Lower Bound on the Cosmic TeV Gamma-ray Background Radiation

TL;DR

This paper establishes a lower bound on the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background spectrum based on detected extragalactic sources, providing insights into the contributions of various galaxy types and the limits of cascade flux.

Contribution

It presents the first lower bound on the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background spectrum derived from observed sources, constraining theoretical models and source contributions.

Findings

The lower bound on the TeV gamma-ray background is quantified between specific flux limits.

Nearby blazars Mrk 421 and Mrk 501 account for about 70% of the flux at 0.8-4 TeV.

Extreme blazars dominate the background at higher energies.

Abstract

The Fermi gamma-ray space telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the cosmic gamma-ray background radiation in the GeV band. However, investigation on the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background radiation still remains sparse. Here, we report the lower bound on the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background spectrum placed by the cumulative flux of individual detected extragalactic TeV sources including blazars, radio galaxies, and starburst galaxies. The current limit on the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background above 0.1 TeV is obtained as $2.8\times10^{-8} (E/100~{\rm GeV})^{-0.55} \exp(-E/2100~{\rm GeV})~{\rm [GeV/cm^2/s/sr]} < E^2dN/dE < 1.1\times10^{-7} (E/100~{\rm GeV})^{-0.49}~{\rm [GeV/cm^2/s/sr]}$, where the upper bound is set by requirement that the cascade flux from the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background radiation can not exceed the measured cosmic GeV gamma-ray background spectrum (Inoue & Ioka, 2012). Two nearby blazars, Mrk 421 and Mrk 501, explain ~70% of the cumulative background flux at 0.8-4 TeV, while extreme blazars start to dominate at higher energies. We also provide the cumulative background flux from each population, i.e. blazars, radio galaxies, and starburst galaxies which will be the minimum requirement for their contribution to the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background radiation.