We use a set of AMR hydrodynamic simulations post-processed with the radiative-transfer code RADAMESH to study how inhomogeneous HeII reionization affects the intergalactic medium (IGM). We propagate radiation from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) considering two scenarios for the time evolution of the ionizing sources. We find that HeII reionization takes place in a very inhomogeneous fashion, through the production of well separated bubbles of the ionized phase that subsequently percolate. Overall, the reionization process is extended in time and lasts for a redshift interval Delta z>1. At fixed gas density, the temperature distribution is bimodal during the early phases of HeII reionization and cannot be described by a simple effective equation of state. When HeII reionization is complete, the IGM is characterized by a polytropic equation of state with index gamma~1.20. This relation is appreciably flatter than at the onset of the reionization process (gamma=1.56) and also presents a much wider dispersion around the mean. We extract HI and HeII Ly-alpha absorption spectra from the simulations and fit Voigt profiles to them. We find that the regions where helium is doubly ionized are characterized by different probability density functions of the curvature and of the Doppler b parameters of the HI Ly-alpha forest as a consequence of the bimodal temperature distribution during the early phases of HeII reionization. The column-density ratio in HeII and HI shows a strong spatial variability. Its probability density function rapidly evolves with time reflecting the increasing volume fraction in which ionizing radiation is harder due to the AGN contribution. Finally we show that the number density of the flux-transmission windows per unit redshift and the mean size of the dark gaps in the HeII spectra have the potential to distinguish between different reionization scenarios. (abridged)
The reionization of the second electron of helium shapes the physical state of intergalactic gas at redshifts between 2 < z < 5. Because performing full in situ radiative transfer in hydrodynamic simulations is computationally expensive for large volumes, the physics of HeII reionization is often approximated by a uniform UV background model that does not capture the patchiness of reionization. We have devised a model that implements the effects of HeII reionization using semi-analytic calculations of the thermal state of intergalactic gas-- a way to bypass a full radiative transfer simulation…
We examine large-scale fluctuations in the HeII Lyman-alpha forest transmission during and after HeII reionization. We use a simple Monte Carlo model to distribute quasars throughout a large volume and compute the resulting radiation field along one-dimensional skewers. In agreement with previous studies, we find that the rarity of these sources induces order unity fluctuations in the mean optical depth after reionization, even when averaged over large segments (~10-100 Mpc across). We compare our models to existing data along five HeII Lyman-alpha forest lines of sight spanning z~2-3.2. The l…
We report on the detection of strongly varying intergalactic HeII absorption in HST/COS spectra of two z~3 quasars. From our homogeneous analysis of the HeII absorption in these and three archival sightlines, we find a marked increase in the mean HeII effective optical depth from tau~1 at z~2.3 to tau>5 at z~3.2, but with a large scatter of 2< tau <5 at 2.7< z <3 on scales of ~10 proper Mpc. This scatter is primarily due to fluctuations in the HeII fraction and the HeII-ionizing background, rather than density variations that are probed by the co-eval HI forest. Semianalytic models of HeII abs…
We present statistics of HeII Lya transmission spikes and large-scale absorption troughs using archival high-resolution ($R=λ/Δλ\simeq 12,500$-$18,000$) far-UV spectra of eight HeII-transparent quasars obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. The sample covers the redshift range 2.5<z<3.8, thereby probing the rapidly evolving HeII absorption at the end of the HeII reionization epoch. The measured lengths of the troughs decrease dramatically from L>100cMpc at z>3 to L~30cMpc at z~2.7, signaling a significant progression of HeII reionization at these redshifts…
We present new high-resolution (R~14,000) spectra of the two brightest HeII-transparent quasars in the far-UV (FUV) at z>3.5, HE2QSJ2311-1417 (z=3.70) and HE2QSJ1630+0435 (z=3.81), obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). In the predominantly saturated HeII absorption spectra, both sightlines show several isolated resolved (full width at half maximum FWHM>50 km/s) transmission spikes in HeII Ly$α$ and HeII Ly$β$. The incidence of such spikes decreases with increasing redshift, but both sightlines show significant spikes at z>3.5, signaling the pr…
We discuss the potential of using the HeI 584 A forest to detect and study HeII reionization. Significant 584 A absorption is expected from intergalactic HeII regions, whereas there should be no detectable absorption from low density gas in HeIII regions. Unlike HeII Ly-alpha absorption (the subject of much recent study), the difficulty with using this transition to study HeII reionization is not saturation but rather that the absorption is weak. The Gunn-Peterson optical depth for this transition is tau ~ 0.1 x_{HeII} Delta^2 [(1+z)/5]^{9/2}, where x_{HeII} is the fraction of helium in HeII a…
