Before the universe was reionized, it was likely that the spin temperature of intergalactic hydrogen was decoupled from the CMB by UV radiation from the first stars through the Wouthuysen-Field effect. If the IGM had not yet been heated above the CMB temperature by that time, then the gas would appear in absorption relative to the CMB. Large, rare sources of X-rays could inject sufficient heat into the neutral IGM, so that the differential brightness temperature was greater than zero at comoving distances of tens to hundreds of Mpc, resulting in large 21-cm fluctuations with amplitudes of about 250 mK on arcminute to degree angular scales, an order of magnitude larger in amplitude than that caused by ionized bubbles during reionization, about 25 mK. This signal could therefore be easier to detect and probe higher redshifts than that due to patchy reionization. For the case in which the first objects to heat the IGM are QSOs hosting 10^7-solar mass black holes with an abundance exceeding about 1 per Gpc^3 at z~15, observations with either the Arecibo Observatory or the Five Hundred Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) could detect and image their fluctuations at greater than 5-sigma significance in about a month of dedicated survey time. Additionally, existing facilities such as MWA and LOFAR could detect the statistical fluctuations arising from a population of 10^5-solar mass black holes with an abundance of about 10^4 per Gpc^3 at z~10-12.
We study the visibility of the Lyman Alpha (Lya) emission line during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). Combining galactic outflow models with large-scale semi-numeric simulations of reionization, we quantify the probability distribution function (PDF) of the fraction of Lya photons transmitted through the intergalactic medium (IGM), T_IGM. Our study focusses on galaxies populating dark matter halos with masses of M_halo=1e10 M_sun at z=8.6, which is inspired by the recent reported discovery of a galaxy at z=8.6 with strong Lya line emission. For reasonable model assumptions, we find that winds…
Forecast for the detectability of patchy hydrogen reionization in WEAVE-QSO measurements of the Lyman-$α$ forest power spectrum at redshift $z \geq 4$
The University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学）；University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学）；Indian Institute of Technology Indore（印度理工学院印多尔分校）；Aix Marseille Université（艾克斯-马赛大学）；Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca（米兰比可卡大学）；Camosun College（卡莫森学院）；IUCAA（印度天体物理与宇宙学研究与教学中心）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera（意大利国家天体物理研究所布拉耶天文台）
Detecting $\rm H_I$ 21cm line in the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) suffers from foreground contamination such as Galactic synchrotron and extragalactic radio sources. Cross-correlation between the 21cm line and Lyman-$α$ emitter (LAE) galaxies is a powerful tool to identify the 21cm signal since the 21cm line emission has correlation with LAEs while the LAEs are statistically independent of the foregrounds. So far, the detectability of 21cm-LAE cross-power spectrum has been investigated with simple LAE models where the observed Ly$α$ luminosity is proportion…
We study the spherically averaged bispectrum of the 21-cm signal from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). This metric provides a quantitative measurement of the level of non-Gaussianity of the signal which is expected to be high. We focus on the impact of the light-cone effect on the bispectrum and its detectability with the future SKA-Low telescope. Our investigation is based on a single reionization light-cone model and an ensemble of 50 realisations of the 21-cm signal to estimate the cosmic variance errors. We calculate the bispectrum with a new, optimised direct estimation method, DviSukta w…
Detection of the redshifted 21cm-line signal from neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) is complicated by intense foregrounds such as galactic synchrotron and extragalactic radio galaxies. The 21cm-Lyman-$α$ emitter(LAE) cross-correlation is one of the tools available to reduce the foreground effects because the foreground emission from such radio sources is statistically independent of LAE distribution. LAE surveys during the EoR at redshifts $z=6.6$ and $7.3$ are ongoing by the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC). Additionally, Prime Focus Spect…
In the first paper of this series, we proposed a novel method to probe large-scale intergalactic magnetic fields during the cosmic Dark Ages, using 21-cm tomography. This method relies on the effect of spin alignment of hydrogen atoms in a cosmological setting, and on the effect of magnetic precession of the atoms on the statistics of the 21-cm brightness-temperature fluctuations. In this paper, we forecast the sensitivity of future tomographic surveys to detecting magnetic fields using this method. For this purpose, we develop a minimum-variance estimator formalism to capture the characterist…
Cross-correlation between the redshifted 21 cm signal and Lyman-α emitters (LAEs) is powerful tool to probe the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). Although the cross-power spectrum (PS) has an advantage of not correlating with foregrounds much brighter than the 21 cm signal, the galactic and extra-galactic foregrounds prevent detection since they contribute to the variance of the cross PS. Therefore, strategies for mitigating foregrounds are required. In this work, we study the impact of foreground avoidance on the measurement of the 21 cm-LAE cross-correlation. We then simulate the 21 cm observatio…
