27 research outputs found
Reionization: Characteristic Scales, Topology and Observability
Recently the numerical simulations of the process of reionization of the
universe at z>6 have made a qualitative leap forward, reaching sufficient sizes
and dynamic range to determine the characteristic scales of this process. This
allowed making the first realistic predictions for a variety of observational
signatures. We discuss recent results from large-scale radiative transfer and
structure formation simulations on the observability of high-redshift Ly-alpha
sources. We also briefly discuss the dependence of the characteristic scales
and topology of the ionized and neutral patches on the reionization parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures (4 in color), to appear in Astronomy and Space
Science special issue "Space Astronomy: The UV window to the Universe",
proceedings of 1st NUVA Conference ``Space Astronomy: The UV window to the
Universe'' in El Escorial (Spain
Spherical collapse with dark energy
I discuss the work of Maor and Lahav [1], in which the inclusion of dark
energy into the spherical collapse formalism is reviewed. Adopting a
phenomenological approach, I consider the consequences of - a) allowing the
dark energy to cluster, and, b) including the dark energy in the virialization
process. Both of these issues affect the final state of the system in a
fundamental way. The results suggest a potentially differentiating signature
between a true cosmological constant and a dynamic form of dark energy. This
signature is unique in the sense that it does not depend on a measurement of
the value of the equation of state of dark energy.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the ``Peyresq Physics 10" Workshop,
19 - 24 June 2005, Peyresq, Franc
Searching for Signatures of Cosmic String Wakes in 21cm Redshift Surveys using Minkowski Functionals
Minkowski Functionals are a powerful tool for analyzing large scale
structure, in particular if the distribution of matter is highly non-Gaussian,
as it is in models in which cosmic strings contribute to structure formation.
Here we apply Minkowski functionals to 21cm maps which arise if structure is
seeded by a scaling distribution of cosmic strings embeddded in background
fluctuations, and then test for the statistical significance of the cosmic
string signals using the Fisher combined probability test. We find that this
method allows for detection of cosmic strings with ,
which would be improvement over current limits by a factor of about 3.Comment: Matches published versio
Gauging the Contribution of X-ray Sources to Reionization Through the Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect
Measurements of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect from instruments
such as the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope
(ACT) will soon put improved constraints on reionization. Popular models assume
that UV photons alone are responsible for reionization of the intergalactic
medium. We explore the effects of a significant contribution of X-rays to
reionization on the kSZ signal. Because X-rays have a large mean free path
through the neutral intergalactic medium, they introduce partial ionization in
between the sharp-edged bubbles created by UV photons. This smooth ionization
component changes the power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB)
temperature anisotropies. We quantify this effect by running semi-numerical
simulations of reionization. We test a number of different models of
reionization without X-rays that have varying physical parameters, but which
are constrained to have similar total optical depths to electron scattering.
These are then compared to models with varying levels of contribution to
reionization from X-rays. We find that models with more than a 10% contribution
from X-rays produce a significantly lower power spectrum of temperature
anisotropies than all the UV-only models tested. The expected sensitivity of
SPT and ACT may be insufficient to distinguish between our models, however, a
non-detection of the kSZ signal from the epoch of reionization could result
from the contribution of X-rays. It will be important for future missions with
improved sensitivity to consider the impact of X-ray sources on reionization.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, modified to reflect updated SPT error bars,
submitted to JCA
Radiation Hydrodynamical Instabilities in Cosmological and Galactic Ionization Fronts
Ionization fronts, the sharp radiation fronts behind which H/He ionizing
photons from massive stars and galaxies propagate through space, were
ubiquitous in the universe from its earliest times. The cosmic dark ages ended
with the formation of the first primeval stars and galaxies a few hundred Myr
after the Big Bang. Numerical simulations suggest that stars in this era were
very massive, 25 - 500 solar masses, with H II regions of up to 30,000
light-years in diameter. We present three-dimensional radiation hydrodynamical
calculations that reveal that the I-fronts of the first stars and galaxies were
prone to violent instabilities, enhancing the escape of UV photons into the
early intergalactic medium (IGM) and forming clumpy media in which supernovae
later exploded. The enrichment of such clumps with metals by the first
supernovae may have led to the prompt formation of a second generation of
low-mass stars, profoundly transforming the nature of the first protogalaxies.
