%0 Journal Article
%T Probing the Intergalactic Magnetic Field with the Anisotropy of the Extragalactic Gamma-ray Background
%A Tonia M. Venters
%A Vasiliki Pavlidou
%J Physics
%D 2012
%I arXiv
%R 10.1093/mnras/stt697
%X The intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) may leave an imprint on the angular anisotropy of the extragalactic gamma-ray background through its effect on electromagnetic cascades triggered by interactions between very high energy photons and the extragalactic background light. A strong IGMF will deflect secondary particles produced in these cascades and will thus tend to isotropize lower energy cascade photons, thereby inducing a modulation in the anisotropy energy spectrum of the gamma-ray background. Here we present a simple, proof-of-concept calculation of the magnitude of this effect and demonstrate that current Fermi data already seem to prefer non-negligible IGMF values. The anisotropy energy spectrum of the Fermi gamma-ray background could thus be used as a probe of the IGMF strength.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.4405v3