Paper detail

An empirical approach to the extragalactic background light from AEGIS galaxy SED-type fractions

The extragalactic background light (EBL) is of fundamental importance both for understanding the entire process of galaxy evolution and for gamma-ray astronomy. However, the overall spectrum of the EBL between 0.1 and 1000 microns has never been determined directly neither from observed luminosity functions (LFs), over a wide redshift range, nor from any multiwavelength observation of galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs). The evolving, overall spectrum of the EBL is derived here utilizing a novel method based on observations only. It is emphasized that the local EBL seems already well constrained from the UV up to the mid-IR. Since different independent methodologies such as direct measurement, galaxy counts, gamma-ray attenuation and realistic EBL modelings point towards the same EBL intensity level. A relevant contribution from Pop III stars to the local EBL seems unlikely.