galaxies strike back: a multi-messenger analysis with Fermi-LAT and IceCube data

ABSTRACT Starburst galaxies, which are known as ‘reservoirs’ of high-energy cosmic-rays, can represent an important high-energy neutrino ‘factory’ contributing to the diffuse neutrino flux observed by IceCube. In this paper, we revisit the constraints affecting the neutrino and gamma-ray hadronuclear emissions from this class of astrophysical objects. In particular, we go beyond the standard prototype-based approach leading to a simple power-law neutrino flux, and investigate a more realistic model based on a data-driven blending of spectral indexes, thereby capturing the observed changes in the properties of individual emitters. We then perform a multi-messenger analysis considering the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB) measured by Fermi-LAT and different IceCube data samples: the 7.5-yr high-energy starting events (HESE) and the 6-yr high-energy cascade data. Along with starburst galaxies, we take into account the contributions from blazars and radio galaxies as well as the secondary gamma-rays from electromagnetic cascades. Remarkably, we find that, differently from the highly-constrained prototype scenario, the spectral index blending allows starburst galaxies to account for up to $40{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the HESE events at $95.4{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ CL, while satisfying the limit on the non-blazar EGB component. Moreover, values of $\mathcal {O}(100\, \mathrm{PeV})$ for the maximal energy of accelerated cosmic-rays by supernovae remnants inside the starburst are disfavoured in our scenario. In broad terms, our analysis points out that a better modelling of astrophysical sources could alleviate the tension between neutrino and gamma-ray data interpretation.

Constraints on a mixed model of dark matter particles and primordial black holes from the galactic 511 keV line

The galactic 511 keV gamma-ray line has been observed since 1970's, and was identified as the result of electron-positron annihilation, but the origin of such positrons is still not clear. Apart from the astrophysical explanations, the possibilities that such positrons come from dark matter (DM) annihilation are also widely studied. Primordial black hole (PBH) is also an extensively studied candidate of DM. If PBHs exist, the DM particles may be gravitationally bound to the PBHs and form halo around PBHs with density spikes. DM annihilation in these density spikes can enhance the production rate of positrons from DM particles, but the signal morphology is similar to the decaying DM. We consider such a mixed model consisting of DM particles and PBHs and obtain the upper limit from the data of 511 keV gamma-ray line from INTEGRAL/SPI on the decaying component of DM particles and the constraint on the PBH abundance. These constraints are general and independent of particle DM models. For the mixed model consisting of excited DM and PBHs, the constraints on the PBH abundance can be down to O(10-17) for DM particle with mass around 1, which is more stringent than that obtained from the extragalactic gamma-ray background.

The abundance of primordial black holes from the global 21cm signal and extragalactic gamma-ray background

Primordial black holes (PBHs) formed in the early Universe can accret dark matter particles due to gravity and form ultracompact minihalos (UCMHs). The theoretical researches and simulations have shown that the density profile of dark matter in UCMHs is in the form of $\rho (r) \sim r^{-2.25}$. Compared with the popular dark matter halo model, e.g. NFW model, dark matter annihilation rate is larger in UCMHs. Considering dark matter annihilation, there is a maximum core density $\rho_{\rm max}$ in UCMHs which has been treated independent on redshift. While in this work, we point out that $\rho_{\rm max}$ depends on redshift and dark matter annihilation rate in UCMHs also changes with time. We re-investigate the $\gamma$-ray flux from UCMHs due to dark matter annihilation and focus on their contributions to the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB). Utilizing the EGB data of Fermi, the constraints on the abundance of PBHs are derived, $\Omega_{\rm PBH,EGB} \lesssim 2\times 10^{-8}$. Motivated by the recent observations of global 21cm signals by the EDGES experiment, we investigate the influences of dark matter annihilation in UCMHs on global 21cm signals and derive the constraints on the abundance of PBHs, $\Omega_{\rm PBH,21cm} \lesssim 2\times 10^{-10}$. The derived constraints are valid for mass range of $10^{-6} M_{\odot} \lesssim M_{\rm PBH} \lesssim 10^{3} M_{\odot}$.

The origin of the power–law form of the extragalactic gamma–ray flux

The Fermi–LAT telescope has measured the extragalactic gamma–ray background (EGB) generated by the ensemble of all extragalactic sources. The energy distribution of the EGB is well described as a power–law with a spectral index approximately equal to 2.3, and an exponential cutoff, that is consistent with being the effect of absorption of high energy photons assuming an emission that is an unbroken power–law spectrum. The observations of the Fermi telescope have also resolved the EGB, determining that most of it is formed by the sum of the contributions of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) of the blazar class. The spectra of the individual AGN sources have a broad range of spectral shapes, and the brightest and most precisely measured sources have curved spectra that can be fitted with the “log–parabola” (or log–normal) form. This suggests that the power law form of the extragalactic gamma–ray flux emerges as a property of the ensemble of all sources, and not as a universal shape generated by each individual source. This result is consistent with the idea that particle acceleration in blazars can be considered as a “critical phenomenon”. A curved log–parabola (log–normal) form is also required to fit the spectra of many Galactic gamma–ray sources, including the emission from the brightest supernova remnants (SNR), and an intriguing possibility is that also the Galactic cosmic rays are injected in interstellar space by their sources not with a single universal power–law spectrum, as predicted by the commonly accepted models, but instead with a broad range of spectral shapes.

