Attenuation of Gamma Rays from a Blazar (IMAGE)

University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center

Attenuation of Gamma Rays from a Blazar

Caption

This figure illustrates how energetic gamma rays (dashed lines) from a distant blazar strike photons of extragalactic background light (wavy lines) and produce pairs of electrons and positrons. The energetic gamma rays that are not attenuated by this process strike the upper atmosphere, producing a cascade of charged particles which make a cone of Čerenkov light that is detected by the array of imaging atmospheric Čerenkov telescopes on the ground.

Credit

Nina McCurdy and Joel R. Primack/UC-HiPACC; Blazar: Frame from a conceptual animation of 3C 120 created by Wolfgang Steffen/UNAM

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