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Martin G. Haehnelt

Publications and source records attributed to Martin G. Haehnelt.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Probing Cosmic Dawn with Emission Lines: Predicting Infrared and Nebular Line Emission for ALMA and JWST

Infrared and nebular lines provide some of our best probes of the physics regulating the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) at high-redshift. However, interpreting the physical conditions of high-redshift galaxies directly from emission lines remains complicated due to inhomogeneities in temperature, density, metallicity, ionisation parameter, and spectral hardness. We present a new suite of cosmological, radiation-hydrodynamics simulations, each centred on a massive Lyman-break galaxy that resolves such properties in an inhomogeneous ISM. Many of the simulated systems exhibit transient but well defined gaseous disks that appear as velocity gradients in [CII]~158.6$μ$m emission. Spatial and spectral offsets between [CII]~158.6$μ$m and [OIII]~88.33$μ$m are common, but not ubiquitous, as each line probes a different phase of the ISM. These systems fall on the local [CII]-SFR relation, consistent with newer observations that question previously observed [CII]~158.6$μ$m deficits. Our galaxies are consistent with the nebular line properties of observed $z\sim2-3$ galaxies and reproduce offsets on the BPT and mass-excitation diagrams compared to local galaxies due to higher star formation rate (SFR), excitation, and specific-SFR, as well as harder spectra from young, metal-poor binaries. We predict that local calibrations between H$α$ and [OII]~3727$Å$ luminosity and galaxy SFR apply up to $z>10$, as do the local relations between certain strong line diagnostics (R23 and [OIII]~5007$Å$/H$β$) and galaxy metallicity. Our new simulations are well suited to interpret the observations of line emission from current (ALMA and HST) and upcoming facilities (JWST and ngVLA).

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Predictions and sensitivity forecasts for reionization-era [C II] line intensity mapping

Observations of the high-redshift Universe using the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen and complimentary emission lines from the first galaxies promise to open a new door for our understanding of the epoch of reionization. We present predictions for the [C II] 158-micron line and H I 21 cm emission from redshifts z=6--9 using high-dynamic-range cosmological simulations combined with semi-analytical models. We find that the CONCERTO experiment should be able to detect the large scale power spectrum of [C II] emission to redshifts of up to z=8 (signal-to-noise ratio ~ 1 at k = 0.1 h/cMpc with 1500 hr of integration). A Stage II experiment similar to CCAT-p should be able to detect [C II] from even higher redshifts to high significance for similar integration times (signal-to-noise ratio of ~50 at k = 0.2 h/cMpc at z=6--9). We study the possibility of combining such future [C II] measurements with 21 cm measurements using LOFAR and SKA to measure the [C II]-21cm cross power spectra, and find that a Stage II experiment should be able to measure the cross-power spectrum for k < 1 h/cMpc to signal-to-noise ratio of better than 10. We discuss the capability of such measurements to constrain astrophysical parameters relevant to reionization and show that a measurement of the [C II]-21cm cross power spectrum helps break the degeneracy between the mass and brightness of ionizing sources.

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Large Lyman-alpha opacity fluctuations and low CMB tau in models of late reionization with large islands of neutral hydrogen extending to z<5.5

High-redshift QSO spectra show large spatial fluctuations in the Ly-alpha opacity of the intergalactic medium on surprisingly large scales at z>~5.5. We present a radiative transfer simulation of cosmic reionization driven by galaxies that reproduces this large scatter and the rapid evolution of the Ly-alpha opacity distribution at 5 ~6. Reionization is complete at z=5.3 in our model, and 50% of the volume of the Universe is ionized at z=7. Agreement with the Ly-alpha forest data in such a late reionization model requires a rapid evolution of the ionizing emissivity of galaxies that peaks at z~6.8. The late end of reionization results in a large scatter in the photoionisation rate and the neutral hydrogen fraction at redshifts as low as z<~5.5 with large residual neutral 'islands' that can produce very long Gunn-Peterson troughs resembling those seen in the data.

