The kinetic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect as a probe of the physics of cosmic reionization : the effect of self-regulated reionization

textWe calculate the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations induced by the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect from the epoch of reionization (EOR). We use detailed N-body+radiative-transfer simulations to follow inhomogeneous reionization of the intergalactic medium. For the first time, we take into account the "self-regulation" of reionization: star formation in low-mass dwarf galaxies or minihalos is suppressed if these halos form in the regions that were already ionized or Lyman-Werner dissociated. Some previous work suggested that the amplitude of the kSZ power spectrum from the EOR can be described by a two-parameter family: the epoch of half-ionization and the duration of reionization. However, we argue that this picture applies only to simple forms of the reionization history which are roughly symmetric about the half-ionization epoch. In self-regulated reionization, the universe begins to be ionized early, maintains a low level of ionization for an extended period, and then finishes reionization as soon as high-mass atomically cooling halos dominate. While inclusion of self-regulation affects the amplitude of the kSZ power spectrum only modestly (~10%), it can change the duration of reionization by a factor of more than two. We conclude that the simple two-parameter family does not capture the effect of a physical, yet complex, reionization history caused by self-regulation. When added to the post-reionization kSZ contribution, our prediction for the total kSZ power spectrum is below the current upper bound from the South Pole Telescope. Therefore, the current upper bound on the kSZ effect from the EOR is consistent with our understanding of the physics of reionization.Astronom

The Impact of baryonic physics on the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect

Poorly understood "baryonic physics" impacts our ability to predict the power spectrum of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect. We study this in one sample high resolution simulation of galaxy formation and feedback, Illustris. The high resolution of Illustris allows us to probe the kSZ power spectrum on multipoles $\ell =10^3-3\times 10^4$. Strong AGN feedback in Illustris nearly wipes out gas fluctuations at $k\gtrsim1~h~\rm{Mpc}^{-1}$ and at late times, likely somewhat under predicting the kSZ power generated at $z\lesssim 1$. The post-reionization kSZ power spectrum for Illustris is well-fit by $\mathcal{D}^{z<6}_{\ell} = 1.38[\ell/3000]^{0.21}~\mu K^2$ over $3000\lesssim\ell\lesssim10000$, somewhat lower than most other reported values but consistent with the analysis of Shaw et al. Our analysis of the bias of free electrons reveals subtle effects associated with the multi-phase gas physics and stellar fractions that affect even linear scales. In particular there are fewer electrons in biased galaxies, due to gas cooling and star formation, and this leads to an electron bias less than one even at low wavenumbers. The combination of bias and electron fraction that determines the overall suppression is relatively constant, $f_e^2b^2_{e0} \sim 0.7$, but more simulations are needed to see if this is Illustris-specific. By separating the kSZ power into different terms, we find at least $6\, (10)\%$ of the signal at $\ell=3000\, (10000)$ comes from non-Gaussian connected four-point density and velocity correlations, \left_{c}, even without correcting for the Illustris simulation box size. A challenge going forward will be to accurately model long-wave velocity modes simultaneously with Illustris-like high resolution to capture the complexities of galaxy formation and its correlations with large scale flows.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure, submitted to Ap

The imprint of the ionized intergalactic medium on the temperature anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background and the mutual-impact of reionization and small-scale structure

textIonized intergalactic medium (IGM) is an important component in cosmic history. After recombination, the universe went though a dark age until the first stars formed. Since the formation of the first stars, the ionized gas, on one hand, played an important role in the history of the universe and, on the other hand, left its imprints on observables that current and future experiments can measure. In this dissertation, we discuss both of each aspects about ionized gas. First, we discuss the mutual-impact of reionization and the IGM in small-scale structures. While reionization took place preferentially from densest regions of the universe, IGM in average density regions is expected to have been ionized externally by galaxies formed in denser regions. Until ionized by external radiation, the IGM is expected to have grown numerous small-scale structures. We simulate how the hydrodynamic feedback on the small-scale structures and its impact on recombination. Then, we also discuss our result on how recombination can impact on the global progress of the reionization. Compared to previous works, we improve on the resolution of simulation. Previous studies took into account only the structures that can form in photoionized gas down to 10⁸ M [sun symbol] in mass. Here, we present a study that resolves halos down to 10⁴ M [sun symbol] to account for structures that were able to form before the reionization heats the gas. Second, we discuss the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) : temperature fluctuations via the Doppler shift induced by the line-of-sight (LOS) component of the momentum of electrons in the ionized IGM. For the EoR contribution to the signal, we calculate the expected signal from simulations of cosmic reionization that, for the first time, includes the effect of "self-regulation" of reionization: star formation in low-mass galaxies (10⁸ M [sun symbol] [less than or equal to] M [subscript halo] [less than or equal to] 10⁹ M [sun symbol]) and minihalos (10⁵ M [sun symbol] [less than or equal to] M [subscript halo] [less than or equal to] 10⁸ M [sun symbol]) is suppressed if these halos form in regions that are already ionized or Lyman-Werner dissociated. For the post-reionization signal, we revisit the currently used model for non-linear transverse momentum power spectrum with a particular emphasis on the connected term that has been neglected in the literature.Astronom

