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1.
Recent results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) satellite suggest that the intergalactic medium (IGM) was significantly reionized at redshifts as high as   z ∼ 17  . At this early epoch, the first ionizing sources probably appeared in the shallow potential wells of mini-haloes with virial temperatures   T vir < 104 K  . Once such an ionizing source turns off, its surrounding H ii region Compton cools and recombines. None the less, we show that the 'fossil' H ii regions left behind remain at high adiabats, prohibiting gas accretion and cooling in subsequent generations of mini-haloes. This greatly amplifies feedback effects explored in previous studies, and early star formation is self-limiting. We quantify this effect to show that star formation in mini-haloes cannot account for the bulk of the electron scattering opacity measured by WMAP , which must be due to more massive objects. We argue that gas entropy, rather than IGM metallicity, regulates the evolution of the global ionizing emissivity and impedes full reionization until lower redshifts. We discuss several important consequences of this early entropy floor for reionization. It reduces gas clumping, curtailing the required photon budget for reionization. An entropy floor also prevents H2 formation and cooling, due to reduced gas densities: it greatly enhances feedback from ultraviolet photodissociation of H2. An early X-ray background would also furnish an entropy floor to the entire IGM; thus, X-rays impede rather than enhance H2 formation. Future 21-cm observations may probe the topology of fossil H ii regions.  相似文献   

2.
Large-scale polarization of the cosmic microwave background measured by the WMAP satellite requires a mean optical depth to Thomson scattering,  τe∼ 0.17  . The reionization of the Universe must therefore have begun at relatively high redshift. We have studied the reionization process using supercomputer simulations of a large and representative region of a universe which has cosmological parameters consistent with the WMAP results (  Ωm= 0.3, ΩΛ= 0.7, h = 0.7, Ωb= 0.04, n = 1  and  σ8= 0.9  ). Our simulations follow both the radiative transfer of ionizing photons and the formation and evolution of the galaxy population which produces them. A previously published model with ionizing photon production as expected for zero-metallicity stars distributed according to a standard stellar initial mass function (IMF) (1061 photons per unit solar mass of formed stars) and with a moderate photon escape fraction from galaxies (5 per cent), produces  τe= 0.104  , which is within 1.0 to  1.5σ  of the 'best' WMAP value. Values of up to 0.16 can be produced by taking larger escape fractions or a top-heavy IMF. The data do not require a separate populations of 'miniquasars' or of stars forming in objects with total masses below  109 M⊙  . Reconciling such early reionization with the observed Gunn–Peterson troughs in   z > 6  quasars may be challenging. Possible resolutions of this problem are discussed.  相似文献   

3.
In the pre-reionization Universe, the regions of the intergalactic medium (IGM) which are far from luminous sources are the last to undergo reionization. Until then, they should be scarcely affected by stellar radiation; instead, the X-ray emission from an early black hole (BH) population can have much larger influence. We investigate the effects of such emission, looking at a number of BH model populations (differing for the cosmological density evolution of BHs, the BH properties, and the spectral energy distribution of the BH emission). We find that BH radiation can easily heat the IGM to  103–104 K  , while achieving partial ionization. The most interesting consequence of this heating is that BHs are expected to induce a 21-cm signal (  δ T b∼ 20–30 mK  at   z ≲ 12  ) which should be observable with forthcoming experiments (e.g. LOFAR). We also find that at   z ≲ 10  BH emission strongly increases the critical mass separating star-forming and non-star-forming haloes.  相似文献   

4.
We investigate the practice of assigning high spin temperatures to damped Lyman α absorption systems (DLAs) not detected in H  i 21-cm absorption. In particular, Kanekar & Chengalur have attributed the mix of 21-cm detections and non-detections in low-redshift  ( z abs≤ 2.04) DLAs  to a mix of spin temperatures, while the non-detections at high redshift were attributed to high spin temperatures. Below   z abs= 0.9  , where some of the DLA host galaxy morphologies are known, we find that 21-cm absorption is normally detected towards large radio sources when the absorber is known to be associated with a large intermediate (spiral) galaxy. Furthermore, at these redshifts, only one of the six 21-cm non-detections has an optical identification and these DLAs tend to lie along the sight-lines to the largest background radio continuum sources. For these and many of the high-redshift DLAs occulting large radio continua, we therefore expect covering factors of less than the assumed/estimated value of unity. This would have the effect of introducing a range of spin temperatures considerably narrower than the current range of  Δ T s≳ 9000 K  , while still supporting the hypothesis that the high-redshift DLA sample comprises a larger proportion of compact galaxies than the low-redshift sample.  相似文献   