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Modelling the observed luminosity function and clustering evolution of Lyman-$α$ emitters: growing evidence for late reionization

We model the high redshift (z > 5) Lyman-$α$ emitting (LAE) galaxy population using the empirical rest-frame equivalent width distribution. We calibrate to the observed luminosity function and angular correlation function at z = 5.7 as measured by the SILVERRUSH survey. This allows us to populate the high-dynamic-range Sherwood simulation suite with LAEs, and to calculate the transmission of their Ly $α$ emission through the inter-galactic medium (IGM). We use this simulated population to explore the effect of the IGM on high-redshift observations of LAEs, and make predictions for the narrowband filter redshifts at z = 6.6, 7.0 and 7.3. Comparing our model with existing observations, we find a late reionization is suggested, consistent with the recent low optical depth derived from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by the Planck collaboration and the opacity fluctuations in the Ly $α$ forest. We also explore the role of the circum-galactic medium (CGM) and the larger volume of gas which is infalling onto the host halo versus the IGM in attenuating the Ly $α$ signal, finding that a significant fraction of the attenuation is due to the CGM and infalling gas, which increases towards the end of reionization, albeit with a large scatter across the mock LAE population.

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Tracing the Sources of Reionization in Cosmological Radiation Hydrodynamics Simulations

We use the photon flux and absorption tracer algorithm presented in Katz et al.~2018, to characterise the contribution of haloes of different mass and stars of different age and metallicity to the reionization of the Universe. We employ a suite of cosmological multifrequency radiation hydrodynamics AMR simulations that are carefully calibrated to reproduce a realistic reionization history and galaxy properties at $z \geq 6$. In our simulations, haloes with mass $10^9{\rm M_{\odot}}h^{-1}<M<10^{10}{\rm M_{\odot}}h^{-1}$, stars with metallicity $10^{-3}Z_{\odot}<Z<10^{-1.5}Z_{\odot}$, and stars with age $3\,{\rm Myr} < t < 10 \, {\rm Myr}$ dominate reionization by both mass and volume. We show that the sources that reionize most of the volume of the Universe by $z=6$ are not necessarily the same sources that dominate the meta-galactic UV background at the same redshift. We further show that in our simulations, the contribution of each type of source to reionization is not uniform across different gas phases. The IGM, CGM, filaments, ISM, and rarefied supernova heated gas have all been photoionized by different classes of sources. Collisional ionisation contributes at both the lowest and highest densities. In the early stages of the formation of individual HII bubbles, reionization proceeds with the formation of concentric shells of gas ionised by different classes of sources, leading to large temperature variations as a function of galacto-centric radius. The temperature structure of individual HII bubbles may thus give insight into the star formation history of the galaxies acting as the first ionising sources. Our explorative simulations highlight how the complex nature of reionization can be better understood by using our photon tracer algorithm.

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Lyman-alpha emitters gone missing: the different evolution of the bright and faint populations

We model the transmission of the Lyman-alpha line through the circum- and intergalactic media around dark matter haloes expected to host Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) at z > 5.7, using the high-dynamic-range Sherwood simulations. We find very different CGM environments around more massive haloes (~10^11 M_sun) compared to less massive haloes (~10^9 M_sun) at these redshifts, which can contribute to a different evolution of the Lyman-alpha transmission from LAEs within these haloes. Additionally we confirm that part of the differential evolution could result from bright LAEs being more likely to reside in larger ionized regions. We conclude that a combination of the CGM environment and the IGM ionization structure is likely to be responsible for the differential evolution of the bright and faint ends of the LAE luminosity function at z > 6. More generally, we confirm the suggestion that the self-shielded neutral gas in the outskirts of the host halo can strongly attenuate the Lyman-alpha emission from high redshift galaxies. We find that this has a stronger effect on the more massive haloes hosting brighter LAEs. The faint-end of the LAE luminosity function is thus a more reliable probe of the average ionization state of the IGM. Comparing our model for LAEs with a range of observational data we find that the favoured reionization histories are our previously advocated `Late' and `Very Late' reionization histories, in which reionization finishes rather rapidly at around z ~ 6.