High-energy neutrinos from cosmic ray interactions in the local bubble

A surprisingly large flux of extraterrestrial high-energy neutrinos was discovered by the IceCube experiment. While the flux of muon neutrinos with energies $E>100$ TeV is consistent with the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EBL) determined by Fermi-LAT, the softer component of the cascade neutrino flux at $E<100$ TeV is larger than expected. Moreover, a gamma-ray excess at high Galactic latitudes at energies $E>300$ GeV was found in the data of Fermi-LAT. The gamma-ray excess at TeV energies and the neutrino excess at $E<100$ TeV may have a common Galactic origin. In this work, we study the possibility that both excesses are caused by interactions of cosmic rays (CRs) with energies up to PeV in the wall of the Local Bubble. Source of these CRs may be a recent nearby source like Vela. We show that such a scenario can explain the observed CR flux around the knee, while CR interactions in the bubble wall can generate a substantial fraction of the observed astrophysical high-energy neutrino flux below $\sim {\rm few} \times 100$ TeV.

Testing gamma-ray models of blazars in the extragalactic sky

The global contribution of unresolved gamma-ray point sources to the extragalactic gamma-ray background has been recently measured down to gamma-ray fluxes lower than those reached with standard source detection techniques, and by employing the statistical properties of the observed gamma-ray counts. We investigate and exploit the complementarity of the information brought by the one-point statistics of photon counts (using more than 10 years of Fermi-LAT data) and by the recent measurement of the angular power spectrum of the unresolved gamma-ray background (based on 8 years of Fermi-LAT data). We determine, under the assumption that the source-count distribution of the brightest unresolved objects is dominated by blazars, their gamma-ray luminosity function and spectral energy distribution down to fluxes almost two orders of magnitude smaller than the threshold for detecting resolved sources. The different approaches provide consistent predictions for the gamma-ray luminosity function of blazars, and they show a significant complementarity.

Cross-correlation of the extragalactic gamma-ray background with the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect in the cosmic microwave background

Cosmic rays in galaxy clusters are unique probes of energetic processes operating with large-scale structures in the Universe. Precise measurements of cosmic rays in galaxy clusters are essential for improving our understanding of non-thermal components in the intracluster-medium (ICM) as well as the accuracy of cluster mass estimates in cosmological analyses. In this paper, we perform a cross-correlation analysis with the extragalactic gamma-ray background and the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect in the cosmic microwave background. The expected cross-correlation signal would contain rich information about the cosmic-ray-induced gamma-ray emission in the most massive galaxy clusters at $z\sim0.1-0.2$. We analyze the gamma-ray background map with 8 years of data taken by the Large Area Telescope onboard Fermi satellite and the publicly available tSZ map by Planck. We confirm that the measured cross-correlation is consistent with a null detection, and thus it enables us to put the tightest constraint on the acceleration efficiency of cosmic ray protons at shocks in and around galaxy clusters. We find the acceleration efficiency must be below 5\% with a $2\sigma$ confidence level when the hydrostatic mass bias of clusters is assumed to be 30\%, and our result is not significantly affected by the assumed value of the hydrostatic mass bias. Our constraint implies that the non-thermal cosmic-ray pressure in the ICM can introduce only a $\le 3\%$ level of the hydrostatic mass bias, highlighting that cosmic rays alone do not account for the mass bias inferred by the Planck analyses. Finally, we discuss future detectability prospects of cosmic-ray-induced gamma rays from the Perseus cluster for the Cherenkov Telescope Array.

Contribution of starburst nuclei to the diffuse gamma-ray and neutrino flux

ABSTRACT In nuclei of starburst galaxies (SBGs), the combination of an enhanced rate of supernova explosions and a high gas density suggests that cosmic rays (CRs) can be efficiently produced, and that most of them lose their energy before escaping these regions, resulting in a large flux of secondary products, including neutrinos. Although the flux inferred from an individual starburst region is expected to be well below the sensitivity of current neutrino telescopes, such sources may provide a substantial contribution to the diffuse neutrino flux measured by IceCube. Here, we compute the gamma-ray and neutrino flux due to SBGs based on a physical model of CR transport in a starburst nucleus, and accounting for the redshift evolution of the number density of starburst sources as inferred from recent measurements of the star formation rate. The model accounts for gamma-ray absorption both inside the sources and in the intergalactic medium. The latter process is responsible for electromagnetic cascades, which also contribute to the diffuse gamma-ray background at lower energies. The conditions for acceleration of CR protons up to energies exceeding $\sim 10 \, \rm PeV$ in starburst regions, necessary for the production of PeV neutrinos, are investigated in a critical way. We show that starburst nuclei can account for the diffuse neutrino flux above $\sim 200 \, \rm TeV$, thereby producing $\lesssim 40 {\rm { per\, cent}}$ of the extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray background. Below $\sim 200 \, \rm TeV$, the flux from starburst appears to be somewhat lower than the observed one, where both the Galactic contribution and the flux of atmospheric neutrinos may account for the difference.

