http://arxiv.org/abs/1810.03443
We consider the ensemble of very-high-energy gamma-ray sources observed at distances and energies where a significant absorption of gamma rays is expected due to pair production on the extragalactic background light. Previous studies indicated that spectra of these sources, upon correction for the absorption, exhibit unusual spectral hardenings which happen precisely at the energies where the correction becomes significant. Here, we address this subject with the most recent clean sample of distant gamma-ray blazars, making use of published results of imaging atmospheric Cerenkov telescopes and of the Pass8 Fermi-LAT data, supplemented by the newest absorption models and individual measurements of sources’ redshifts. We conclude that the distance dependence of spectral hardenings is detected with the statistical significance of 4.5 standard deviations, which suggests that new physical processes, e.g. those involving new hypothetical light bosons (axion-like particles), should be accounted for in the study of the gamma-ray propagation in the Universe.
A. Korochkin, G. Rubtsov and S. Troitsky
Tue, 9 Oct 18
36/77
Comments: 34 pages, 15 figures (39 panels), jcappub.sty
You must be logged in to post a comment.