The cross-correlation between fluctuations in the electron scattering optical depth $τ_{\rm es}$ as probed by future Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments, and fluctuations in the 21cm differential brightness temperature $ΔT_{\rm 21cm}$ as probed by ground-based radio interferometers, will trace the reionization history of the Universe. In particular, the $τ_{\rm es}-$21cm cross-correlation should yield a determination of the characteristic bubble size distribution and ionization fraction as a function of redshift. When assuming that the cross-correlation signal is limited by instrumen…
The next generation of telescopes aim to directly observe the first generation of galaxies that initiated the reionization process in our Universe. The Lyman Alpha (Lya) emission line is robustly predicted to be the most prominent intrinsic spectral feature of these galaxies, making it an ideal target to search for and study high redshift galaxies. Unfortunately the large Gunn-Peterson optical depth of the surrounding neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) is thought to render this line extremely difficult to detect prior to reionization. In this paper we demonstrate that the radiative transfer ef…
We study the impact of instrumental systematics on the variance, skewness, and kurtosis of redshifted 21 cm intensity fluctuation observations from the Epoch of Reionization. We simulate realistic 21 cm observations based on the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) Phase I reionization experiment, using the array's point spread function (PSF) and antenna beam patterns, full-sky 21 cm models, and the FHD imaging pipeline. We measure the observed redshift evolution of pixel probability density functions (PDF) and one-point statistics from the simulated maps, comparing them to the measurements derived…
Inhomogeneous reionization gives rise to angular fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) optical depth tau(n) to the last scattering surface, correlating different spherical harmonic modes and imprinting characteristic non-Gaussianity on CMB maps. Recently the minimum variance quadratic estimator has been derived using this mode-coupling signal, and found that the optical depth fluctuations could be detected with (S/N)^2 ~ 100 in futuristic experiments like CMBPol. We first demonstrate that the non-Gaussian signal from gravitational lensing of CMB is the dominant source of contam…
[ABRIDGED] The cosmological 21cm signal is set to become the most powerful probe of the early Universe, with first generation interferometers aiming to make statistical detections of reionization. There is increasing interest also in the pre-reionization epoch when the intergalactic medium was heated by an early X-ray background. Here we perform parameter studies varying the halo masses hosting galaxies, and their X-ray production efficiencies. We also relate these to popular models of Warm Dark Matter cosmologies. For each parameter combination we compute the signal-to-noise (S/N) of the larg…
We present here predictions for the spatial distribution of 21 cm brightness temperature fluctuations from high-dynamic-range simulations for AGN-dominated reionization histories that have been tested against available Lyman-alpha and CMB data. We model AGN by extrapolating the observed M-sigma relation to high redshifts and assign them ionizing emissivities consistent with recent UV luminosity function measurements. We assess the observability of the predicted spatial 21 cm fluctuations by ongoing and upcoming experiments in the late stages of reionization in the limit in which the hydrogen 2…
Dark matter annihilation can have a strong impact on many astrophysical processes in the Universe. In the case of Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation cross sections, the annihilation rates are enhanced at late times, thus enhancing the potential annihilation signatures. We here calculate the Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation signatures during the epoch of helium reionization, the epoch where helium becomes fully ionized due to energetic photons. When considering the upper limits on the energy injection from the CMB, we find that the resulting abundance of He$^{++}$ becomes independent of the dark …
A number of experiments are currently working towards a measurement of the 21 cm signal from the Epoch of Reionization. Whether or not these experiments deliver a detection of cosmological emission, their limited sensitivity will prevent them from providing detailed information about the astrophysics of reionization. In this work, we consider what types of measurements will be enabled by a next-generation of larger 21 cm EoR telescopes. To calculate the type of constraints that will be possible with such arrays, we use simple models for the instrument, foreground emission, and the reionization…
Primordial black holes which are produced during an epoch of matter domination are expected to spin rapidly. It is shown that this leads to an enhancement of the detectability of the stochastic gravitational-wave background from their mergers. For a specific model, we explicitly demonstrate that this yields a $50\,\%$ increase of the gravitational-wave amplitude as compared to the non-spinning case.
