Extragalactic gamma rays as probes for dark matter and cosmology

by Mr Manuel Meyer (KIPAC Stanford, USA)

Monday 23 Oct 2017, 14:15 → 15:15 Europe/Berlin

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Observations of high energy gamma rays from extragalactic sources offer the unique opportunity to probe a plethora of phenomena connected to fundamental physics and cosmology. In this talk, I will discuss how gamma-ray measurements of blazars - active galactic nuclei with their relativistic jets closely aligned to the line of sight - can be used to study the starlight emitted through the history of the Universe, intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMFs), the origin of cosmic-rays, and dark matter in the form of axionlike particles (ALPs). In particular, I will present recent results obtained with Fermi Large Area Telescope and imaging air Cherenkov telescopes on the IGMF, which is particularly hard to measure directly, and on the interaction of gamma rays with ALPs in astrophysical magnetic fields. I will also provide an outlook on the sensitivity of future gamma-ray telescopes for these measurements.