The Impact of Nonlinear Structure Formation on the Power Spectrum of Transverse Momentum Fluctuations and the Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect

Cosmological transverse momentum fields, whose directions are perpendicular to Fourier wave vectors, induce temperature anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background via the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) effect. The transverse momentum power spectrum contains the four-point function of density and velocity fields, $\langle\delta\delta v v\rangle$. In the post-reionization epoch, nonlinear effects dominate in the power spectrum. We use perturbation theory and cosmological $N$-body simulations to calculate this nonlinearity. We derive the next-to-leading order expression for the power spectrum with a particular emphasis on the connected term that has been ignored in the literature. While the contribution from the connected term on small scales ($k>0.1\,h\,\rm{Mpc}^{-1}$) is subdominant relative to the unconnected term, we find that its contribution to the kSZ power spectrum at $\ell = 3000$ at $z<6$ can be as large as ten percent of the unconnected term, which would reduce the allowed contribution from the reionization epoch ($z>6$) by twenty percent. The power spectrum of transverse momentum on large scales is expected to scale as $k^2$ as a consequence of momentum conservation. We show that both the leading and the next-to-leading order terms satisfy this scaling. In particular, we find that both of the unconnected and connected terms are necessary to reproduce $k^2$.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, Accepted to Ap

Impact of Self-shielding Minihalos on the Lyα\alpha Forest at High Redshift

Dense gas in minihalos (MHs) with masses of $10^6-10^8~M_\odot$ can shield themselves from reionization for about $100$ megayears after being exposed to UV radiation. These self-shielded systems, often unresolved in cosmological simulations, can introduce strong absorption in quasar spectra. This paper is the first systematic study on the impact of these systems on the Ly$\alpha$ forest. We first derive the HI column density profile of photoevaporating MHs by conducting 1-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics simulations. We utilize these results to estimate the Ly$\alpha$ opacity from minihalos in a large-scale simulation that cannot resolve the self-shielding process. When the ionization rate of the background radiation is $0.03\times 10^{-12}~{\rm s}^{-1}$, as expected near the end of reionization at $z\sim 5.5$, we find that the incidence rate of damped Ly$\alpha$ absorbers, $dN/dX$, increases by nearly a factor of 2 - 4 compared to at $z=4.5$. The Ly$\alpha$ flux is, on average, suppressed by $10\%$ of its mean due to absorption by MHs. The extended absorption features contribute to a $\sim 20\%$ enhancement in the 1D power spectrum at $k\sim 0.1~h~{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ ($10^{-3}~{\rm km}^{-1}~{\rm s}$), which is comparable to the enhancement caused by inhomogeneous reionization. Notably, the flux is particularly suppressed in the vicinity of large halos along the line-of-sight direction at separations of up to $10~h^{-1}~{\rm Mpc}$ at $r_\perp\lesssim 2~h^{-1}~{\rm Mpc}$. However, these effects become much smaller for higher ionizing rates ($0.3$ and $1\times 10^{-12}~{\rm s}^{-1}$) expected in the post-reionization universe $z\lesssim5.5$. Our findings highlight the need to consider the absorption by MHs when interpreting the Ly$\alpha$ forest at $z\gtrsim5.5$. Moreover, the sensitivity of this effect to the ionizing background intensity can be exploited to constrain the intensity itself.Comment: 15 pages; 11 figures; Submitted to the Ap