We study the excitation of fine structure levels of C I, C II and O I by ultraviolet (UV) photons around strong UV sources which are also ionizing sources of the cosmological reionization at redshift of $\sim 10$. The evolutions of ionized regions around a point source are calculated by solving rate equations for non-equilibrium chemistry. Signals of UV photons through the fine structure lines are considered to be stronger at locations of more abundant chemical species of C I, C II and O I. Such environments would be realized where strong fluxes of non-ionizing UV line photons available for th…
Using hydrodynamical simulations coupled to a radiative transfer code, we study the additional heating effects in the intergalactic medium (IGM) produced by $z\sim 6$ quasars in their near-zones. If helium is predominantly in HeII to begin with, both normalization ($T_0$) and slope ($γ$) of the IGM effective equation-of-state get modified by the excess ionization from the quasars. Using the available constraints on $T_0$ at $z\sim6$, we discuss implications for the nature and epoch of HI and HeII reionization. We study the extent of the HeIII region as a function of quasar age and show, for a …
The implication of primordial magnetic-field-induced structure formation for the HI signal from the epoch of reionization is studied. Using semi-analytic models, we compute both the density and ionization inhomogeneities in this scenario. We show that: (a) The global HI signal can only be seen in emission, unlike in the standard $Λ$CDM models, (b) the density perturbations induced by primordial fields, leave distinctive signatures of the magnetic field Jeans' length on the HI two-point correlation function, (c) the length scale of ionization inhomogeneities is $\la 1 \rm Mpc$. We find that the…
The atomic CII fine-structure line is one of the brightest lines in a typical star-forming galaxy spectrum with a luminosity ~ 0.1% to 1% of the bolometric luminosity. It is potentially a reliable tracer of the dense gas distribution at high redshifts and could provide an additional probe to the era of reionization. By taking into account of the spontaneous, stimulated and collisional emission of the CII line, we calculate the spin temperature and the mean intensity as a function of the redshift. When averaged over a cosmologically large volume, we find that the CII emission from ionized carbo…
We investigate the effect of primordial non-Gaussianity on the cross-correlation between the CMB anisotropies and the 21 cm fluctuations from the epoch of reionization. We assume an analytic reionization model and an ionization fraction with $f_{\rm NL}$ induced scale dependent bias. We estimate the angular power spectrum of the cross-correlation of the CMB and 21 cm. In order to evaluate the detectability, the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio for only a single redshift slice is also calculated for current and future observations, such as CMB observations by Planck satellite and 21 cm observations …
Neutral hydrogen (H$_{\rm I}$) intensity mapping is capable of measuring redshift evolution of H$_{\rm I}$ density parameter $Ω_{\rm H_{\rm I}}$, which is an important parameter to understand structure formation in the post-reionization epoch. Future H$_{\rm I}$ observation with Square Kilometre Array (SKA) can significantly improve constraints on the parameter. However, the observation of H$_{\rm I}$ suffers from the contamination from extremely bright foreground emissions, and it is necessary to consider a signal validation method complementary to the measurement of H$_{\rm I}$ auto power sp…
Extremely large opaque troughs in the Lyman-alpha forest have been interpreted as a sign of an extended reionization process below z~6. Such features are impossible to reproduce with simple models of the intergalactic ionizing background that assume a uniform mean free path of ionizing photons. We build a self-consistent model of the ionizing background that includes fluctuations in the mean free path due to the varying strength of the ionizing background and large-scale density field. The dominant effect is the suppression of the ionizing background in large-scale voids due to "self-shielding…