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New Constraints on the free-streaming of warm dark matter from intermediate and small scale Lyman-$α$ forest data

We present new measurements of the free-streaming of warm dark matter (WDM) from Lyman-$α$ flux-power spectra. We use data from the medium resolution, intermediate redshift XQ-100 sample observed with the X-shooter spectrograph ($z=3 - 4.2$) and the high-resolution, high-redshift sample used in Viel et al. (2013) obtained with the HIRES/MIKE spectrographs ($z=4.2 - 5.4$). Based on further improved modelling of the dependence of the Lyman-$α$ flux-power spectrum on the free-streaming of dark matter, cosmological parameters, as well as the thermal history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) with hydrodynamical simulations, we obtain the following limits, expressed as the equivalent mass of thermal relic WDM particles. The XQ-100 flux power spectrum alone gives a lower limit of 1.4 keV, the re-analysis of the HIRES/MIKE sample gives 4.1 keV while the combined analysis gives our best and significantly strengthened lower limit of 5.3 keV (all 2$σ$ C.L.). The further improvement in the joint analysis is partly due to the fact that the two data sets have different degeneracies between astrophysical and cosmological parameters that are broken when the data sets are combined, and more importantly on chosen priors on the thermal evolution. These results all assume that the temperature evolution of the IGM can be modelled as a power law in redshift. Allowing for a non-smooth evolution of the temperature of the IGM with sudden temperature changes of up to 5000K reduces the lower limit for the combined analysis to 3.5 keV. A WDM with smaller thermal relic masses would require, however, a sudden temperature jump of $5000\,K$ or more in the narrow redshift interval $z=4.6-4.8$, in disagreement with observations of the thermal history based on high-resolution resolution Lyman-$α$ forest data and expectations for photo-heating and cooling in the low density IGM at these redshifts.

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Quenching star formation with quasar outflows launched by trapped IR radiation

We present cosmological radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, performed with the code Ramses-RT, of radiatively-driven outflows in a massive quasar host halo at $z = 6$. Our simulations include both single- and multi-scattered radiation pressure on dust from a quasar and are compared against simulations performed with thermal feedback. For radiation pressure-driving, we show that there is a critical quasar luminosity above which a galactic outflow is launched, set by the equilibrium of gravitational and radiation forces. While this critical luminosity is unrealistically high in the single-scattering limit for plausible black hole masses, it is in line with a $\approx 3 \times 10^9 \, \rm M_\odot$ black hole accreting at its Eddington limit, if infrared (IR) multi-scattering radiation pressure is included. The outflows are fast ($v \, \gtrsim \, 1000 \, \rm km \, s^{-1}$) and strongly mass-loaded with peak mass outflow rates $\approx 10^3 - 10^4 \, \rm M_\odot \, yr^{-1}$, but short-lived ($< 10 \, \rm Myr$). Outflowing material is multi-phase, though predominantly composed of cool gas, forming via a thermal instability in the shocked swept-up component. Radiation pressure- and thermally-driven outflows both affect their host galaxies significantly, but in different, complementary ways. Thermally-driven outflows couple more efficiently to diffuse halo gas, generating more powerful, hotter and more volume-filling outflows. IR radiation, through its ability to penetrate dense gas via diffusion, is more efficient at ejecting gas from the bulge. The combination of gas ejection through outflows with internal pressurisation by trapped IR radiation leads to a complete shut down of star formation in the bulge. We hence argue that radiation pressure-driven feedback may be an important ingredient in regulating star formation in compact starbursts, especially during the quasar's `obscured' phase.

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New constraints on Lyman-α opacity with a sample of 62 quasars at z > 5.7

We present measurements of the mean and scatter of the IGM Lyman-α opacity at 4.9 < z < 6.1 along the lines of sight of 62 quasars at z > 5.7, the largest sample assembled at these redshifts to date by a factor of two. The sample size enables us to sample cosmic variance at these redshifts more robustly than ever before. The spectra used here were obtained by the SDSS, DES-VHS and SHELLQs collaborations, drawn from the ESI and X-Shooter archives, reused from previous studies or observed specifically for this work. We measure the effective optical depth of Lyman-α in bins of 10, 30, 50 and 70 cMpc h-1, construct cumulative distribution functions under two treatments of upper limits on flux and explore an empirical analytic fit to residual Lyman-α transmission. We verify the consistency of our results with those of previous studies via bootstrap re-sampling and confirm the existence of tails towards high values in the opacity distributions, which may persist down to z = 5.2. Comparing our results with predictions from cosmological simulations, we find further strong evidence against models that include a spatially uniform ionizing background and temperature-density relation. We also compare to IGM models that include either a fluctuating UVB dominated by rare quasars or temperature fluctuations due to patchy reionization. Although both models produce better agreement with the observations, neither fully captures the observed scatter in IGM opacity. Our sample of 62 z > 5.7 quasar spectra opens many avenues for future study of the reionisation epoch.