We measure the effective optical depth of HeII Lyα absorption τ$_\mathsf{eff,HeII}$ at 2.3<z<3.5 in 17 UV-transmitting quasars observed with UV spectrographs on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The median τ$_\mathsf{eff,HeII}$ values increase gradually from 1.95 at z=2.7 to 5.17 at z=3.4, but with a strong sightline-to-sightline variance. Many $\simeq$35 comoving Mpc regions of the z>3 intergalactic medium (IGM) remain transmissive (τ$_\mathsf{eff,HeII}$<4), and the gradual trend with redshift appears consistent with density evolution of a fully reionized IGM. These modest optical depths impl…
We constrain the spectrum of the cosmic ultraviolet background radiation by fitting the observed abundance ratios carbon ions at $z\sim 2\hbox{--}3$ with those expected from different models of the background radiation. We use the recently calculated modulation of the background radiation between 3 and 4 Ryd due to resonant line absorption by intergalactic HeII, and determine the ratios of CIII to CIV expected at these redshifts, as functions of metallicity, gas density and temperature. Our analysis of the observed ratios shows that 'delayed reionization' models, which assume a large fraction …
We examine the impact of helium reionization on the structure of the intergalactic medium (IGM). We model the reionization using a radiative transfer (RT) code coupled to the combined gravity hydrodynamics code Enzo. Neutral hydrogen and helium are initially ionized by a starburst spectrum, which is allowed to gradually evolve into a power law spectrum over the redshift interval 3 < z < 4. The temperature-density relation of the gas is found to fan out and flatten following HeII reionization, with an inversion for overdensities above 5. Peculiar velocities of up to 10 km/s are induced by the i…
The ionizing background determines the ionization balance and the thermodynamics of the cosmic gas. It is therefore a fundamental ingredient to theoretical and empirical studies of both the IGM and galaxy formation. We present here a new calculation of its spectrum that satisfies the empirical constraints we recently obtained by combining state-of-the-art luminosity functions and intergalactic opacity measurements. In our preferred model, star-forming galaxies and quasars each contribute substantially to the HI ionizing field at z<3, with galaxies rapidly overtaking quasars at higher redshifts…
We have developed a modular semi-numerical code that computes the time and spatially dependent ionization of neutral hydrogen (HI), neutral (HeI) and singly ionized helium (HeII) in the intergalactic medium (IGM). The model accounts for recombinations and provides different descriptions for the photoionization rate that are used to calculate the residual HI fraction in ionized regions. We compare different semi-numerical reionization schemes to a radiative transfer (RT) simulation. We use the RT simulation as a benchmark, and find that the semi-numerical approaches produce similar HII and HeII…
We use hydrodynamic simulations post-processed with the radiative-transfer code RADAMESH to assess recent claims that the low HeII opacity observed in z>3 quasar spectra may be incompatible with models of HeII reionization driven by the observed population of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In particular, building upon our previous work, we consider an early population of sources and start the radiative-transfer calculation at redshifts z>=5. Our model faithfully reproduces the emissivity of optically selected AGNs as inferred from measurements of their luminosity function. We find that HeII re…
Estimating the intergalactic medium ionization level of a region needs proper treatment of the reionization process for a large representative volume of the universe. The clumping factor, a parameter which accounts for the effect of recombinations in unresolved, small-scale structures, aids in achieving the required accuracy for the reionization history even in simulations with low spatial resolution. In this paper, we study for the first time the redshift evolution of clumping factors of different ionized species of H and He in a small but very high resolution simulation of the reionization p…
Measuring photo-ionization rate and mean free path of HeII ionizing photons at $2.5 \leq z \leq 3.6$: Evidence for late and rapid HeII reionization Part-II
In the light of the recent Planck downward revision of the electron scattering optical depth, and of the discovery of a faint AGN population at $z > 4$, we reassess the actual contribution of quasars to cosmic reionization. To this aim, we extend our previous MCMC-based data-constrained semi-analytic reionization model and study the role of quasars on global reionization history. We find that, the quasars can alone reionize the Universe only for models with very high AGN emissivities at high redshift. These models are still allowed by the recent CMB data and most of the observations related to…