The hyperfine transition of $^3$He$^+$ at 3.5cm has been thought as a probe of the high-z IGM since it offers a unique insight into the evolution of the helium component of the gas, as well as potentially give an independent constraint on the 21cm signal from neutral hydrogen. In this paper, we use radiative transfer simulations of reionization driven by sources such as stars, X-ray binaries, accreting black holes and shock heated interstellar medium, and simulations of a high-z quasar to characterize the signal and analyze its prospects of detection. We find that the peak of the signal lies i…
The escape of ionizing Lyman Continuum (LyC) photons requires the existence of low-N_HI sightlines, which also promote escape of Lyman-Alpha (Lya). We use a suite of 2500 Lya Monte-Carlo radiative transfer simulations through models of dusty, clumpy interstellar (`multiphase') media from Gronke & Dijkstra (2016), and compare the escape fractions of Lya [f_esc(Lya)] and LyC radiation [f_esc(LyC)]. We find that f_esc(LyC) and f_esc(Lya) are correlated: galaxies with a low f_esc(Lya) consistently have a low f_esc(LyC), while galaxies with a high f_esc(Lya) exhibit a large dispersion in f_esc(LyC)…
We introduce the Evolution of 21-cm Structure (EOS) project: providing periodic, public releases of the latest cosmological 21-cm simulations. 21-cm interferometry is set to revolutionize studies of the Cosmic Dawn (CD) and epoch of reionization (EoR), eventually resulting in 3D maps of the first billion years of our Universe. Progress will depend on sophisticated data analysis pipelines, which are in turn tested on large-scale mock observations. Here we present the 2016 EOS data release, consisting of the largest (1.6 Gpc on side with a 1024^3 grid), public 21-cm simulations of the CD and EoR…
Tseliakhovich & Hirata recently discovered that higher-order corrections to the cosmological linear-perturbation theory lead to supersonic coherent baryonic flows just after recombination (i.e. z~1020), with rms velocities of ~30 km/s relative to the underlying dark-matter distribution, on comoving scales of ~<3 Mpc/h. To study the impact of these coherent flows we performed high-resolution N-body plus SPH simulations in boxes of 5.0 and 0.7 Mpc/h, for bulk-flow velocities of 0 (as reference), 30 and 60 km/s. The simulations follow the evolution of cosmic structures by taking into account deta…
We present the first Lyman Alpha Emitter (LAE) study that combines: (i) cosmological SPH simulations run using GADGET-2, (ii) radiative transfer simulations (CRASH), and (iii) a previously developed LAE model. This complete LAE model accounts for the intrinsic LAE Lyman Alpha/continuum luminosity, dust enrichment and Lyman Alpha transmission through the intergalactic medium (IGM), to quantify the effects of reionization, dust and velocity fields on the Lyman Alpha and UV Luminosity Functions (LF). We find that a model neglecting dust sorely fails to reproduce either the slope or the magnitude …
Probing the large-scale structure with 21cm-galaxy cross-bispectrum: Estimates from simulations and forecasts for upcoming cosmological surveys
Indian Institute of Technology Indore（印度印多尔理工学院）；SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies（国际高等研究院）；IFPU - Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe（宇宙基础物理研究所）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste（的里雅斯特天文台）；INFN - Sezione di Trieste（意大利国家核物理研究所的里雅斯特分部）；Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Laboratoire Lagrange（蔚蓝海岸天文台拉格朗日实验室）
To generate initial conditions for cosmological $N$-body simulations, one needs to prepare a uniform distribution of simulation particles, so-called the pre-initial condition (pre-IC). The standard method to construct the pre-IC is to place the particles on the lattice grids evenly spaced in the three-dimensional spatial coordinates. However, even after the initial displacement of each particle according to cosmological perturbations, the particle distribution remains to display an artificial anisotropy. Such an artifact causes systematic effects in simulations at later time until the evolved …
We perform a systematic study of how the inhomogeneities in the Inter-Galactic Medium (IGM) affect the observability of Lyman Alpha Emitters (LAEs) around the Epoch of Reionization. We focus on the IGM close to the galaxies as the detailed ionization distribution and velocity fields of this region could significantly influence the scattering of Ly-alpha photons off neutral H atoms as they traverse the IGM after escaping from the galaxy. We simulate the surface brightness (SB) maps and spectra of more than 100 LAEs at z=7.7 as seen by an observer at z=0. To achieve this, we extract the source p…
