The nature and evolution of the highly ionized near-zones in the absorption spectra of z~6 quasars

We use state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations combined with a 1D radiative transfer code to assess the extent to which the highly ionized regions observed close to z~6 quasars, which we refer to as near-zones, can constrain the ionization state of the surrounding IGM. We find the appearance in Lya absorption of a quasar HII ionization front expanding into a neutral IGM can be very similar to a classical proximity zone, produced by the enhancement in ionizing flux close to a quasar embedded in a highly ionized IGM. The observed sizes of these highly ionized near-zones and their redshift evolution can be reproduced for a wide range of IGM neutral hydrogen fractions for plausible values of the luminosity and lifetime of the quasars. The observed near-zone sizes at the highest observed redshifts are equally consistent with a significantly neutral and a highly ionized surrounding IGM. Stronger constraints on the IGM neutral hydrogen fraction can be obtained by considering the relative size of the near-zones in the Lya and Lyb regions of a quasar spectrum. A large sample of high quality quasar absorption spectra with accurate determinations of near-zone sizes and their redshift evolution in both the Lya and Lyb regions should confirm or exclude the possibility that the Universe is predominantly neutral at the highest observed redshifts. The width of the discrete absorption features in these near-zones will contain important additional information on the ionization state and the previous thermal history of the IGM at these redshifts.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

On the rapid demise of Lyman-alpha emitters at z>7 due to the increasing incidence of optically thick absorption systems

A variety of independent observational studies have now reported a significant decline in the fraction of Lyman-break galaxies which exhibit Ly-a emission over the redshift interval z=6-7. In combination with the strong damping wing extending redward of Ly-a in the spectrum of the bright z=7.085 quasar ULAS 1120+0641, this has strengthened suggestions that the hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) is still substantially neutral at z~7. Current theoretical models imply HI fractions as large as 40-90 per cent may be required to explain these data assuming there is no intrinsic evolution in the Ly-a emitter population. We propose that such large neutral fractions are not necessary. Based on a hydrodynamical simulation which reproduces the absorption spectra of high-redshift (z~6-7) quasars, we demonstrate that the opacity of the intervening IGM redward of rest-frame Ly-a can rise rapidly in average regions of the Universe simply because of the increasing incidence of absorption systems which are optically thick to Lyman continuum photons as the tail-end of reionisation is approached. Our simulations suggest these data do not require a large change in the IGM neutral fraction by several tens of per cent from z=6-7, but may instead be indicative of the rapid decrease in the typical mean free path for ionising photons expected during the final stages of reionisation.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted to MNRA

The observed ionization rate of the intergalactic medium and the ionizing emissivity at z >5: Evidence for a photon starved and extended epoch of reionization

We use a large set of hydrodynamical simulations, combined with measurements of the Lyman alpha opacity of the IGM taken from the literature, to obtain robust estimates for the photoionization rate per hydrogen atom at z=5 and 6. We find the photoionization rate drops by a factor of two and four, respectively, compared to our recent measurements at z = 2 - 4. The number of ionizing photons emitted by known sources at z=5 and 6, based on an extrapolation of source numbers below the detection limit and standard assumptions for the relationship between the ionizing emissivity and observed luminosity density at 1500 Angstroms, are in reasonable agreement with the photoionization rates inferred from the Lyman alpha forest if the escape fraction of ionizing photons from galaxies is large (>= 20 per cent). Claims to the contrary may be attributed to the adoption of an unduly high value for the clumping factor of ionized hydrogen. Using physically motivated assumptions for the mean free path of ionizing photons our measurements of the photoionization rate can be turned into an estimate of the ionizing emissivity. In comoving units the inferred ionizing emissivity is nearly constant over the redshift range 2-6 and corresponds to 1.5-3 photons emitted per hydrogen atom over a time interval corresponding to the age of the Universe at z=6. This strongly suggests that the epoch of reionization was photon-starved and extended. [Abridged]Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

A closer look at using quasar near-zones as a probe of neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium

We examine a large set of synthetic quasar spectra to realistically assess the potential of using the relative sizes of highly ionized near-zones in the Lya and Lyb forest as a probe of the neutral hydrogen content of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z>6. The scatter in the relative near-zone size distribution, induced by underlying fluctuations in the baryonic density field and the filtering of ionizing radiation, is considerable even for fixed assumptions about the IGM neutral fraction. As a consequence, the current observational data cannot distinguish between an IGM which is significantly neutral or highly ionized just above z=6. Under standard assumptions for quasar ages and ionizing luminosities, a future sample of several tens of high resolution Lya and Lyb near-zone spectra should be capable of distinguishing between a volume weighted neutral hydrogen fraction in the IGM which is greater or less than 10 per cent.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter

