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arXiv 0712.3548astro-ph
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高红移类星体电离锋厚度对电离能谱分布的约束

The Thickness of High-Redshift Quasar Ionization Fronts as a Constraint on the Ionizing Spectral Energy Distribution

Roban Hultman Kramer, Zoltán Haiman

摘要:

高红移类星体(z >~ 6)驱动电离锋进入星系际介质(IGM)。如果可以测量的厚度的前端,它可以提供一个新的约束电离光谱能量分布(SED)。在这里,我们遵循传播的I-前到一个统一的IGM,并计算其厚度的范围内可能的类星体光谱和年龄。我们还探讨了均匀和非均匀电离背景的影响。我们发现,即使对于硬光谱,波前最初也很薄,厚度远小于电离光子的平均自由程,但随着波前在10^8 - 10^9年内接近平衡,厚度增加,并且最终可以大大超过基于平均自由程的简单估计。由于高的本征氢柱密度遮蔽了源,如果是硬幂律谱(log(N_H/cm^-2)>~ 19.2)或硬幂律谱结合一定的遮蔽(例如在log(N_H/cm^-2)>~ 18.0时dlog(F_v)/dlog(v)>~ -1.2),则锋面的厚度超过~1物理Mpc,并且可以从其红移的21 cm信号的形态中测量。我们发现,对于明亮的类星体,可以用莱曼线吸收谱探测到的高度电离的锋面内部仍然是尖锐的,除非有一个大的遮蔽柱(log(N_H/cm^-2)>~ 19.2)除去它们大部分的电离光子,直到~40 eV。对于log(N_H/cm^-2)>~ 19.8的遮蔽源,嵌入明显中性的IGM中,黑色莱曼α谷(中性部分约为10^-3)将HII区的大小低估了>~4倍。

英文摘要:

High-redshift quasars (z >~ 6) drive ionization fronts into the intergalactic medium (IGM). If the thickness of the front can be measured, it can provide a novel constraint on the ionizing spectral energy distribution (SED). Here we follow the propagation of an I-front into a uniform IGM, and compute its thickness for a range of possible quasar spectra and ages. We also explore the effects of uniform and non-uniform ionizing backgrounds. We find that even for hard spectra, the fronts are initially thin, with a thickness much smaller than the mean free path of ionizing photons, but the thickness increases as the front approaches equilibrium in 10^8 - 10^9 years, and can eventually significantly exceed simple estimates based on the mean free path. With a high intrinsic hydrogen column density obscuring the source (log(N_H/cm^-2) >~ 19.2) or a hard power-law spectrum combined with some obscuration (e.g. dlog(F_ν)/dlog(ν) >~ -1.2 at log(N_H/cm^-2) >~ 18.0), the thickness of the front exceeds ~1 physical Mpc and may be measurable from the morphology of its redshifted 21cm signal. We find that the highly ionized inner part of the front, which may be probed by Lyman line absorption spectra, remains sharp for bright quasars unless a large obscuring column (log(N_H/cm^-2) >~ 19.2) removes most of their ionizing photons up to ~40 eV. For obscured sources with log(N_H/cm^-2) >~ 19.8, embedded in a significantly neutral IGM, the black Lyman-alpha trough (where the neutral fraction is ~10^-3) underestimates the size of the HII region by a factor of >~4.

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