EBL studies with ground-based VHE gamma-ray detectors: Current status and potential of next-generation instruments

Abstract: The diffuse meta-galactic radiation field at ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths - commonly labeled extragalactic background light (EBL) - contains the integrated emission history of the universe. Difficult to access via direct observations, indirect constraints on its density can be derived through observations of very-high energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma-rays from distant sources: the VHE photons are attenuated via pair-production with the low energy photons from the EBL, leaving a distinct imprint in the VHE spectra measured on earth. Discoveries made with current-generation VHE observatories like H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS enabled strong constraints on the density of the EBL, especially in the near-infrared. Here, the constrains on the EBL density from such ground based VHE observations will be briefly reviewed and the potential of the next-generation instruments to improve on these limits will be discussed.