The detection of an unexpectedly large number of faint candidate quasars (QSO) at $z \gtrsim 4$ has motivated Madau and Haardt to investigate a reionization scenario in which active galactic nuclei dominate the photon budget at all times. Their analytical study reveals that this picture is in agreement with the evolution of the HI volume fraction in the intergalactic medium (IGM) and the optical depth to Thomson scattering of the cosmic microwave background. We employ a suite of hydrodynamical simulations post-processed with a radiative transfer code to further investigate the properties of su…
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 …
Despite decades of effort, the timing and duration of He II reionization, as well as its morphology and the properties of the quasars believed to drive it, are still not well constrained. In this paper we present a new method to study both He II reionization and quasars via the thermal proximity effect -- the photoelectric heating of the intergalactic medium around quasars when their hard radiation doubly ionizes helium. We post-process a SPH simulation with 1D radiative calculations, and study how the thermal proximity effect depends on the amount of singly ionized helium, $x_{\rm HeII,0}$, w…
The temperature of the low-density intergalactic medium (IGM) at high redshift is sensitive to the timing and nature of hydrogen and HeII reionization, and can be measured from Lyman-alpha forest absorption spectra. Since the memory of intergalactic gas to heating during reionization gradually fades, measurements as close as possible to reionization are desirable. In addition, measuring the IGM temperature at sufficiently high redshifts should help to isolate the effects of hydrogen reionization since HeII reionization starts later, at lower redshift. Motivated by this, we model the IGM temper…
Reionization of the cosmic neutral hydrogen by the first stars in the Universe is an inhomogeneous process which produces spatial fluctuations in free electron density. These fluctuations lead to observable signatures in cosmological probes like the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We explore the effect of the electron density fluctuations on CMB using photon-conserving semi-numerical simulations of reionization named \texttt{SCRIPT}. We show that the amplitude of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) and $B$-mode polarization signal depends on the patchiness in the spatial distribution of e…
We characterise the thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in ten redshift bins in the redshift range $2 \leq z \leq 4$ with a sample of 103 high resolution, high S/N Ly$α$ forest spectra using four different flux distribution statistics. Our measurements are calibrated with mock spectra from a large suite of hydrodynamical simulations post-processed with our thermal IGM evolution code CITE, finely sampling amplitude and slope of the expected temperature-density relation. The thermal parameters inferred from our measurements of the flux power spectrum, Doppler parameter distribution, …
The post-recombination streaming of baryons through dark matter keeps baryons out of low mass (<10^6 solar masses) halos coherently on scales of a few comoving Mpc. It has been argued that this will have a large impact on the 21-cm signal before and after reionization, as it raises the minimum mass required to form ionizing sources. Using a semi-numerical code, we show that the impact of the baryon streaming effect on the 21-cm signal during reionization (redshifts z approximately 7-20) depends strongly on the cooling scenario assumed for star formation, and the corresponding virial temperatur…
Many experts believe that the z ~ 3 HeII Ly-alpha forest will suffer from the same saturation issues as the z ~ 6 HI Ly-alpha forest and, therefore, will not be a sensitive probe of HeII reionization. However, there are several factors that make HeII Ly-alpha absorption more sensitive than HI Ly-alpha. We show that observations of HeII Ly-alpha and Ly-beta Gunn-Peterson troughs can provide a relatively model-independent constraint on the volume-averaged HeII fraction of x_HeII >~ 0.1. This bound derives from first using the most underdense regions in the HeII forest to constrain the local HeII…
We investigate the imprint of dark energy on the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) angular power spectrum on scales of $\ell=1000$ to $10000$, and find that the kSZ signal is sensitive to the dark energy parameter. For example, varying the constant $w$ by 20\% around $w=-1$ results in a $\gtrsim10\%$ change on the kSZ spectrum; changing the dark energy dynamics parametrized by $w_a$ by $\pm0.5$, a 30\% change on the kSZ spectrum is expected. We discuss the observational aspects and develop a fitting formula for the kSZ power spectrum. Finally, we discuss how the precise modeling of the post-rei…
We report ultraviolet spectra of the high-redshift (z_em = 2.9) quasar, HE 2347-4342, taken by the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Spectra in the G130M (medium-resolution, 1135-1440 A) and G140L (low-resolution, 1030-2000 A) gratings exhibit patchy Gunn-Peterson absorption in the 303.78 A (Ly-alpha) line of He II between z = 2.39-2.87 (G140L) and z = 2.74-2.90 (G130M). With COS, we obtain better spectral resolution, higher-S/N, and better determined backgrounds than previous studies, with sensitivity to abundance fractions x_HeII = 0.01 in filaments of th…