5.
Three independent observational studies have now detected a narrow  (Δ z ≃ 0.5)  dip centred at   z = 3.2  in the otherwise smooth redshift evolution of the Lyα forest effective optical depth. This feature has previously been interpreted as an indirect signature of rapid photoheating in the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the epoch of He  ii reionization. We examine this interpretation using a semi-analytic model of inhomogeneous He  ii reionization and high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of the Lyα forest. We instead find that a rapid  (Δ z ≃ 0.2)  boost to the IGM temperature  (Δ T ≃ 104 K)  beginning at   z = 3.4  produces a well understood and generic evolution in the Lyα effective optical depth, where a sudden reduction in the opacity is followed by a gradual, monotonic recovery driven largely by adiabatic cooling in the low-density IGM. This behaviour is inconsistent with the narrow feature in the observational data. If photoheating during He  ii reionization is instead extended over several redshift units, as recent theoretical studies suggest, then the Lyα opacity will evolve smoothly with redshift. We conclude that the sharp dip observed in the Lyα forest effective optical depth is instead most likely due to a narrow peak in the hydrogen photoionization rate around   z = 3.2  , and suggest that it may arise from the modulation of either reprocessed radiation during He  ii reionization, or the opacity of Lyman limit systems.  相似文献   

6.
We investigate the effects of non-Gaussianity in the primordial density field on the reionization history. We rely on a semi-analytic method to describe the processes acting on the intergalactic medium (IGM), relating the distribution of the ionizing sources to that of dark matter haloes. Extending previous work in the literature, we consider models in which the primordial non-Gaussianity is measured by the dimensionless non-linearity parameter f NL, using the constraints recently obtained from cosmic microwave background data. We predict the ionized fraction and the optical depth at different cosmological epochs assuming two different kinds of non-Gaussianity characterized by a scale-independent and a scale-dependent f NL and comparing the results to those for the standard Gaussian scenario. We find that a positive f NL enhances the formation of high-mass haloes at early epochs when reionization begins, and, as a consequence, the IGM ionized fraction can grow by a factor of up to 5 with respect to the corresponding Gaussian model. The increase of the filling factor has a small impact on the reionization optical depth and is of the order of ∼10 per cent if a scale-dependent non-Gaussianity is assumed. Our predictions for non-Gaussian models are in agreement with the latest Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe results within the error bars, but a higher precision is required to constrain the scale dependence of non-Gaussianity.  相似文献   

7.
One well-known way to constrain the hydrogen neutral fraction,     , of the high-redshift intergalactic medium (IGM) is through the shape of the red damping wing of the Lyα absorption line. We examine this method's effectiveness in light of recent models showing that the IGM neutral fraction is highly inhomogeneous on large scales during reionization. Using both analytic models and 'seminumeric' simulations, we show that the 'picket-fence' absorption typical in reionization models introduces both scatter and a systematic bias to the measurement of     . In particular, we show that simple fits to the damping wing tend to overestimate the true neutral fraction in a partially ionized universe, with a fractional error of ∼30 per cent near the middle of reionization. This bias is generic to any inhomogeneous model. However, the bias is reduced and can even underestimate     if the observational sample only probes a subset of the entire halo population, such as quasars with large H  ii regions. We also find that the damping wing absorption profile is generally steeper than one would naively expect in a homogeneously ionized universe. The profile steepens and the sightline-to-sightline scatter increases as reionization progresses. Of course, the bias and scatter also depend on     and so can, at least in principle, be used to constrain it. Damping wing constraints must therefore be interpreted by comparison to theoretical models of inhomogeneous reionization.  相似文献   

8.
We study the statistical properties of the cosmological 21-cm signal from both the intergalactic medium (IGM) and minihaloes, using a reionization simulation that includes a self-consistent treatment of minihalo photoevaporation. We consider two models for minihalo formation and three typical thermal states of the IGM – heating purely by ionization, heating from both ionizing and Lyα photons and a maximal 'strong heating' model. We find that the signal from the IGM is almost always dominant over that from minihaloes. In our calculation, the differential brightness temperature,  δ T b,  of minihaloes is never larger than 2 mK. Although there are indeed some differences in the signals from the minihaloes and from the IGM, even with the planned generation of radio telescopes it will be unfeasible to detect them. However, minihaloes significantly affect the ionization state of the IGM and the corresponding 21-cm flux.  相似文献   

