799 research outputs found
Distinctive rings in the 21 cm signal of the epoch of reionization
It is predicted that sources emitting UV radiation in the Lyman band during
the epoch of reionization (EoR) showed a series of discontinuities in their
Ly-alpha flux radial profile as a consequence of the thickness of the Lyman
line series in the primeval intergalactic medium. Through unsaturated
Wouthuysen-Field coupling, these spherical discontinuities are also present in
the 21 cm emission of the neutral IGM. In this article, we study the effects
these discontinuities have on the differential brightness temperature of the 21
cm signal of neutral hydrogen in a realistic setting including all other
sources of fluctuations. We focus on the early phases of the EoR, and we
address the question of the detectability by the planned Square Kilometre
Array. Such a detection would be of great interest, because these structures
could provide an unambiguous diagnostic for the cosmological origin of the
signal remaining after the foreground cleaning procedure. Also, they could be
used as a new type of standard rulers. We determine the differential brightness
temperature of the 21 cm signal in the presence of inhomogeneous
Wouthuysen-Field effect using simulations which include (hydro)dynamics and
both ionizing and Lyman lines 3D radiative transfer with the code LICORICE. We
find that the Lyman horizons are clearly visible on the maps and radial
profiles around the first sources of our simulations, but for a limited time
interval, typically \Delta z \approx 2 at z \sim 13. Stacking the profiles of
the different sources of the simulation at a given redshift results in
extending this interval to \Delta z \approx 4. When we take into account the
implementation and design planned for the SKA (collecting area, sensitivity,
resolution), we find that detection will be challenging. It may be possible
with a 10 km diameter for the core, but will be difficult with the currently
favored design of a 5 km core.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures; v2: Section 5.5 rewritten; some new references
added; accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Modification of the 21-cm power spectrum by X-rays during the epoch of reionisation
We incorporate a contribution to reionization from X-rays within analytic and
semi-numerical simulations of the 21-cm signal arising from neutral hydrogen
during the epoch of reionization. We explore the impact that X-ray ionizations
have on the power spectrum (PS) of 21-cm fluctuations by varying both the
average X-ray MFP and the fractional contribution of X-rays to reionization. In
general, prior to the epoch when the intergalactic medium is dominated by
ionized regions (H {\sevensize II} regions), X-ray-induced ionization enhances
fluctuations on spatial scales smaller than the X-ray MFP, provided that X-ray
heating does not strongly supress galaxy formation. Conversely, at later times
when \H2 regions dominate, small-scale fluctuations in the 21-cm signal are
suppressed by X-ray ionization. Our modelling also shows that the modification
of the 21-cm signal due to the presence of X-rays is sensitive to the relative
scales of the X-ray MFP, and the characteristic size of \H2 regions. We
therefore find that X-rays imprint an epoch and scale-dependent signature on
the 21-cm PS, whose prominence depends on fractional X-ray contribution. The
degree of X-ray heating of the IGM also determines the extent to which these
features can be discerned. We show that the MWA will have sufficient
sensitivity to detect this modification of the PS, so long as the X-ray photon
MFP falls within the range of scales over which the array is most sensitive
( Mpc). In cases in which this MFP takes a much smaller value,
an array with larger collecting area would be required.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS X-ray heating
contribution now adde
The Impact of HI in Galaxies on 21-cm Intensity Fluctuations During the Reionisation Epoch
We investigate the impact of neutral hydrogen (HI) in galaxies on the
statistics of 21-cm fluctuations using analytic and semi-numerical modelling.
Following the reionisation of hydrogen the HI content of the Universe is
dominated by damped absorption systems (DLAs), with a cosmic density in HI that
is observed to be constant at a level equal to ~2% of the cosmic baryon density
from z~1 to z~5. We show that extrapolation of this constant fraction into the
reionisation epoch results in a reduction of 10-20% in the amplitude of 21-cm
fluctuations over a range of spatial scales. The assumption of a different
percentage during the reionisation era results in a proportional change in the
21-cm fluctuation amplitude. We find that consideration of HI in galaxies/DLAs
reduces the prominence of the HII region induced shoulder in the 21-cm power
spectrum (PS), and hence modifies the scale dependence of 21-cm fluctuations.
