Paper detail

An Empirical Determination of the EBL and the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe

I present the results of a new approach to the intensity and photon density spectrum of the intergalactic background light as a function of redshift using observational data obtained in many different wavelength bands from local to deep galaxy surveys. This enables an empirical determination of both the EBL and its observationally based uncertainties. Using these results one can place 68% confidence upper and lower limits on the opacity of the universe to γ-rays, free of the theoretical assumptions that were needed for past calculations. I compare our results with measurements of the extragalactic background light, upper limits obtained from observations made by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and new observationally based results from Fermi and H.E.S.S. using recent analyses of blazar spectra.