First constraints on the strength of the extragalactic magnetic field from γ-ray observations of GRB 221009A

Abstract

ABSTRACT The extragalactic magnetic field (EGMF) could be probed with γ-ray observations of distant sources. Primary very high-energy γ-rays from these sources absorb on extragalactic background light photons, and secondary electrons/positrons from the pair production acts create cascade γ-rays. These cascade γ-rays could be detected with space γ-ray telescopes such as Fermi-LAT. The γ-ray burst GRB 221009A was an exceptionally bright transient well suited for intergalactic γ-ray propagation studies. Using publicly available Fermi-LAT data, we obtain upper limits on the spectrum of delayed emission from GRB 221009A during the time windows of 10, 30, and 90 d after the burst, and compare these with model spectra calculated for various EGMF strengths B, obtaining constraints on B. We show that the values of B between 10−20 and 10−18 G are excluded.