We also estimate the 21cm-galaxy cross PS, and show that the cross PS changes
sign on scales corresponding to the HII regions. From consideration of the
sensitivity for forthcoming low-frequency arrays we find that the effects of HI
in galaxies/DLAs on the statistics of 21-cm fluctuations will be significant
with respect to the precision of a PS or cross PS measurement. In addition,
since overdense regions are reionised first we demonstrate that the
cross-correlation between galaxies and 21-cm emission changes sign at the end
of the reionisation era, providing an alternative avenue to pinpoint the end of
reionisation. The sum of our analysis indicates that the HI content of the
galaxies that reionise the universe will need to be considered in detailed
modelling of the 21-cm intensity PS in order to correctly interpret
measurements from forthcoming low-frequency arrays.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to MNRA
Constraining the Collisional Nature of the Dark Matter Through Observations of Gravitational Wakes
We propose to use gravitational wakes as a direct observational probe of the
collisional nature of the dark matter. We calculate analytically the structure
of a wake generated by the motion of a galaxy in the core of an X-ray cluster
for dark matter in the highly-collisional and collisionless limits. We show
that the difference between these limits can be recovered from detailed X-ray
or weak lensing observations. We also discuss the sizes of sub-halos in these
limits. Preliminary X-ray data on the motion of NGC 1404 through the Fornax
group disfavors fluid-like dark matter but does not exclude scenarios in which
the dark matter is weakly collisional.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Ap
Tracing early structure formation with massive starburst galaxies and their implications for reionization
Cosmological hydrodynamic simulations have significantly improved over the
past several years, and we have already shown that the observed properties of
Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at z=3 can be explained well by the massive
galaxies in the simulations. Here we extend our study to z=6 and show that we
obtain good agreement for the LBGs at the bright-end of the luminosity function
(LF). Our simulations also suggest that the cosmic star formation rate density
has a peak at z= 5-6, and that the current LBG surveys at z=6 are missing a
significant number of faint galaxies that are dimmer than the current magnitude
limit. Together, our results suggest that the universe could be reionized at
z=6 by the Pop II stars in ordinary galaxies. We also estimate the LF of
Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) at z=6 by relating the star formation rate in the
simulation to the Ly-alpha luminosity. We find that the simulated LAE LFs agree
with the observed data provided that the net escape fraction of Ly-alpha photon
is f_{Ly-alpha} <= 0.1. We investigate two possible scenarios for this effect:
(1) all sources in the simulation are uniformly dimmer by a factor of 10
through attenuation, and (2) one out of ten LAEs randomly lights up at a given
moment. We show that the correlation strength of the LAE spatial distribution
can possibly distinguish the two scenarios.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Summary of the talk given at the "First Light &
Reionization" workshop at UC Irvine, May 2005. The published article is
available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.newar.2005.11.00
Cosmological Parameter Estimation Using 21 cm Radiation from the Epoch of Reionization
A number of radio interferometers are currently being planned or constructed
to observe 21 cm emission from reionization. Not only will such measurements
provide a detailed view of that epoch, but, since the 21 cm emission also
traces the distribution of matter in the Universe, this signal can be used to
constrain cosmological parameters at 6 < z < 20. The sensitivity of an
interferometer to the cosmological information in the signal may depend on how
precisely the angular dependence of the 21 cm 3-D power spectrum can be
measured. Utilizing an analytic model for reionization, we quantify all the
effects that break the spherical symmetry of the 3-D 21 cm power spectrum and
produce physically motivated predictions for this power spectrum. We find that
upcoming observatories will be sensitive to the 21 cm signal over a wide range
of scales, from larger than 100 to as small as 1 comoving Mpc. We consider
three methods to measure cosmological parameters from the signal: (1) direct
fitting of the density power spectrum to the signal, (2) using only the
velocity field fluctuations in the signal, (3) looking at the signal at large
enough scales such that all fluctuations trace the density field. With the
foremost method, the first generation of 21 cm observations should moderately
improve existing constraints on cosmological parameters for certain
low-redshift reionization scenarios, and a two year observation with the second
generation interferometer MWA5000 can improve constraints on Omega_w, Omega_m
h^2, Omega_b h^2, Omega_nu, n_s, and alpha_s. If the Universe is substantially
ionized by z = 12 or if spin temperature fluctuations are important, we show
that it will be difficult to place competitive constraints on cosmological
parameters with any of the considered methods.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, accepted by Ap
Reionization and the large-scale 21 cm-cosmic microwave background cross correlation
Of the many probes of reionization, the 21 cm line and the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) are among the most effective. We examine how the
cross-correlation of the 21 cm brightness and the CMB Doppler fluctuations on
large angular scales can be used to study this epoch. We employ a new model of
the growth of large scale fluctuations of the ionized fraction as reionization
proceeds. We take into account the peculiar velocity field of baryons and show
that its effect on the cross correlation can be interpreted as a mixing of
Fourier modes. We find that the cross-correlation signal is strongly peaked
toward the end of reionization and that the sign of the correlation should be
positive because of the inhomogeneity inherent to reionization. The signal
peaks at degree scales (l~100) and comes almost entirely from large physical
scales (k~0.01 Mpc). Since many of the foregrounds and noise that plague low
frequency radio observations will not correlate with CMB measurements, the
cross correlation might appear to provide a robust diagnostic of the
cosmological origin of the 21 cm radiation around the epoch of reionization.
