Impact of Helium II resonant absorption on the UVB modeled in three dimensions

Abstract

We implement a treatment of Helium {\sc ii} absorption and re-emission into the \TD cosmological simulations to study its impact on the metagalactic ultraviolet background (UVB) in three dimensions. By comparing simulations with and without He {\sc ii} reprocessing, we show that it weakens the mean UVB by $\sim$3 dex from $z = 10$ to $z = 5$ between 3.5 and 4 Ryd, where the He {\sc ii} Lyman-series resonance occurs. In overdense regions, the overall UVB amplitude is higher and the impact of \HeII reprocessing is weaker, qualitatively indicating an early start to \HeII reionization near galaxies. Comparing our simulations to two popular one-dimensional UV models, we find good agreement up to 3 Ryd at $z = 5$. At higher energies, our simulation shows significantly greater He {\sc ii} absorption because it accounts for He {\sc ii} arising both in diffuse regions and in Lyman limit systems. By contrast, the comparison models account only for He {\sc ii} in Lyman limit systems, which are subdominant prior to the completion of He {\sc ii} reionization. The H {\sc i} and He {\sc ii} reionization histories are nearly unaffected by He {\sc ii} reprocessing although the cosmic star formation rate density is altered by up to $4\%$. The cosmic mass density of C {\sc iv} is reduced by $\sim$2 dex when He {\sc ii} is accounted for while Si {\sc iv}, C {\sc ii}, Mg {\sc ii}, Si {\sc ii}, and O {\sc i} are unaffected.