9.
Recent detections of high-redshift absorption by both atomic hydrogen and molecular gas in the radio spectra of quasars have provided a powerful tool for measuring possible temporal and spatial variations of physical 'constants' in the universe.
We compare the frequency of high-redshift hydrogen 21-cm absorption with that of associated molecular absorption in two quasars to place new (1σ) upper limits on any variation in y≡gpα2 (where α is the fine-structure constant, and gp is the proton g -factor of
   
at redshifts z = 0.25 and 0.68. These quasars are separated by a comoving distance of 3000 Mpc ( H 0= 75 km s−1 Mpc−1 and q 0). We also derive limits on the time rates of change
   
    between the present epoch and z = 0.68. These limits are more than an order of magnitude smaller than previous results derived from high-redshift measurements.  相似文献   

10.
Many models of early structure formation predict a period of heating immediately preceding reionization, when X-rays raise the gas temperature above that of the cosmic microwave background. These X-rays are often assumed to heat the intergalactic medium (IGM) uniformly, but in reality will heat the gas more strongly closer to the sources. We develop a framework for calculating fluctuations in the 21-cm brightness temperature that originate from this spatial variation in the heating rate. High-redshift sources are highly clustered, leading to significant gas temperature fluctuations (with fractional variations ∼40 per cent, peaking on   k ∼ 0.1 Mpc−1  scales). This induces a distinctive peak-trough structure in the angle-averaged 21-cm power spectrum, which may be accessible to the proposed Square Kilometre Array. This signal reaches the ∼10 mK level, and is stronger than that induced by Lyα flux fluctuations. As well as probing the thermal evolution of the IGM before reionization, this 21-cm signal contains information about the spectra of the first X-ray sources. Finally, we consider disentangling temperature, density and Lyα flux fluctuations as functions of redshift.  相似文献   

11.
The introduction of low-frequency radio arrays is expected to revolutionize the study of the reionization epoch. Observation of the contrast in redshifted 21-cm emission between a large H  ii region and the surrounding neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) will be the simplest and most easily interpreted signature. However, the highest redshift quasars known are thought to reside in an ionized IGM. Using a semi-analytic model we describe the redshifted 21-cm signal from the IGM surrounding quasars discovered using the i -drop-out technique (i.e. quasars at   z ∼ 6  ). We argue that while quasars at   z < 6.5  seem to reside in the post-overlap IGM, they will still provide valuable probes of the late stages of the overlap era because the light-travel time across a quasar proximity zone should be comparable to the duration of overlap. For redshifted 21-cm observations within a 32-MHz bandpass, we find that the subtraction of a spectrally smooth foreground will not remove spectral features due to the proximity zone. These features could be used to measure the neutral hydrogen content of the IGM during the late stages of reionization. The density of quasars at   z ∼ 6  is now well constrained. We use the measured quasar luminosity function to estimate the prospects for discovery of high-redshift quasars in fields that will be observed by the Murchison Widefield Array.  相似文献   

12.
We present a semi-analytic treatment of galactic winds within high-resolution, large-scale cosmological N -body simulations of a Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) universe. The evolution of winds is investigated by following the expansion of supernova-driven superbubbles around the several hundred thousand galaxies that form in an approximately spherical region of space with diameter 52  h −1 Mpc and mean density close to the mean density of the universe. We focus our attention on the impact of winds on the diffuse intergalactic medium. Initial conditions for mass loss at the base of winds are taken from Shu, Mo & Mao. Results are presented for the volume filling factor and the mass fraction of the intergalactic medium (IGM) affected by winds, and their dependence on the model parameters is carefully investigated. The mass-loading efficiency of bubbles is a key factor to determine the evolution of winds and their global impact on the IGM: the higher the mass loading, the later the IGM is enriched with metals. Galaxies with 109 < M ★ < 1010 M⊙ are responsible for most of the metals ejected into the IGM at   z = 3  , while galaxies with   M ★ < 109 M⊙   give a non-negligible contribution only at higher redshifts, when larger galaxies have not yet assembled. We find a higher mean IGM metallicity than Lyα forest observations suggest, and we argue that the discrepancy may be explained by the high temperatures of a large fraction of the metals in winds, which may not leave detectable imprints in absorption in the Lyα forest.  相似文献   

