Cosmological HII Bubble Growth During Reionization

We present general properties of ionized hydrogen (HII) bubbles and their growth based on a state-of-the-art large-scale (100 Mpc/h) cosmological radiative transfer simulation. The simulation resolves all halos with atomic cooling at the relevant redshifts and simultaneously performs radiative transfer and dynamical evolution of structure formation. Our major conclusions include: (1) for significant HII bubbles, the number distribution is peaked at a volume of $\sim 0.6 {\rm Mpc^{3}/h^{3}}$ at all redshifts. But, at $z\le 10$, one large, connected network of bubbles dominates the entire HII volume. (2) HII bubbles are highly non-spherical. (3) The HII regions are highly biased with respect to the underlying matter distribution with the bias decreasing with time. (4) The non-gaussianity of the HII region is small when the universe becomes 50% ionized. The non-gaussianity reaches its maximal near the end of the reionization epoch $z\sim 6$. But at all redshifts of interest there is a significant non-gaussianity in the HII field. (5) Population III galaxies may play a significant role in the reionization process. Small bubbles are initially largely produced by Pop III stars. At $z\ge 10$ even the largest HII bubbles have a balanced ionizing photon contribution from Pop II and Pop III stars, while at $z\le 8$ Pop II stars start to dominate the overall ionizing photon production for large bubbles, although Pop III stars continue to make a non-negligible contribution. (6) The relationship between halo number density and bubble size is complicated but a strong correlation is found between halo number density and bubble size for large bubbles.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures; accepted version; higher resolution figures and supplementary material can be found at http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~msshin/reionization/web.ht

Was the Universe Reionized by Massive Population-III Stars?

The WMAP satellite has measured a large optical depth to electron scattering after cosmological recombination of 0.17+-0.04, implying significant reionization of the primordial gas only ~200 million years after the big bang. However, the most recent overlap of intergalactic HII regions must have occured at z<9 based on the Lyman-alpha forest constraint on the thermal history of the intergalactic medium. Here we argue that a first generation of metal-free stars with a heavy (rather than Salpeter) mass function is therefore required to account for much of the inferred optical depth. This conclusion holds if feedback regulates star formation in early dwarf galaxies as observed in present-day dwarfs.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, replaced to match version accepted by ApJ Letter

The Formation of Crystalline Dust in AGB Winds from Binary Induced Spiral Shocks

As stars evolve along the Asymptotic Giant Branch, strong winds are driven from the outer envelope. These winds form a shell, which may ultimately become a planetary nebula. Many planetary nebulae are highly asymmetric, hinting at the presence of a binary companion. Some post-Asymptotic Giant Branch objects are surrounded by torii of crystalline dust, but there is no generally accepted mechanism for annealing the amorphous grains in the wind to crystals. In this Letter, we show that the shaping of the wind by a binary companion is likely to lead to the formation of crystalline dust in the orbital plane of the binary.Comment: Submitted to ApJ

Constraining reionization using the thermal history of the baryons

The thermal evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) depends on the reionization history of the universe. Numerical simulations indicate that the low density IGM, which is responsible for the low column density Ly-alpha forest, follows a well defined temperature-density relation. This results in a cut-off in the distribution of line widths as a function of column density. We use hydrodynamic simulations to calibrate the relation between the cut-off and the temperature-density relation and apply this relation to Keck spectra spanning a redshift range z=2-4.5. We find that the temperature peaks at z~3 and interpret this as evidence for reheating due to the reionization of helium.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in "Cosmic evolution and galaxy formation: Structure, interactions, and feedback", eds. J. Franco et a

Anisotropic Galactic Outflows and Enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium. I: Monte Carlo Simulations

We have developed an analytical model to describe the evolution of anisotropic galactic outflows. With it, we investigate the impact of varying opening angle on galaxy formation and the evolution of the IGM. We have implemented this model in a Monte Carlo algorithm to simulate galaxy formation and outflows in a cosmological context. Using this algorithm, we have simulated the evolution of a comoving volume of size [12h^(-1)Mpc]^3 in the LCDM universe. Starting from a Gaussian density field at redshift z=24, we follow the formation of ~20,000 galaxies, and simulate the galactic outflows produced by these galaxies. When these outflows collide with density peaks, ram pressure stripping of the gas inside the peak may result. This occurs in around half the cases and prevents the formation of galaxies. Anisotropic outflows follow the path of least resistance, and thus travel preferentially into low-density regions, away from cosmological structures (filaments and pancakes) where galaxies form. As a result, the number of collisions is reduced, leading to the formation of a larger number of galaxies. Anisotropic outflows can significantly enrich low-density systems with metals. Conversely, the cross-pollution in metals of objects located in a common cosmological structure, like a filament, is significantly reduced. Highly anisotropic outflows can travel across cosmological voids and deposit metals in other, unrelated cosmological structures.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures (2 color). Revised version accepted in Ap

Tidal Disruption of Protoclusters in Giant Molecular Clouds

We study the collapse of protoclusters within a giant molecular cloud (GMC) to determine the conditions under which collapse is significantly disrupted. Motivated by observations of star forming regions which exhibit flattened cloud structures, this study considers collapsing protoclusters with disk geometries. The collapse of a 10^3 Msun protocluster initially a distance of 2-10 pc from a 10^3 - 10^6 Msun point mass is numerically calculated. Simulations with zero initial relative velocity between the two are completed as well as simulations with relative velocities consistent with those observed in GMCs. The results allow us to define the conditions under which it is safe to assume protocluster collapse proceeds as if in isolation. For instance, we find the collapse of a 10^3 Msun protocluster will be significantly disrupted if it is within 2-4 pc of a 10^4 Msun point mass. Thus, the collapse of a 10^3 Msun protocluster can be considered to proceed as if in isolation if it is more than ~ 4 pc away from a 10^4 Msun compact object. In addition, in no portion of the sampled parameter space does the gravitational interaction between the protocluster disk and the massive particle significantly disperse the disk into the background GMC. We discuss the distribution of clusters of young stellar objects within the Perseus and Mon R2 star forming regions, which are consistent with the results of our simulations and the limitations of our results in gas dominated regions such as the Orion cloud.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

