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Detecting the EBL Attenuation of Blazars with GLAST

Journal Article · · AIP Conference Proceedings
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2757351· OSTI ID:21067249
 [1]
  1. CRESST - Astroparticle Physics Laboratory NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
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 blazars from about 100 to thousands, with redshifts up to z {approx}3-5. Since gamma 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 effective and unique probe to the optical-UV EBL density and its evolution over cosmic history. Based on the GLAST-LAT instrument performance, simulations of expected blazar populations attenuated by EBL have been performed.
OSTI ID:
21067249
Journal Information:
AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 921; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English