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Calibrating cosmological radiative transfer simulations with Lyman alpha forest data: Evidence for large spatial UV background fluctuations at z ~ 5.6 - 5.8 due to rare bright sources

We calibrate here cosmological radiative transfer simulation with ATON/RAMSES with a range of measurements of the Lyman alpha opacity from QSO absorption spectra. We find the Lyman alpha opacity to be very sensitive to the exact timing of hydrogen reionisation. Models reproducing the measured evolution of the mean photoionisation rate and average mean free path reach overlap at z ~ 7 and predict an accelerated evolution of the Lyman alpha opacity at z > 6 consistent with the rapidly evolving luminosity function of Lyman alpha emitters in this redshift range. Similar to "optically thin" simulations our full radiative transfer simulations fail, however, to reproduce the high-opacity tail of the Lyman alpha opacity PDF at z > 5. We argue that this is due to spatial UV fluctuations in the post-overlap phase of reionisation on substantially larger scales than predicted by our source model, where the ionising emissivity is dominated by large numbers of sub-L* galaxies. We further argue that this suggests a significant contribution to the ionising UV background by much rarer bright sources at high redshift.

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Spatial fluctuations of the intergalactic temperature-density relation after hydrogen reionization

The thermal state of the post-reionization IGM is sensitive to the timing of reionization and the nature of the ionizing sources. We have modelled here the thermal state of the IGM in cosmological radiative transfer simulations of a realistic, extended, spatially inhomogeneous hydrogen reionization process, carefully calibrated with Ly-alpha forest data. We compare these with cosmological simulations run using a spatially homogeneous ionizing background. The simulations with a realistic growth of ionized regions and a realistic spread in reionization redshifts show, as expected, significant spatial fluctuations in the temperature-density relation (TDR) of the post-reionization IGM. The most recently ionized regions are hottest and exhibit a flatter TDR. In simulations consistent with the average TDR inferred from Ly-alpha forest data, these spatial fluctuations have a moderate but noticeable effect on the statistical properties of the Ly-alpha opacity of the IGM at z ~ 4-6. This should be taken into account in accurate measurements of the thermal properties of the IGM and the free-streaming of dark matter from Ly-alpha forest data in this redshift range. The spatial variations of the TDR predicted by our simulations are, however, smaller by about a factor two than would be necessary to explain the observed large spatial opacity fluctuations on large (> 50 comoving Mpc/h) scales at z > 5.5.

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Self-shielding of hydrogen in the IGM during the epoch of reionization

We investigate self-shielding of intergalactic hydrogen against ionizing radiation in radiative transfer simulations of cosmic reionization carefully calibrated with Lyman alpha forest data. While self-shielded regions manifest as Lyman-limit systems in the post-reionization Universe, here we focus on their evolution during reionization (redshifts z=6-10). At these redshifts, the spatial distribution of hydrogen-ionizing radiation is highly inhomogeneous, and some regions of the Universe are still neutral. After masking the neutral regions and ionizing sources in the simulation, we find that the hydrogen photoionization rate depends on the local hydrogen density in a manner very similar to that in the post-reionization Universe. The characteristic physical hydrogen density above which self-shielding becomes important at these redshifts is about $\mathrm{n_H \sim 3 \times 10^{-3} cm^{-3}}$, or $\sim$ 20 times the mean hydrogen density, reflecting the fact that during reionization photoionization rates are typically low enough that the filaments in the cosmic web are often self-shielded. The value of the typical self-shielding density decreases by a factor of 3 between redshifts z=3 and 10, and follows the evolution of the average photoionization rate in ionized regions in a simple fashion. We provide a simple parameterization of the photoionization rate as a function of density in self-shielded regions during the epoch of reionization.

