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arXiv 1002.2667astro-ph.CO
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用低频基阵探测再电离期

Probing the Epoch of Reionization with Low Frequency Arrays

Saleem Zaroubi

摘要:

再电离时代(EoR)是宇宙中氢在“黑暗时代”之后重新出现的时代。这是宇宙中氢所经历的两个主要相变中的第二个,第一个阶段是氢在红移约1100处变成中性的复合时代。EoR发生在z = 10附近,可能是由第一个辐射发射天体物理源引起的,因此它对我们理解宇宙何时以及如何“决定”开始形成天体物理对象以及如何影响宇宙中随后的结构形成至关重要。因此,EoR与宇宙学中的许多基本问题有关,星系形成,类星体和非常贫金属的恒星;所有这些都是现代天体物理学中最重要的研究问题。红移的21 cm超精细谱线被广泛认为是详细研究EoR的最有前途的探针。在不久的将来,一些低频射电望远镜(LOFAR、MWA、GMRT和SKA)将能够观测到来自高红移宇宙的21厘米辐射。在本文中,我提出了我们目前的电离过程的图片,审查21厘米线物理和讨论的挑战,目前的一代实验预计将面临的。最后,我讨论了SKA在探索EoR和宇宙的黑暗时代的潜力。

英文摘要:

The Epoch of Reionization (EoR) is the epoch in which hydrogen in the Universe reionize after the "Dark Ages". This is the second of two major phase transitions that hydrogen in the Universe underwent, the first phase being the recombination era in which hydrogen became neutral at redshift about 1100. The EoR, occurs around z of 10 and is probably caused by the first radiation emitting astrophysical sources, hence it is crucial to our understanding of when and how the Universe "decided" to start forming astrophysical objects and how that influenced subsequent structure formation in the Universe. As such, the EoR is related to many fundamental questions in cosmology, galaxy formation, quasars and very metal poor stars; all are foremost research issues in modern astrophysics. The redshifted 21 cm hyperfine line is widely considered as the most promising probe for studying the EoR in detail. In the near future a number of low frequency radio telescopes (LOFAR, MWA, GMRT and SKA) will be able to observe the 21 cm radiation arriving from the high redshift Universe. In this paper I present our current picture of the ionization process, review the 21 cm line physics and discuss the challenges that the current generation experiments are expected to face. Finally, I discuss the potential of SKA in exploring the EoR and the Universe's Dark Ages.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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