In this work we investigate the possibility of constraining a thawing Quintessence scalar field model for dark energy. We propose using the imprint of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) on the cross-correlation of post-reionization 21-cm signal and galaxy weak lensing convergence field to tomographically measure the angular diameter distance $D_A(z)$ and the Hubble parameter $H(z)$. The projected errors in these quantities are then used to constrain the Quintessence model parameters. We find that independent $600$hrs radio interferometric observation at four observing frequencies $916 $MHz, $65…
Quasars contribute to the 21-cm signal from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) primarily through their ionizing UV and X-ray emission. However, their radio continuum and Lyman-band emission also regulates the 21-cm signal in their direct environment, potentially leaving the imprint of their duty cycle. We develop a model for the radio and UV luminosity functions of quasars from the EoR, and constrain it using recent observations. Our model is consistent with the z~7.5 quasar from Banados et al 2017, and also predicts only a few quasars suitable for 21-cm forest observations (10mJy) in the sky. We…
Introducing the Lumina project: large-volume radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of the epochs of hydrogen and helium reionization
The University of Texas at Dallas（德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research（麻省理工学院，卡弗里天体物理与空间研究所）；Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院物理系）；York University（约克大学）；Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics（马克斯·普朗克天体物理研究所）
Recent observations suggest that hydrogen reionization ends late ($z \simeq 6$) and proceeds quickly. We present here a new model of the meta-galactic UV/X-ray background (UVB) that is consistent with this. It adopts the most recent determinations of the ionizing emissivity due to stars and AGN, as well as of the HI absorber column density distribution. Another major improvement is a new treatment of the intergalactic medium (IGM) opacity for ionizing photons that is able to consistently capture the transition from a neutral to an ionized IGM. Previous synthesis models of the UVB, when used in…
Reionization leads to large spatial fluctuations in the intergalactic temperature that can persist well after its completion. We study the imprints of such fluctuations on the $z\sim5$ Ly$α$ forest flux power spectrum using a set of radiation-hydrodynamic simulations that model different reionization scenarios. We find that large-scale coherent temperature fluctuations bring $\sim20-60\%$ extra power at $k\sim0.002$ s/km, with the largest enhancements in the models where reionization is extended or ends the latest. On smaller scales ($k\gtrsim0.1$ s/km), we find that temperature fluctuations s…
Reionization, the only phase transition in the Universe since recombination, is a key event in the cosmic history of baryonic matter. We derive, in the context of the large-scale bias expansion, the imprints of the epoch of reionization in the large-scale distribution of galaxies, and identify two contributions of particular importance. First, the Compton scattering of CMB photons off the free electrons lead to a drag force on the baryon fluid. This drag induces a relative velocity between baryons and CDM which is of the same order of magnitude as the primordially-induced relative velocity, an…
Patchy reionization leaves a number of imprints on the small-scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature fluctuations, the largest of which is the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ), the Doppler shift of CMB photons scattering off moving electrons in ionized bubbles. It has long been known that in the CMB power spectrum, this imprint of reionization is largely degenerate with the kSZ signal produced by late-time galaxies and clusters, thus limiting our ability to constrain reionization. Following Smith & Ferraro (2017), it is possible to isolate the reionization contribution in a model…
It appears inevitable that reionization processes would have produced large-scale temperature fluctuations in the intergalactic medium. Using toy temperature models and detailed heating histories from cosmological simulations of HeII reionization, we study the consequences of inhomogeneous heating for the Ly-alpha forest. The impact of temperature fluctuations in physically well-motivated models can be surprisingly subtle. In fact, we show that temperature fluctuations at the level predicted by our reionization simulations do not give rise to detectable signatures in the types of statistics th…