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Consistent modelling of the meta-galactic UV background and the thermal/ionization history of the intergalactic medium

Recent observations suggest that hydrogen reionization ends late ($z \simeq 6$) and proceeds quickly. We present here a new model of the meta-galactic UV/X-ray background (UVB) that is consistent with this. It adopts the most recent determinations of the ionizing emissivity due to stars and AGN, as well as of the HI absorber column density distribution. Another major improvement is a new treatment of the intergalactic medium (IGM) opacity for ionizing photons that is able to consistently capture the transition from a neutral to an ionized IGM. Previous synthesis models of the UVB, when used in simulations, yield reionization and thermal histories that are inconsistent with the assumed ionizing emissivities. With our new treatment, this discrepancy is fully resolved. In our fiducial model, galaxies leaking $\lesssim 18\%$ of their Lyman continuum emission drive HI reionization, while AGN drive HeII reionization (completing at $z \simeq 6.2$ and $2.8$ respectively). Due to the limited time available for cooling between HI and HeII reionization, higher IGM temperatures are predicted for late reionization scenarios. In our fiducial model, the predicted temperatures agree well with observational constraints at $z \lesssim 4$, while being slightly high compared to (somewhat uncertain) data above that. Models with a larger contribution of AGN are instead disfavoured by the temperature data, as well as by measurements of the HI and HeII Lyman-$α$ forest opacities. We also present "equivalent-equilibrium" ionization/heating rates that mimic our fiducial UVB model for use in simulation codes that assume ionization equilibrium.

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A new Measurement of the Intergalactic Temperature at $z\sim 2.55-2.95$

We present two measurements of the temperature-density relationship (TDR) of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the redshift range $2.55 < z < 2.95$ using a sample of 13 high-quality quasar spectra and high resolution numerical simulations of the IGM. Our approach is based on fitting the neutral hydrogen column density $N_{HI}$ and the Doppler parameter $b$ of the absorption lines in the \mlya\ forest. The first measurement is obtained using a novel Bayesian scheme which takes into account the statistical correlations between the parameters characterising the lower cut-off of the $b-N_{HI}$ distribution and the power-law parameters $T_0$ and $γ$ describing the TDR. This approach yields $T_0/ 10^3\, {\rm K}=15.6 \pm 4.4 $ and $γ=1.45 \pm 0.17$ independent of the assumed pressure smoothing of the small scale density field. In order to explore the information contained in the overall $b-N_{HI}$ distribution rather than only the lower cut-off, we obtain a second measurement based on a similar Bayesian analysis of the median Doppler parameter for separate column-density ranges of the absorbers. In this case we obtain $T_0/ 10^3\, {\rm K}=14.6 \pm 3.7$ and $γ=1.37 \pm 0.17$ in good agreement with the first measurement. Our Bayesian analysis reveals strong anti-correlations between the inferred $T_0$ and $γ$ for both methods as well as an anti-correlation of the inferred $T_0$ and the pressure smoothing length for the second method, suggesting that the measurement accuracy can in the latter case be substantially increased if independent constraints on the smoothing are obtained. Our results are in good agreement with other recent measurements of the thermal state of the IGM probing similar (over-)density ranges.

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First constraints on fuzzy dark matter from Lyman-$α$ forest data and hydrodynamical simulations

We present constraints on the masses of extremely light bosons dubbed fuzzy dark matter from Lyman-$α$ forest data. Extremely light bosons with a De Broglie wavelength of $\sim 1$ kpc have been suggested as dark matter candidates that may resolve some of the current small scale problems of the cold dark matter model. For the first time we use hydrodynamical simulations to model the Lyman-$α$ flux power spectrum in these models and compare with the observed flux power spectrum from two different data sets: the XQ-100 and HIRES/MIKE quasar spectra samples. After marginalization over nuisance and physical parameters and with conservative assumptions for the thermal history of the IGM that allow for jumps in the temperature of up to $5000\rm\,K$, XQ-100 provides a lower limit of 7.1$\times 10^{-22}$ eV, HIRES/MIKE returns a stronger limit of 14.3$\times 10^{-22}$ eV, while the combination of both data sets results in a limit of 20 $\times 10^{-22}$ eV (2$σ$ C.L.). The limits for the analysis of the combined data sets increases to 37.5$\times 10^{-22}$ eV (2$σ$ C.L.) when a smoother thermal history is assumed where the temperature of the IGM evolves as a power-law in redshift. Light boson masses in the range $1-10 \times10^{-22}$ eV are ruled out at high significance by our analysis, casting strong doubts that FDM helps solve the "small scale crisis" of the cold dark matter models.