Extreme and high synchrotron peak blazars beyond 4FGL: The 2BIGB γ-ray catalogue

ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a γ-ray likelihood analysis over all the extreme and high synchrotron peak blazars (EHSP and HSP) from the 3HSP catalogue. We investigate 2013 multifrequency positions under the eyes of Fermi Large Area Telescope, considering 11 yr of observations in the energy range between 500 MeV and 500 GeV, which results in 1160 γ-ray signatures detected down to the TS=9 threshold. The detections include 235 additional sources concerning the Fermi Large Area Telescope Fourth Source Catalog (4FGL), all confirmed via high-energy TS (Test Statistic) maps, and represent an improvement of ∼25 per cent for the number of EHSP and HSP currently described in γ-rays. We build the γ-ray spectral energy distribution (SED) for all the 1160 2BIGB sources, plot the corresponding γ-ray logN−logS, and measure their total contribution to the extragalactic gamma-ray background, which reaches up to ∼33 per cent at 100 GeV. Also, we show that the γ-ray detectability improves according to the synchrotron peak flux as represented by the figure of merit parameter, and note that the search for TeV peaked blazars may benefit from considering HSP and EHSP as a whole, instead of EHSPs only. The 2BIGB acronym stands for ‘Second Brazil-ICRANet Gamma-ray Blazars’ catalogue, and all the broad-band models and SED data points will be available on public data repositories (OpenUniverse, GitHub, and Brazilian Science Data Center-BSDC).

From diffuse extragalactic and galactic gamma-rays to limits on extra dimensions

ABSTRACT We derive the maximum fraction of energy emitted in the form of massive (Kaluza–Klein) gravitons by core collapse supernovae, and the corresponding minimal extra-dimensional Planck mass M* in the ADD gravity framework at TeV scales. Our constraints arise (a) from the extragalactic gamma-ray background observed by Fermi-LAT after astrophysical sources have been removed and (b) via the residual galactic emission left after astrophysical and potentially dark matter emission have been removed. We focus on a number of extra dimensions 3 and 4, since M* is then in the TeV range, where astrophysical and collider constraints compete. Lower limits on M* are derived in the case (a) of 8.0 and 1.1 TeV for n = 3 and n = 4, respectively, and in the case (b) of 16 and 1.9 TeV. These limits are especially robust and insensitive to the various uncertainties involved.

Gamma-ray luminosity function of BL Lac objects and contribution to the extragalactic gamma-ray background

ABSTRACT Using a significantly enlarged Fermi-LAT BL Lac objects (BL Lacs) sample, we construct the gamma-ray luminosity function (GLF) of BL Lacs, by the joint use of the space density distribution and source counts distribution. We use three well-studied forms of the GLF, i.e. the forms of pure density evolution (PDE), pure luminosity evolution (PLE), and luminosity-dependent density evolution (LDDE). The Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique is used to constrain model parameters. Our results suggest that LDDE model can give the best description for the BL Lac GLF. And the model shows that the BL Lacs with a harder GeV spectrum and a less luminosity evolve as strongly as flat spectrum radio quasars, and the evolution decreases as increasing luminosity. We also model the average photon spectra of BL Lacs with a double power-laws model. Using this modelled spectra, BL Lacs contribute $\sim \!20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the total extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB) at E &gt; 100 MeV, $\sim \!100{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the EGB at E &gt; 50 GeV, and the unresolved BL Lacs contribute $\sim\! 20 {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background at E &gt; 100 MeV. A prediction of the TeV EGB spectra are given, which may be tested by the future detectors.

Extragalactic gamma-ray background from star-forming galaxies: Will empirical scalings suffice?

Despite the influx of unprecedented-quality data from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope that have been collected over nine years of operation, the contribution of normal star-forming galaxies to the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGRB) remains poorly constrained. Different estimates are discrepant both their underlying physical assumptions and their results. With several detections and many upper limits for the gamma-ray fluxes of nearby starforming galaxies now available, estimates that rely on empirical scalings between gamma-ray and longer-wavelength luminosities have become possible and increasingly popular. In this paper we examine factors that can bias such estimates, including: a) possible sources of nontrivial redshift dependence; b) dependence on the choice of star-formation tracer; c) uncertainties in the slope and normalisation of empirical scalings. We find that such biases can be significant, pointing towards the need for more sophisticated models for the star-forming galaxy contribution to the gamma-ray background, implementing more, and more confident, physics in their buildup. Finally, we show that there are large regions of acceptable parameter space in observational inputs that significantly overproduce the gamma-ray background, implying that the observed level of the background can yield significant constraints on models of the average cosmic gamma-ray emissivity associated with star formation.