Has the Optical Extragalactic Background Light Been Detected?

Extragalactic Background Light

Extragalactic background light measurements and applications

This review covers the measurements related to the extragalactic background light intensity from γ-rays to radio in the electromagnetic spectrum over 20 decades in wavelength. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) remains the best measured spectrum with an accuracy better than 1%. The measurements related to the cosmic optical background (COB), centred at 1 μm, are impacted by the large zodiaca...

Has Superluminal Light Propagation Been Observed? *

It says in the report by Wang et al. that a negative group velocity u = −c/310 is obtained and that a pulse advancement shift 62-ns is measured. The authors claim that the negative group velocity is associated with superluminal light propagation and that the pulse advancement is not at odds with causality or special relativity. However, it is shown here that their conclusions above are not true...

Blazar Gamma-rays, Shock Acceleration, and the Extragalactic Background Light

The observed spectra of blazars, their intrinsic emission, and the underlying populations of radiating particles are intimately related. The use of these sources as probes of the extragalactic infrared background, a prospect propelled by recent advances in TeV-band telescopes, soon to be augmented by observations by NASA’s upcoming Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), has been a topic ...

Irts Observations of the Near-infrared Extragalactic Background Light

We have searched for near-infrared extragalactic background light (EBL) in the data from the Near-InfraRed Spectrometer (NIRS) on the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS). After subtracting the contribution of faint stars and the zodiacal component based on modeling, a significant isotropic emission is obtained in the wavelength bands from 1.4 µm to 4.0 µm. The spectrum is stellar-like, but shows...