The cosmological reionization can be studied in the radio through the tomographic view offered by the redshifted 21-cm line and the integrated information carried out by the diffuse free-free emission, coupled to the Comptonization distortion, relevant at higher frequencies. Current predictions span a wide range of possibilities, while the recent EDGES observations disagree with the standard models and call, if confirmed, for non-standard physical processes and/or for an early population of extragalactic sources producing a remarkable background at high redshifts almost consistent with the ARC…
We present ultradeep optical spectroscopy obtained with FORS2 on VLT of seven Lyman-break galaxy (LBG) candidates at z>6.5 selected in the GOODS-S field from Hawk-I/VLT and WFC3/HST imaging. For one galaxy we detect a low significance emission line (S/N< 7), located at 9691.5 +/- 0.5A and with flux 3.4 x 10^(-18)erg/cm^2/s. If identified as Lyman alpha, it places the LBG at redshift z=6.972+/- 0.002, with a rest-frame equivalent width EW}=13A. Using Monte Carlo simulations and conservative EW distribution functions at 2<z<6, we estimate that the probability of observing no galaxies in our data…
We explore the observability of the neutral hydrogen (HI) and the singly-ionized isotope helium-3 ($^3$HeII) in the intergalactic medium (IGM) from the Epoch of Reionization down to the local Universe. The hyperfine transition of $^3$HeII, which is not as well known as the HI transition, has energy splitting corresponding to 8 cm. It also has a larger spontaneous decay rate than that of neutral hydrogen, whereas its primordial abundance is much smaller. Although both species are mostly ionized in the IGM, the balance between ionization and recombination in moderately high density regions rende…
We examine the temperature structure of the intergalactic medium IGM) surounding a hard radiation source, such as a Quasi-Stellar Object (QSO), as it responds to the onset of helium reionization by the source. We model the reionization using a radiative transfer (RT) code coupled to a particle-mesh (PM) N-body code. Neutral hydrogen and helium are initially ionized by a starburst spectrum, which is allowed to gradually evolve into a power law spectrum (fnu ~ nu^(-0.5)). Multiple simulations were performed with different times for the onset and dominance of the hard spectrum, with onset redshif…
Unveiling the dark matter nature with reionization relics
Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Peng Cheng Laboratory（鹏城实验室）；University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学）；University of Costa Rica（哥斯达黎加大学）；The Ohio State University（俄亥俄州立大学）
The 21 cm brightness temperature $δT_{\rm b}$ fluctuations from reionization promise to provide information on the physical processes during that epoch. We present a formalism for generating the $δT_{\rm b}$ distribution using dark matter simulations and an one-dimensional radiative transfer code. Our analysis is able to account for the spin temperature $T_{\rm S}$ fluctuations arising from inhomogeneous X-ray heating and Ly$α$ coupling during cosmic dawn. The $δT_{\rm b}$ power spectrum amplitude at large scales ($k \sim 0.1$ Mpc$^{-1}$) is maximum when $\sim 10\%$ of the gas (by volume) is h…
Reionization, UV Luminosity and 21$\,$cm Sensitivity to Primordial Magnetic Fields: Impact of Energy Losses
Université Libre de Bruxelles（布鲁塞尔自由大学）；Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院核物理研究所）；Vrije Universiteit Brussel（布鲁塞尔自由大学）
The spectrum of cosmic ultraviolet background radiation at He II ionizing energies (E > 4 Ryd) is important to study the He II reionization, thermal history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) and metal lines observed in QSO absorption spectra. It is determined by the emissivity of QSOs at E > 4 Ryd obtained from their observed luminosity functions and the mean spectral energy distribution (SED). The SED is approximated as a power-law at energies E > 1 Ryd, $f_E \propto E^α$, where the existing observations constrain the power-law index $α$ only up to ~2.3 Ryd. Here, we constrain $α$ for E > 4 R…
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…
We introduce to astrophysics the threshold probability functions S_2, C_2, and D_2 first derived by \citet{torq+88}, which effectively samples the flux probability distribution (PDF) of the Lya forest at different spatial scales. These statistics are tested on mock Lya forest spectra based on various toy models for HeII reionization, with homogeneous models with various temperature-density relations as well as models with temperature inhomogeneities. These mock samples have systematics and noise added to simulate the latest Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7) data. We find that …
The discovery of fast radio bursts (FRBs) about a decade ago opened up new possibilities for probing the ionization history of the Intergalactic Medium (IGM). In this paper we study the use of FRBs for tracing the epoch of HeII reionization, using simulations of their dispersion measures. We model dispersion measure contributions from the Milky Way, the IGM (homogeneous and inhomogeneous) and a possible host galaxy as a function of redshift and star formation rate. We estimate the number of FRBs required to distinguish between a model of the Universe in which helium reionization occurred at z …