13.
We present the results of an initial search for clusters of galaxies at z ∼ 1 and above, using data from 2.9 square degrees of XMM–Newton images. By selecting weak potentially extended X-ray sources with faint or no identifications in deep, ground-based optical imaging, we have constructed a starting sample of 19 high-redshift cluster candidates. Near-IR and R , z ' imaging of these fields identified nine of them as high-redshift systems. Six of these were confirmed spectroscopically, three at z ∼ 1.0 and the other three in the  0.8 < z < 0.92  range. The remaining three systems have solid photometric evidence to be at   z phot∼ 0.8, 1.0  and 1.3. The present sample significantly increases the number of such clusters. The measured density of z ≳ 1 clusters, after discarding 'low'-redshift systems at z ≲ 0.92 is about 1.7 deg−2 (with 68 per cent confidence interval equal to [1.0, 2.9]) for   fX ≳ 2.5  10−15 erg cm−2 s−1  ([0.5–2] keV) and this is a lower limit, having screened not all potential z ∼ 1 candidate clusters. Coordinates, X-ray measures and evidence for nine X-ray-selected high-redshift clusters is given.  相似文献   

14.
We measure the matter power spectrum from 31 Lyα spectra spanning the redshift range of 1.6–3.6. The optical depth, τ, for Lyα absorption of the intergalactic medium is obtained from the flux using the inversion method of Nusser & Haehnelt. The optical depth is converted to density by using a simple power-law relation,  τ∝ (1 +δ)α  . The non-linear 1D power spectrum of the gas density is then inferred with a method that makes simultaneous use of the one- and two-point statistics of the flux and compared against theoretical models with a likelihood analysis. A cold dark matter model with standard cosmological parameters fits the data well. The power-spectrum amplitude is measured to be (assuming a flat Universe),  σ8= (0.92 ± 0.09) × (Ωm/0.3)−0.3  , with α varying in the range of 1.56–1.8 with redshift. Enforcing the same cosmological parameters in all four redshift bins, the likelihood analysis suggests some evolution in the temperature–density relation and the thermal smoothing length of the gas. The inferred evolution is consistent with that expected if reionization of He  ii occurred at   z ∼ 3.2  . A joint analysis with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe results together with a prior on the Hubble constant as suggested by the Hubble Space Telescope key project data, yields values of Ωm and σ8 that are consistent with the cosmological concordance model. We also perform a further inversion to obtain the linear 3D power spectrum of the matter density fluctuations.  相似文献   

15.
We report high-spectral-resolution Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) H  i 21-cm observations resulting in the detection of the warm neutral medium (WNM) of the Galaxy in absorption against two extragalactic radio sources, PKS 1814−637 and PKS 0407−658. The two lines of sight were selected on the basis of the simplicity of their absorption profiles and the strength of the background sources; the high velocity resolution of the spectra then enabled us to estimate the kinetic temperatures of the absorbing gas by fitting multiple Gaussians to the absorption profiles. Four separate WNM components were detected towards the two sources, with peak optical depths  τmax= (1.0 ± 0.08) × 10−2, (1.4 ± 0.2) × 10−3, (2.2 ± 0.5) × 10−3  and  (3.4 ± 0.5) × 10−3  and kinetic temperatures   T k= 3127 ± 300, 3694 ± 1595, 3500 ± 1354  and  2165 ± 608 K  , respectively. All four components were thus found to have temperatures in the thermally unstable range  500 < T k < 5000 K  ; this suggests that thermal equilibrium has not been reached throughout the WNM.  相似文献   

16.
We perform Monte Carlo simulations of synthetic EMSS cluster samples, to quantify the systematic errors and the statistical uncertainties on the estimate of Ω0 derived from fits to the cluster number density evolution and to the X-ray temperature distribution up to z =0.83 . We identify the scatter around the relation between cluster X-ray luminosity and temperature to be a source of systematic error, of the order of ΔsystΩ0=0.09 , if not properly taken into account in the modelling. After correcting for this bias, our best Ω0 is 0.66. The uncertainties on the shape and normalization of the power spectrum of matter fluctuations imply relatively large uncertainties on this estimate of Ω0, of the order of ΔstatΩ0=0.1 at the 1 σ level. On the other hand, the statistical uncertainties due to the finite size of the high-redshift sample are twice as small. Therefore, what is needed in order to improve the accuracy of Ω0 estimates based on cluster number density evolution is a more reliable measure of the local temperature function and a better understanding of the cluster observed properties both in the local Universe and at high redshift, that is the relation between cluster mass, temperature and luminosity. This requires detailed observations of X-ray selected cluster samples, in comparison with hydrodynamic simulations including refined physics.  相似文献   