Unfortunately, we show that these signals are actually only weakly correlated
and that cosmic variance dominates the error budget of any attempted detection.
We conclude that the detection of a cross-correlation peak at degree-size
angular scales is unlikely even with ideal experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, submitted to MNRA
The simulated 21 cm signal during the epoch of reionization : full modeling of the Ly-alpha pumping
The 21 cm emission of neutral hydrogen is the most promising probe of the
epoch of reionization(EoR). In the next few years, the SKA pathfinders will
provide statistical measurements of this signal. Numerical simulations
predicting these observations are necessary to optimize the design of the
instruments. The main difficulty is the computation of the spin temperature of
neutral hydrogen which depends on the gas kinetic temperature and on the level
of the local Lyman-alpha flux. A T_s >> T_cmb assumption is usual. However,
this assumption does not apply early in the reionization history, or even later
in the history as long as the sources of X-rays are too weak to heat the
intergalactic medium significantly. This work presents the first EoR numerical
simulations including, beside dynamics and ionizing continuum radiative
transfer, a self-consistent treatment of the Ly-alpha radiative transfer. This
allows us to compute the spin temperature more accurately. We use two different
box sizes, 20 Mpc/h and 100 Mpc/h, and a star source model. Using the redshift
dependence of average quantities, maps, and power spectra, we quantify the
effect of using different assumptions to compute the spin temperature and the
influence of the box size. The first effect comes from allowing for a signal in
absorption. The magnitude of this effect depends on the amount of heating by
hydrodynamic shocks and X-rays in the intergalactic medium(IGM). The second
effects comes from using the real, local, Lyman-alpha flux. This effect is
important for an average ionization fraction of less than 10%: it changes the
overall amplitude of the 21 cm signal, and adds its own fluctuations to the
power spectrum.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables, To be publish A&A. High resolution
version available at http://aramis.obspm.fr/~baek/21cm_Lya.pd
Redshifted 21 Centimeter Emission from Minihalos Before Reionization
Before reionization, the intergalactic medium (IGM) may have been
sufficiently cold for low-mass "minihalos" to condense out of the gas and
subsequently affect reionization. Previous work has shown that minihalos
generate reasonably large 21 cm fluctuations. Here we consider this signal in
its proper cosmological context and show that isolating minihalos from the rest
of the IGM is extremely difficult. Using the well-known halo model, we compute
the power spectrum of 21 cm fluctuations from minihalos and show that the
signal decreases rapidly as feedback increases the Jeans mass. We then show
that even a small Lyman-alpha background increases the 21 cm fluctuations of
the diffuse IGM well beyond those of the minihalos; because the mass fraction
in the IGM is much larger, minihalos will lie buried within the IGM signal. The
distinctive signatures of non-linear bias and minihalo structure emerge only at
much smaller scales, well beyond the resolution of any upcoming instruments.
Using simple, but representative, reionization histories, we then show that the
required Lyman-alpha background level is most likely achieved at z>15, while
minihalos are still rare, so that they are almost always degenerate with the
diffuse IGM.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Ap
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