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The effect of stellar and AGN feedback on the low redshift Lyman-$α$ forest in the Sherwood simulation suite

We study the effect of different feedback prescriptions on the properties of the low redshift ($z\leq1.6$) Ly$α$ forest using a selection of hydrodynamical simulations drawn from the Sherwood simulation suite. The simulations incorporate stellar feedback, AGN feedback and a simplified scheme for efficiently modelling the low column density Ly$α$ forest. We confirm a discrepancy remains between Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) observations of the Ly$α$ forest column density distribution function (CDDF) at $z \simeq 0.1$ for high column density systems ($N_{\rm HI}>10^{14}\rm\,cm^{-2}$), as well as Ly$α$ velocity widths that are too narrow compared to the COS data. Stellar or AGN feedback -- as currently implemented in our simulations -- have only a small effect on the CDDF and velocity width distribution. We conclude that resolving the discrepancy between the COS data and simulations requires an increase in the temperature of overdense gas with $Δ=4$--$40$, either through additional He$\,\rm \scriptstyle II\ $ photo-heating at $z>2$ or fine-tuned feedback that ejects overdense gas into the IGM at just the right temperature for it to still contribute significantly to the Ly$α$ forest. Alternatively a larger, currently unresolved turbulent component to the line width could resolve the discrepancy.

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A deep search for metals near redshift 7: the line-of-sight towards ULAS J1120+0641

We present a search for metal absorption line systems at the highest redshifts to date using a deep (30h) VLT/X-Shooter spectrum of the z = 7.084 quasi-stellar object (QSO) ULAS J1120+0641. We detect seven intervening systems at z > 5.5, with the highest-redshift system being a C IV absorber at z = 6.51. We find tentative evidence that the mass density of C IV remains flat or declines with redshift at z < 6, while the number density of C II systems remains relatively flat over 5 < z < 7. These trends are broadly consistent with models of chemical enrichment by star formation-driven winds that include a softening of the ultraviolet background towards higher redshifts. We find a larger number of weak ( W_rest < 0.3A ) Mg II systems over 5.9 < z < 7.0 than predicted by a power-law fit to the number density of stronger systems. This is consistent with trends in the number density of weak Mg II systems at z = 2.5, and suggests that the mechanisms that create these absorbers are already in place at z = 7. Finally, we investigate the associated narrow Si IV, C IV, and N V absorbers located near the QSO redshift, and find that at least one component shows evidence of partial covering of the continuum source.

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Large 21 cm signals from AGN-dominated reionization

We present here predictions for the spatial distribution of 21 cm brightness temperature fluctuations from high-dynamic-range simulations for AGN-dominated reionization histories that have been tested against available Lyman-alpha and CMB data. We model AGN by extrapolating the observed M-sigma relation to high redshifts and assign them ionizing emissivities consistent with recent UV luminosity function measurements. We assess the observability of the predicted spatial 21 cm fluctuations by ongoing and upcoming experiments in the late stages of reionization in the limit in which the hydrogen 21 cm spin temperature is significantly larger than the CMB temperature. Our AGN-dominated reionization histories increase the variance of the 21 cm emission by a factor of up to ten compared to similar reionization histories dominated by faint galaxies, to values close to 100 mK^2 at scales accessible to experiments (k < 1 h/cMpc). This is lower than the sensitivity claimed to have been already reached by ongoing experiments by only a factor of about two or less. When reionization is dominated by AGN, the 21 cm power spectrum is enhanced on all scales due to the enhanced bias of the clustering of the more massive haloes and the peak in the large scale 21 cm power is strongly enhanced and moved to larger scales due to bigger characteristic bubble sizes. AGN dominated reionization should be easily detectable by LOFAR (and later HERA and SKA1) at their design sensitivity, assuming successful foreground subtraction and instrument calibration. Conversely, these could become the first non-trivial reionization scenarios to be ruled out by 21 cm experiments, thereby constraining the contribution of AGN to reionization.

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