17.
We attempt to put constraints on different cosmological and biasing models by combining the recent clustering results of X-ray sources in the local ( z ≤0.1) and distant Universe ( z ∼1) . To this end we compare the measured angular correlation function for bright (Akylas et al.) and faint (Vikhlinin & Forman) ROSAT X-ray sources respectively with those expected in three spatially flat cosmological models. Taking into account the different functional forms of the bias evolution, we find that there are two cosmological models which match the data well. In particular, low-Ω○ cosmological models (ΩΛ=1−Ω○=0.7) that contain either (i) high σ 8mass=1.13 value with galaxy merging bias, b ( z )∝(1+ z )1.8 or (ii) low σ 8mass=0.9 with non-bias, b ( z ) ≡ 1 best reproduce the AGN clustering results, while τ CDM models with different bias behaviour are ruled out at a high significance level.  相似文献   

18.
Using N -body simulations with a large set of massless test particles, we compare the predictions of two theories of violent relaxation, the well-known Lynden-Bell theory and the more recent theory by Nakamura. We derive 'weakened' versions of both the theories in which we use the whole equilibrium coarse-grained distribution function     as a constraint instead of the total energy constraint. We use these weakened theories to construct expressions for the conditional probability   Ki (τ)  that a test particle initially at the phase-space coordinate τ would end-up in the i th macro-cell at equilibrium. We show that the logarithm of the ratio   Rij (τ) ≡ Ki (τ)/ Kj (τ)  is directly proportional to the initial phase-space density   f 0(τ)  for the Lynden-Bell theory and inversely proportional to   f 0(τ)  for the Nakamura theory. We then measure   Rij (τ)  using a set of N -body simulations of a system undergoing a gravitational collapse to check the validity of the two theories of violent relaxation. We find that both the theories are at odds with the numerical results, both qualitatively and quantitatively.  相似文献   

19.
As the number of known exoplanets continues to grow, the question as to whether such bodies harbour satellite systems has become one of increasing interest. In this paper, we explore the transit timing effects that should be detectable due to an exomoon and predict a new observable. We first consider transit time variation (TTV), where we update the model to include the effects of orbital eccentricity. We draw two key conclusions.
  • (i) 

    In order to maintain Hill stability, the orbital frequency of the exomoon will always be higher than the sampling frequency. Therefore, the period of the exomoon cannot be reliably determined from TTV, only a set of harmonic frequencies.

  • (ii) 

    The TTV amplitude is  ∝ M S a S  where M S is the exomoon mass and a S is the semimajor axis of the moon's orbit. Therefore, M S and a S cannot be separately determined.


We go on to predict a new observable due to exomoons – transit duration variation (TDV). We derive the TDV amplitude and conclude that its amplitude is not only detectable, but the TDV signal will also provide two robust advantages.
  • (i) 

    The TDV amplitude is  ∝ M S a −1/2S  and therefore the ratio of TDV to TTV allows for M S and a S to be separately determined.

  • (ii) 

    TDV has a π/2 phase difference to the TTV signal, making it an excellent complementary technique.

  相似文献   

20.
To investigate further the comparison between active galactic nuclei (AGN) and black hole X-ray binaries, we have studied the main X-ray variability properties of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 335. We put particular emphasis on the X-ray time lags, which is a potentially important diagnostic of physical models. From a 100 ks observation by XMM–Newton , we show that the power spectrum of this source is well fitted by a bending power-law model, and the bend time-scale T b is precisely at the value predicted by the T b versus Hβ linewidth relation of McHardy et al. Variations in different energy bands show time-scale-dependent time lags, where higher energy bands lag lower ones. The lag, τ, varies as a function of the Fourier frequency, f , of the variability component in the light curves as  τ∝ f −1  at low frequencies, but there is a sharp cut-off in the lags at a frequency close to the bend frequency in the power spectrum. Similar behaviour is seen in black hole X-ray binary systems. The length of the time lags increases continuously with energy separation, in an almost loglinear relation. We show that the lag spectra can be produced by fluctuations propagating through the accretion flow as long as the energy spectrum of the X-ray emitting region hardens towards the centre.  相似文献   

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