Modeling the Extragalactic Background Light and Absorption of High Energy Gamma-Rays

High energy gamma-rays are absorbed by pair creation with photons of the extragalactic background light (EBL). This enables the use of gamma-ray absorption to constrain evolution of the EBL, which is directly related to the cosmic star formation rate. We combine gamma-ray data for blazars from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope with luminosity density measurements from galaxy surveys to infer the cosmic star formation rate, dust extinction in galaxies, and other quantities of astrophysical interest.