Tramp Novae Between Galaxies in the Fornax Cluster: Tracers of Intracluster Light

We report the results of a survey for novae in and between the galaxies of the Fornax cluster. Our survey provides strong evidence that intracluster novae exist and that they provide a useful, independent measure of the intracluster light in Fornax. We discovered six strong nova candidates in six distinct epochs spanning eleven years from 1993 to 2004. The data were taken with the 4m and the 1.5m telescopes at CTIO. The spatial distribution of the nova candidates is consistent with $\sim$16-41% of the total light in the cluster being in the intracluster light, based on the ratio of the number of novae we discovered in intracluster space over the total number of novae discovered plus a simple completeness correction factor. This estimate is consistent with independent measures of intracluster light in Fornax and Virgo using intracluster planetary nebulae. The accuracy of the intracluster light measurement improves with each survey epoch as more novae are discovered.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (Sep 9, 2004). Version 2: Added references. Full resolution versions of figures 1-7 and 10 can be found at http://astrowww.phys.uvic.ca/~neill/fnx

The Thermal Memory of Reionization History

The recent measurement by WMAP of a large electron scattering optical depth tau_e = 0.17 +- 0.04 is consistent with a simple model of reionization in which the intergalactic medium (IGM) is ionized at redshift z ~ 15, and remains highly ionized thereafter. Here, we show that existing measurements of the IGM temperature from the Lyman-alpha forest at z ~ 2 - 4 rule out this ``vanilla'' model. Under reasonable assumptions about the ionizing spectrum, as long as the universe is reionized before z = 10, and remains highly ionized thereafter, the IGM reaches an asymptotic thermal state which is too cold compared to observations. To simultaneously satisfy the CMB and forest constraints, the reionization history must be complex: reionization begins early at z >~ 15, but there must have been significant (order unity) changes in fractions of neutral hydrogen and/or helium at 6 < z < 10, and/or singly ionized helium at 4 < z < 10. We describe a physically motivated reionization model that satisfies all current observations. We also explore the impact of a stochastic reionization history and show that a late epoch of (HeII --> HeIII) reionization induces a significant scatter in the IGM temperature, but the scatter diminishes with time quickly. Finally, we provide an analytic formula for the thermal asymptote, and discuss possible additional heating mechanisms that might evade our constraints.Comment: 10 pages, submitted to ApJ, new references, additional discussion on earlier work and partial HeII reionizatio

The intergalactic medium thermal history at redshift z=1.7--3.2 from the Lyman alpha forest: a comparison of measurements using wavelets and the flux distribution

We investigate the thermal history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the redshift interval z=1.7--3.2 by studying the small-scale fluctuations in the Lyman alpha forest transmitted flux. We apply a wavelet filtering technique to eighteen high resolution quasar spectra obtained with the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES), and compare these data to synthetic spectra drawn from a suite of hydrodynamical simulations in which the IGM thermal state and cosmological parameters are varied. From the wavelet analysis we obtain estimates of the IGM thermal state that are in good agreement with other recent, independent wavelet-based measurements. We also perform a reanalysis of the same data set using the Lyman alpha forest flux probability distribution function (PDF), which has previously been used to measure the IGM temperature-density relation. This provides an important consistency test for measurements of the IGM thermal state, as it enables a direct comparison of the constraints obtained using these two different methodologies. We find the constraints obtained from wavelets and the flux PDF are formally consistent with each other, although in agreement with previous studies, the flux PDF constraints favour an isothermal or inverted IGM temperature-density relation. We also perform a joint analysis by combining our wavelet and flux PDF measurements, constraining the IGM thermal state at z=2.1 to have a temperature at mean density of T0/[10^3 K]=17.3 +/- 1.9 and a power-law temperature-density relation exponent gamma=1.1 +/- 0.1 (1 sigma). Our results are consistent with previous observations that indicate there may be additional sources of heating in the IGM at z<4.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, matches version accepted for publication on MNRA

Shrinking of Cluster Ellipticals: a Tidal Stripping explanation and Implications for the Intra-Cluster Light

We look for evidence of tidal stripping in elliptical galaxies through the analysis of homogeneous CCD data corresponding to a sample of 228 elliptical galaxies belonging to 24 clusters of galaxies at $0.015<z<0.080$. We investigate departures from the standard magnitude-isophotal size relation, as a function of environmental (cluster-centric distance, local galaxy density) and structural (cluster velocity dispersion, Bautz-Morgan type) properties. We find that, for any particular galaxy luminosity, the ellipticals in the inner and denser regions of the clusters are about 5% smaller than those in the outer regions, which is in good agreement with the finding of Strom & Strom (1978) based on photographic photometry. The null hypothesis (ie., galaxy sizes are independent of the cluster-centric distance or density) is rejected at a significance level of better than 99.7%. Numericals models of Aguilar & White (1986) predict that tidal stripping can lead to changes in the whole structure of ellipticals producing shrinkage and brightening of the galaxy, qualitatively consistent with our measurements and also with the findings of Trujillo et al. (2002), that more centrally concentrated ellipticals populate denser regions. Our observational results can be interpreted as evidence for stripping of stars from ellipticals in the central/denser regions of clusters, contributing to the intra-cluster light observed in these structures.Comment: AJ Accepted, 15 pages, 9 figure