We use a set of 3D radiative transfer simulations to study the effect that a large fraction of binary stars in galaxies during the epoch of reionization has on the physical properties of the intergalactic medium (i.e. the gas temperature and the ionization state of hydrogen and helium), on the topology of the ionized bubbles and on the 21 cm power spectra. Consistently to previous literature, we find that the inclusion of binary stars can speed up the reionization process of HI and HeI, while HeII reionization is still dominated by more energetic sources, especially accreting black holes. The …
The impact of the IGM thermal state on the Ly$α$ flux 3D power spectrum from linear to highly non-linear scales
INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste（意大利国家天体物理研究所的里雅斯特天文台）；INFN, Sezione di Trieste（意大利国家核物理研究所的里雅斯特分部）；IFPU, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe（宇宙基础物理研究所）；SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies（国际高等研究院）；Centre for Astrophysics Research, Department of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学物理、天文与数学系天体物理学研究中心）
The \lya forest at high redshifts is a powerful probe of reionization. Modeling and observing this imprint comes with significant technical challenges: inhomogeneous reionization must be taken into account while simultaneously being able to resolve the web-like small-scale structure prior to reionization. In this work we quantify the impact of inhomogeneous reionization on the \lya forest at lower redshifts ($2 < z < 4$), where upcoming surveys such as DESI will enable precision measurements of the flux power spectrum. We use both small box simulations capable of handling the small-scale struc…
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…
Ringing of the Reionization: A first direct measurement of the intergalactic pressure smoothing scale at redshift z>4.2 as imprinted onto small-scale peculiar velocities in the Lyman-alpha forest
University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学）；Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学卡弗里宇宙学研究所）；SISSA- International School for Advanced Studies（国际高等研究学院）；INFN – National Institute for Nuclear Physics（意大利国家核物理研究所）；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）；ICSC - Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in High Performance Computing, Big Data e Quantum Computing（高性能计算、大数据与量子计算国家研究中心）；Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge（剑桥大学天文学研究所）
Conventional wisdom was that thermal relics from the epoch of reionization (EOR) would vanish swiftly. Recently, however, it was shown that these relics can survive to lower redshifts ($z \sim 2$) than previously thought, due to gas at mean density being heated to $T \sim 3 \times 10^4$ K by reionization, which is inhomogeneous, and shocks. Given the high sensitivities of upcoming Ly$α$ forest surveys, this effect will be a novel broadband systematic for cosmological application. From the astrophysical point of view, however, the imprint of inhomogeneous reionization can shed light on the EOR …
We present the first complete calculation of the history of the inhomogeneous 21-cm signal from neutral hydrogen during the era of the first stars. We use hybrid computational methods to capture the large-scale distribution of the first stars, whose radiation couples to the neutral hydrogen emission, and to evaluate the 21-cm signal from z ~ 15-35. In our realistic picture large-scale fluctuations in the 21-cm signal are sourced by the inhomogeneous density field and by the Ly-alpha and X-ray radiative backgrounds. The star formation is suppressed by two spatially varying effects: negative fee…
Using Neural Emulators and Hamiltonian Monte Carlo to constrain the Epoch of Reionization's History with the Ly$α$ Forest Power Spectrum
University of California, Santa Barbara（加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校）；Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik（马克斯·普朗克天体物理学研究所）；The Ohio State University（俄亥俄州立大学）；Leiden University（莱顿大学）；University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校）
The inhomogeneous cosmological reionization process leaves tangible imprints in the intergalactic medium down to z=4-5. The Lyman-alpha forest flux power spectrum provides a potentially powerful probe of the epoch of reionization. With the existing SDSS I/II quasar sample we show that two cosmological reionization scenarios, one completing reionization at z=6 and the other at z=9, can be distinguished at ~7 sigma level by utilizing Lyman alpha forest absorption spectra at z=4.5+-0.5, in the absence of other physical processes that may also affect the Lyman alpha flux power spectrum. The redshi…
Upcoming measurements of the highly redshifted 21cm line with next-generation radio telescopes such as HERA and SKA will provide the intriguing opportunity to probe dark matter (DM) physics during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR), Cosmic Dawn, and the Dark Ages. With HERA already under construction, there is a pressing need to thoroughly understand the impact of DM physics on the intergalactic medium (IGM) during these epochs. We present first results of a hydrodynamic simulation suite with $2 \times 512^3$ particles in a $(100 \ h^{-1} \ \text{Mpc})^3$ box with DM annihilation and baryonic coo…
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）