Supervised Classification Using Sparse Fisher's LDA

It is well known that in a supervised classification setting when the number of features is smaller than the number of observations, Fisher's linear discriminant rule is asymptotically Bayes. However, there are numerous modern applications where classification is needed in the high-dimensional setting. Naive implementation of Fisher's rule in this case fails to provide good results because the sample covariance matrix is singular. Moreover, by constructing a classifier that relies on all features the interpretation of the results is challenging. Our goal is to provide robust classification that relies only on a small subset of important features and accounts for the underlying correlation structure. We apply a lasso-type penalty to the discriminant vector to ensure sparsity of the solution and use a shrinkage type estimator for the covariance matrix. The resulting optimization problem is solved using an iterative coordinate ascent algorithm. Furthermore, we analyze the effect of nonconvexity on the sparsity level of the solution and highlight the difference between the penalized and the constrained versions of the problem. The simulation results show that the proposed method performs favorably in comparison to alternatives. The method is used to classify leukemia patients based on DNA methylation features

Evidence for Environmental Changes in the Submillimeter Dust Opacity

The submillimeter opacity of dust in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) in the Galactic plane has been quantified using a pixel-by-pixel correlation of images of continuum emission with a proxy for column density. We used multi-wavelength continuum data: three Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope bands at 250, 350, and 500 μm and one IRAS band at 100 μm. The proxy is the near-infrared color excess, E(J – K_s), obtained from the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Based on observations of stars, we show how well this color excess is correlated with the total hydrogen column density for regions of moderate extinction. The ratio of emission to column density, the emissivity, is then known from the correlations, as a function of frequency. The spectral distribution of this emissivity can be fit by a modified blackbody, whence the characteristic dust temperature T and the desired opacity σ_e(1200) at 1200 GHz or 250 μm can be obtained. We have analyzed 14 regions near the Galactic plane toward the Vela molecular cloud, mostly selected to avoid regions of high column density (N_H > 10^(22) cm^(–2)) and small enough to ensure a uniform dust temperature. We find σ_e(1200) is typically (2-4) × 10^(–25) cm^2 H^(–1) and thus about 2-4 times larger than the average value in the local high Galactic latitude diffuse atomic ISM. This is strong evidence for grain evolution. There is a range in total power per H nucleon absorbed (and re-radiated) by the dust, reflecting changes in the strength of the interstellar radiation field and/or the dust absorption opacity. These changes in emission opacity and power affect the equilibrium T, which is typically 15 K, colder than at high latitudes. Our analysis extends, to higher opacity and lower temperature, the trend of increasing σ_e(1200) with decreasing T that was found at high latitudes. The recognition of changes in the emission opacity raises a cautionary flag because all column densities deduced from dust emission maps, and the masses of compact structures within them, depend inversely on the value adopted

The Lyman-alpha forest opacity and the metagalactic hydrogen ionization rate at z~2-4

Estimates of the metagalactic hydrogen ionization rate from the Lyman-alpha forest opacity in QSO absorption spectra depend on the complex density distribution of neutral hydrogen along the line-of-sight. We use a large suite of high resolution hydrodynamical simulations to investigate in detail the dependence of such estimates on physical and numerical parameters in the context of Lambda-CDM models. Adopting fiducial values for cosmological parameters together with published values of the temperature of the IGM and the effective optical depth, the metagalactic ionization rates which reproduce the Lyman-alpha effective optical depth at z=[2,3,4] are Gamma_HI=[1.3\pm^0.8_0.5, 0.9\pm0.3, 1.0\pm^0.5_0.3] \times 10^-12 s^-1, respectively. The errors include estimates of uncertainties in the relevant physical parameters and the numerical accuracy of the simulations. We find the errors are dominated by the uncertainty in the temperature of the low-density IGM. The estimated metagalactic hydrogen ionization rate for the neutral hydrogen distribution in the current concordance Lambda-CDM model is more than four times the value inferred for that in an Einstein-de Sitter model of the same r.m.s. density fluctuation amplitude sigma_8. The estimated ionization rate is also more than double that expected from updated estimates of the emissivity of observed QSOs alone. A substantial contribution from galaxies appears to be required at all redshifts.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, accepted to MNRAS, minor changes to submitted versio