arXiv subjects

Paul La Plante

Publications and source records attributed to Paul La Plante.

59 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

HI 21cm Cosmology and the Bi-spectrum: Closure Diagnostics in Massively Redundant Interferometric Arrays

New massively redundant low frequency arrays allow for a novel investigation of closure relations in interferometry. We employ commissioning data from the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array to investigate closure quantities in this densely packed grid array of 14m antennas operating at 100 MHz to 200 MHz. We investigate techniques that utilize closure phase spectra for redundant triads to estimate departures from redundancy for redundant baseline visibilities. We find a median absolute deviation from redundancy in closure phase across the observed frequency range of about 4.5deg. This value translates into a non-redundancy per visibility phase of about 2.6deg, using prototype electronics. The median absolute deviations from redundancy decrease with longer baselines. We show that closure phase spectra can be used to identify ill-behaved antennas in the array, independent of calibration. We investigate the temporal behavior of closure spectra. The Allan variance increases after a one minute stride time, due to passage of the sky through the primary beam of the transit telescope. However, the closure spectra repeat to well within the noise per measurement at corresponding local sidereal times (LST) from day to day. In future papers in this series we will develop the technique of using closure phase spectra in the search for the HI 21cm signal from cosmic reionization.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

Helium Reionization Simulations. II. Signatures of Quasar Activity on the IGM

We have run a new suite of simulations that solve hydrodynamics and radiative transfer simultaneously to study helium II reionization. Our suite of simulations employs various models for populating quasars inside of dark matter halos, which affect the He II reionization history. In particular, we are able to explore the impact that differences in the timing and duration of reionization have on observables. We examine the thermal signature that reionization leaves on the IGM, and measure the temperature-density relation. As previous studies have shown, we confirm that the photoheating feedback from helium II reionization raises the temperature of the IGM by several thousand kelvin. To compare against observations, we generate synthetic Ly$α$ forest sightlines on-the-fly and match the observed effective optical depth $τ_{\mathrm{eff}}(z)$ of hydrogen to recent observations. We show that when the simulations have been normalized to have the same values of $τ_\mathrm{eff}$, the effect that helium II reionization has on observations of the hydrogen Ly$α$ forest is minimal. Specifically, the flux PDF and the one-dimensional power spectrum are sensitive to the thermal state of the IGM, but do not show direct evidence for the ionization state of helium. We show that the peak temperature of the IGM typically corresponds to the time of 90%-95% helium ionization by volume, and is a relatively robust indicator of the timing of reionization. Future observations of helium reionization from the hydrogen Ly$α$ forest should thus focus on measuring the temperature of the IGM, especially at mean density. Detecting the peak in the IGM temperature would provide valuable information about the timing of the end of helium II reionization.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

Helium Reionization Simulations. III. The Helium Lyman-$α$ Forest

In La Plante et al. (2017), we presented a new suite of hydrodynamic simulations with the aim of accurately capturing the process of helium II reionization. In this paper, we discuss the observational signatures present in the He II Ly$α$ forest. We show that the effective optical depth of the volume $τ_\mathrm{eff}$ is not sufficient for capturing the ionization state of helium II, due to the large variance inherent in sightlines. However, the He II flux PDF can be used to determine the timing of helium II reionization. The amplitude of the one-dimensional flux power spectrum can also determine the ionization state of helium II. We show that even given the currently limited number of observations ($\sim$50 sightlines), measurements of the flux PDF can yield information about helium II reionization. Further, measurements using the one-dimensional power spectrum can provide clear indications of the timing of reionization, as well as the relative bias of sources of ionizing radiation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Helium Reionization Simulations. I. Modeling Quasars as Radiation Sources

We introduce a new project to understand helium reionization using fully coupled $N$-body, hydrodynamics, and radiative transfer simulations. This project aims to capture correctly the thermal history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) as a result of reionization and make predictions about the Lyman-$α$ forest and baryon temperature-density relation. The dominant sources of radiation for this transition are quasars, so modeling the source population accurately is very important for making reliable predictions. In this first paper, we present a new method for populating dark matter halos with quasars. Our set of quasar models include two different light curves, a lightbulb (simple on/off) and symmetric exponential model, and luminosity-dependent quasar lifetimes. Our method self-consistently reproduces an input quasar luminosity function (QLF) given a halo catalog from an $N$-body simulation, and propagates quasars through the merger history of halo hosts. After calibrating quasar clustering using measurements from BOSS, we find that the characteristic mass of quasar hosts is $M_h \sim 2.5 \times 10^{12} M_\odot$ $h^{-1}$ for the lightbulb model, and $M_h \sim 2.3 \times 10^{12} M_\odot$ $h^{-1}$ for the exponential model. In the exponential model, the peak quasar luminosity for a given halo mass is larger than that in the lightbulb model, typically by a factor of 1.5-2. The effective lifetime for quasars in the lightbulb model is 59 Myr, and in the exponential case, the effective time constant is about 15 Myr. We include semi-analytic calculations of helium reionization, and discuss how to include these quasars as sources of ionizing radiation for full hydrodynamics with radiative transfer simulations in order to study helium reionization.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Reionization on Large Scales IV: Predictions for the 21 cm signal incorporating the light cone effect

We present predictions for the 21 cm brightness temperature power spectrum during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). We discuss the implications of the "light cone" effect, which incorporates evolution of the neutral hydrogen fraction and 21 cm brightness temperature along the line of sight. Using a novel method calibrated against radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, we model the neutral hydrogen density field and 21 cm signal in large volumes ($L = 2$ Gpc/$h$). The inclusion of the light cone effect leads to a relative decrease of about 50% in the 21 cm power spectrum on all scales. We also find that the effect is more prominent at the midpoint of reionization and later. The light cone effect also can introduce an anisotropy along the line of sight. By decomposing the 3D power spectrum into components perpendicular to and along the line of sight, we find that in our fiducial reionization model, there is no significant anisotropy. However, parallel modes can contribute up to 40% more power for shorter reionization scenarios. The scales on which the light cone effect is relevant are comparable to scales where one measures the baryon acoustic oscillation. We argue that due to its large comoving scale and introduction of anisotropy, the light cone effect is important when considering redshift space distortions and future application to the Alcock-Paczynski test for the determination of cosmological parameters.

astro-ph.CO↗