Fermi-LAT limits on the γ-ray opacity of the Universe

The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has provided us with a rich sample of extragalactic sources, among which γ-ray blazars with redshift up to z ∼ 3 and Gamma-Ray Bursts with redshift up to z ∼ 4.3, that we have used to probe the interaction via pair production of γ-ray photons above 10 GeV with low-energy photons from the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL). The EBL from the infrared to the ultraviolet is difficult to measure directly, but can be constrained with a variety of methods. In this paper we report the method applied to evaluate the EBL attenuation of γ-ray fluxes by comparing the measured energy spectrum of the source and the unabsorbed spectrum above 10 GeV. We place upper limits on the γ-ray opacity of the Universe at various energies and redshifts, and compare this with predictions from well-known EBL models. We find that EBL intensities at optical-UV wavelengths as large as those predicted by the "baseline" and "fast evolution" models can be ruled out with high confidence. The ensuing upper limits to the EBL opacity are presented.