Cosmological radiation hydrodynamics is unique because ionizing photons coupled
strongly to both gas flows and primordial chemistry at early epochs,
introducing a hierarchy of disparate characteristic timescales whose relative
magnitudes can vary greatly throughout a given calculation. We describe the
adaptive multistep integration scheme we have developed for the self-consistent
transport of both cosmological and galactic ionization fronts.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for proceedings of HEDLA2010, Caltech,
March 15 - 18, 201
Linear polarization structures in LOFAR observations of the interstellar medium in the 3C 196 field
This study aims to characterize linear polarization structures in LOFAR observations of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the 3C196 field, one of the primary fields of the LOFAR-Epoch of Reionization key science project. We have used the high band antennas (HBA) of LOFAR to image this region and Rotation Measure (RM) synthesis to unravel the distribution of polarized structures in Faraday depth. The brightness temperature of the detected Galactic emission is 5−15 K in polarized intensity and covers the range from -3 to +8 rad m−2 in Faraday depth. The most interesting morphological feature is a strikingly straight filament at a Faraday depth of +0.5 rad m−2 running from north to south, right through the centre of the field and parallel to the Galactic plane. There is also an interesting system of linear depolarization canals conspicuous in an image showing the peaks of Faraday spectra. We used the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) at 350 MHz to image the same region. For the first time, we see some common morphology in the RM cubes made at 150 and 350~{; ; \rm MHz}; ; . There is no indication of diffuse emission in total intensity in the interferometric data, in line with results at higher frequencies and previous LOFAR observations. Based on our results, we determined physical parameters of the ISM and proposed a simple model that may explain the observed distribution of the intervening magneto- ionic medium. The mean line-of-sight magnetic field component, B∥, is determined to be 0.3±0.1 μG and its spatial variation across the 3C196 field is 0.1 μG. The filamentary structure is probably an ionized filament in the ISM, located somewhere within the Local Bubble. This filamentary structure shows an excess in thermal electron density (neB∥>6.2 cm−3μG) compared to its surroundings
Observing the First Stars and Black Holes
The high sensitivity of JWST will open a new window on the end of the
cosmological dark ages. Small stellar clusters, with a stellar mass of several
10^6 M_sun, and low-mass black holes (BHs), with a mass of several 10^5 M_sun
should be directly detectable out to redshift z=10, and individual supernovae
(SNe) and gamma ray burst (GRB) afterglows are bright enough to be visible
beyond this redshift. Dense primordial gas, in the process of collapsing from
large scales to form protogalaxies, may also be possible to image through
diffuse recombination line emission, possibly even before stars or BHs are
formed. In this article, I discuss the key physical processes that are expected
to have determined the sizes of the first star-clusters and black holes, and
the prospect of studying these objects by direct detections with JWST and with
other instruments. The direct light emitted by the very first stellar clusters
and intermediate-mass black holes at z>10 will likely fall below JWST's
detection threshold. However, JWST could reveal a decline at the faint-end of
the high-redshift luminosity function, and thereby shed light on radiative and
other feedback effects that operate at these early epochs. JWST will also have
the sensitivity to detect individual SNe from beyond z=10. In a dedicated
survey lasting for several weeks, thousands of SNe could be detected at z>6,
with a redshift distribution extending to the formation of the very first stars
at z>15. Using these SNe as tracers may be the only method to map out the
earliest stages of the cosmic star-formation history. Finally, we point out
that studying the earliest objects at high redshift will also offer a new
window on the primordial power spectrum, on 100 times smaller scales than
probed by current large-scale structure data.Comment: Invited contribution to "Astrophysics in the Next Decade: JWST and
Concurrent Facilities", Astrophysics & Space Science Library, Eds. H.
Thronson, A. Tielens, M. Stiavelli, Springer: Dordrecht (2008
How does the electromagnetic field couple to gravity, in particular to metric, nonmetricity, torsion, and curvature?
The coupling of the electromagnetic field to gravity is an age-old problem.
Presently, there is a resurgence of interest in it, mainly for two reasons: (i)
Experimental investigations are under way with ever increasing precision, be it
in the laboratory or by observing outer space. (ii) One desires to test out
alternatives to Einstein's gravitational theory, in particular those of a
gauge-theoretical nature, like Einstein-Cartan theory or metric-affine gravity.
A clean discussion requires a reflection on the foundations of electrodynamics.
If one bases electrodynamics on the conservation laws of electric charge and
magnetic flux, one finds Maxwell's equations expressed in terms of the
excitation H=(D,H) and the field strength F=(E,B) without any intervention of
the metric or the linear connection of spacetime. In other words, there is
still no coupling to gravity. Only the constitutive law H= functional(F)
mediates such a coupling. We discuss the different ways of how metric,
nonmetricity, torsion, and curvature can come into play here. Along the way, we
touch on non-local laws (Mashhoon), non-linear ones (Born-Infeld,
Heisenberg-Euler, Plebanski), linear ones, including the Abelian axion (Ni),
and find a method for deriving the metric from linear electrodynamics (Toupin,
Schoenberg). Finally, we discuss possible non-minimal coupling schemes.Comment: Latex2e, 26 pages. Contribution to "Testing Relativistic Gravity in
Space: Gyroscopes, Clocks, Interferometers ...", Proceedings of the 220th
Heraeus-Seminar, 22 - 27 August 1999 in Bad Honnef, C. Laemmerzahl et al.
(eds.). Springer, Berlin (2000) to be published (Revised version uses
Springer Latex macros; Sec. 6 substantially rewritten; appendices removed;
the list of references updated
Simulation techniques for cosmological simulations
Modern cosmological observations allow us to study in great detail the
evolution and history of the large scale structure hierarchy. The fundamental
problem of accurate constraints on the cosmological parameters, within a given
cosmological model, requires precise modelling of the observed structure. In
this paper we briefly review the current most effective techniques of large
scale structure simulations, emphasising both their advantages and
shortcomings. Starting with basics of the direct N-body simulations appropriate
to modelling cold dark matter evolution, we then discuss the direct-sum
technique GRAPE, particle-mesh (PM) and hybrid methods, combining the PM and
the tree algorithms. Simulations of baryonic matter in the Universe often use
hydrodynamic codes based on both particle methods that discretise mass, and
grid-based methods. We briefly describe Eulerian grid methods, and also some
variants of Lagrangian smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) methods.Comment: 42 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Space Science
Reviews, special issue "Clusters of galaxies: beyond the thermal view",
Editor J.S. Kaastra, Chapter 12; work done by an international team at the
International Space Science Institute (ISSI), Bern, organised by J.S.
Kaastra, A.M. Bykov, S. Schindler & J.A.M. Bleeke
N-body simulations of gravitational dynamics
We describe the astrophysical and numerical basis of N-body simulations, both
of collisional stellar systems (dense star clusters and galactic centres) and
collisionless stellar dynamics (galaxies and large-scale structure). We explain
and discuss the state-of-the-art algorithms used for these quite different
regimes, attempt to give a fair critique, and point out possible directions of
future improvement and development. We briefly touch upon the history of N-body
simulations and their most important results.Comment: invited review (28 pages), to appear in European Physics Journal Plu