Probing Cosmic Near Infrared Background using AKARI Data

The first generation stars in the universe are not observed as discrete objects by using current observational facilities, but their contributions are redshifted to the near infrared wavelength bands at present universe. Therefore, investigation of background radiation at near infrared is important for the study of the first stars. In this study, we present new observations of spatial fluctuations in sky brightness toward the north ecliptic pole using data from AKARI. Among pointed observation program of AKARI, we used two pointing surveys named Monitor field and NEP wide field at three wavelength bands 2.4, 3.2, and 4.1 ${\mu}$. To obtain spatial fluctuations from observed images, first of all, we exclude pixels affected by resolved foreground objects and then obtain diffuse map which consists of diffused radiation only. Because the diffuse map contains not only cosmological components but also various foreground components, in order to detect cosmological components, we estimate the contributions of foreground components separately. The results of this study show that there remains excess spatial fluctuation that cannot be explained by known foreground sources. This work is based on observations with AKARI, a JAXA project with the participation of ESA.