Galaxy Underdensities Host the Clearest IGM Ly$α$ Transmission and Indicate Anisotropic Reionization
Steward Observatory, University of Arizona（亚利桑那大学斯图尔德天文台）；Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California, Riverside（加州大学河滨分校物理与天文学系）；Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校天文学系）；School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University（亚利桑那州立大学地球与空间探索学院）；Cosmic Dawn Center(DAWN)（宇宙黎明中心）；Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen（哥本哈根大学尼尔斯玻尔研究所）
We use Bayesian estimation on direct T-Q-U CMB polarization maps to forecast errors on the tensor-to- scalar power ratio r, and hence on primordial gravitational waves, as a function of sky coverage fsky. This method filters the quadratic pixel-pixel space into the optimal combinations needed for r detection for cut skies, providing enhanced information over a first-step linear separation into a combination of E, B and mixed modes, and ignoring the latter. With current computational power and for typical resolutions appropriate for r detection, the large matrix inversions required are accurate…
Measurements of 21 cm Epoch of Reionization (EoR) structure are subject to systematics originating from both the analysis and the observation conditions. Using 2013 data from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), we show the importance of mitigating both sources of contamination. A direct comparison between results from Beardsley et al. 2016 and our updated analysis demonstrates new precision techniques, lowering analysis systematics by a factor of 2.8 in power. We then further lower systematics by excising observations contaminated by ultra-faint RFI, reducing by an additional factor of 3.8 in…
JWST ASPIRE: How Did Galaxies Complete Reionization? Evidence for Excess IGM Transmission around ${\rm [O\,{\scriptstyle III}]}$ Emitters during Reionization
We study 21cm and Ly$\mathrmα$ fluctuations, as well as H$\mathrmα$, while distinguishing between Ly$\mathrmα$ emission of galactic, diffuse, and scattered intergalactic medium (IGM) origin. Cross-correlation information about the state of the IGM is obtained, testing neutral versus ionized medium cases with different tracers in a seminumerical simulation setup. In order to pave the way toward constraints on reionization history and modeling beyond power spectrum information, we explore parameter dependencies of the cross-power signal between 21$\,$cm and Ly$\mathrmα$, which displays a charact…
We present forecasts on the detectability of Ultra-light axion-like particles (ULAP) from future 21cm radio observations around the epoch of reionization (EoR). We show that the axion as the dominant dark matter component has a significant impact on the reionization history due to the suppression of small scale density perturbations in the early universe. This behavior depends strongly on the mass of the axion particle. Using numerical simulations of the brightness temperature field of neutral hydrogen over a large redshift range, we construct a suite of training data. This data is used to tra…
We consider cosmological implications of the formation of first stellar size black holes (BHs) in the universe. Such BHs form and grow by accretion in minihaloes of masses $\simeq 10^5-10^7~M_\odot$, and emit non-thermal radiation which impact the ionization and thermal state of the IGM. We compute the implications of this process. We show that the influence regions for hydrogen increase to 10kpc (physical length) for non-growing BHs to more than 0.3--1Mpc for accreting BHs, the influence regions are ten times smaller for singly ionized helium. We consider three possible observables from the i…
Future 21 cm intensity mapping surveys such as SKA can provide precise information on the spatial distribution of the neutral hydrogen (HI) in the post-reionization epoch. This information will allow to test the standard LCDM paradigm and with that the nature of gravity. In this work, we employ the SHYBONE simulations, which model galaxy formation in f(R) modified gravity using the IllustrisTNG model, to study the effects of modified gravity on HI abundance and power spectra. We find that the enhanced growth low-mass dark matter halos experience in f(R) gravity at high redshifts alters the HI …
