arXiv subjects

Rennan Barkana

Publications and source records attributed to Rennan Barkana.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2004

Was the Universe Reionized at Redshift 10?

Recently, Pello et al. (2004) claimed to have discovered a galaxy at a redshift z=10, and identified a feature in its spectrum with a hydrogen Lyman-alpha emission line. If this identification is correct, we show that the intergalactic medium (IGM) around the galaxy must be significantly ionized; otherwise, the damping wing of Lyman-alpha absorption by the neutral IGM would have greatly suppressed the emission line. We find either that the large-scale region surrounding this galaxy must have been largely reionized by z=10 (with a neutral fraction <0.4) or that the stars within the galaxy must be massive (>100 solar masses), and hence capable of producing a sufficiently large HII region around it. We generalize these conclusions and derive the maximum Lyman-alpha line flux for a given UV continuum flux of galaxies prior to the epoch of reionization.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Gamma-Ray Bursts versus Quasars: Lyman-alpha Signatures of Reionization versus Cosmological Infall

Lyman-alpha absorption is a prominent cosmological tool for probing both galactic halos and the intergalactic medium at high redshift. We consider a variety of sources that can be used as the Lyman-alpha emitters for this purpose. Among these sources, we argue that quasars are the best probes of the evolution of massive halos, while gamma-ray bursts represent the cleanest sources for studying the reionization of the intergalactic medium.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

A Model For Infall Around Virialized Halos

Motivated by the recent direct detection of cosmological gas infall, we develop an analytical model for calculating the mean density profile around an initial overdensity that later forms a dark matter halo. We account for the problem of peaks within peaks; when considering a halo of a given mass we ensure that this halo is not a part of a larger virialized halo. For halos that represent high-sigma fluctuations we recover the usual result that such halos preferentially lie within highly overdense regions; in the limit of very low-sigma fluctuations, on the other hand, we show that halos tend to lie within voids. Combined with spherical collapse, our results yield the typical density and velocity profiles of the gas and dark matter that surround virialized halos.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Spectral Signature of Cosmological Infall of Gas Around the First Quasars

Recent observations have shown that, only a billion years after the Big Bang, the Universe was already lit up by bright quasars fuelled by the infall of gas onto supermassive black holes. The masses of these early black holes are inferred from their luminosities to be > 10^9 solar masses, which is a difficult theoretical challenge to explain. Like nearby quasars, the early objects could have formed in the central cores of massive host galaxies. The formation of these hosts could be explained if, like local large galaxies, they were assembled gravitationally inside massive (> 10^12 solar mass) halos of dark matter. There has hitherto been no observational evidence for the presence of these massive hosts or their surrounding halos. Here we show that the cosmic gas surrounding each halo must respond to its strong gravitational pull, where absorption by the infalling hydrogen produces a distinct spectral signature. That signature can be seen in recent data.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

The Star Formation Rate Intensity Distribution Function -- Comparison of Observations with Hierarchical Galaxy Formation

Recently, Lanzetta et al. (2002) have measured the distribution of star formation rate intensity in galaxies at various redshifts. This data set has a number of advantages relative to galaxy luminosity functions; the effect of surface-brightness dimming on the selection function is simpler to understand, and this data set also probes the size distribution of galactic disks. We predict this function using semi-analytic models of hierarchical galaxy formation in a LCDM cosmology. We show that the basic trends found in the data follow naturally from the redshift evolution of dark matter halos. The data are consistent with a constant efficiency of turning gas into stars in galaxies, with a best-fit value of 2%, where dust obscuration is neglected; equivalently, the data are consistent with a cosmic star formation rate which is constant to within a factor of two at all redshifts above two. However, the practical ability to use this kind of distribution to measure the total cosmic star formation rate is limited by the predicted shape of an approximate power law with a smoothly varying power, without a sharp break.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

An Analytical Approach to Inhomogeneous Structure Formation

We develop an analytical formalism that is suitable for studying inhomogeneous structure formation, by studying the joint statistics of dark matter halos forming at two points. Extending the Bond et al. (1991) derivation of the mass function of virialized halos, based on excursion sets, we derive an approximate analytical expression for the ``bivariate'' mass function of halos forming at two redshifts and separated by a fixed comoving Lagrangian distance. Our approach also leads to a self-consistent expression for the nonlinear biasing and correlation function of halos, generalizing a number of previous results including those by Kaiser (1984) and Mo & White (1996). We compare our approximate solutions to exact numerical results within the excursion-set framework and find them to be consistent to within 2% over a wide range of parameters. Our formalism can be used to study various feedback effects during galaxy formation analytically, as well as to simply construct observable quantities dependent on the spatial distribution of objects. A code that implements our method is publicly available at http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~evan/Gemini

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Effective Screening due to Minihalos During the Epoch of Reionization

We show that the gaseous halos of collapsed objects introduce a substantial cumulative opacity to ionizing radiation, even after the smoothly distributed hydrogen in the intergalactic medium has been fully reionized. This opacity causes a delay of around unity in redshift between the time of the overlap of ionized bubbles in the intergalactic medium and the lifting of complete Gunn-Peterson Lyman alpha absorption. The minihalos responsible for this screening effect are not resolved by existing numerical simulations of reionization.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Did the Universe Reionize at Redshift Six?

In light of recent observations of spectra of the quasars SDSS 1030+0524 (Becker et al. 2001) and SDSS 1044-0125 (Djorgovski et al. 2001), we study the observational signatures of different stages of the reionization epoch. During the initial, pre-overlap stage, the hydrogen throughout the universe is neutral except for isolated HII bubbles due to individual ionizing sources. The central stage of reionization is the overlap stage, during which the individual HII bubbles overlap each other and reionize the low-density gas which takes up most of the volume of the universe. Some neutral hydrogen remains in dense clumps which are then slowly reionized during post-overlap. We show that both of the recent observations are consistent with the post-overlap stage. Becker et al. (2001) may have observed the universe in the era before the end of overlap, but a conclusive proof of this requires the observation of similar intervals of Gunn-Peterson absorption at the same redshift along several additional lines of sight.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Constraints on Warm Dark Matter from Cosmological Reionization

We study the constraints that high-redshift structure formation in the universe places on warm dark matter (WDM) dominated cosmological models. We modify the extended Press-Schechter formalism to derive the halo mass function in WDM models. We show that our predictions agree with recent numerical simulations at low redshift over the halo masses of interest. Applying our model to galaxy formation at high redshift, we find that the loss of power on small scales, together with the delayed collapse of low-mass objects, results in strong limits on the root-mean-square velocity dispersion v_rms of the WDM particles at z=0. For fermions decoupling while relativistic, these limits are equivalent to constraints on the mass m_X of the particles. The presence of a 4 billion solar mass black hole at z=5.8, believed to power the quasar SDSS 1044-1215, implies m_X > 0.5 keV (or v_rms < 0.10 km/s), assuming that the quasar is unlensed and radiating at or below the Eddington limit. Reionization by z=5.8 also implies a limit on m_X. If high-redshift galaxies produce ionizing photons with an efficiency similar to their z=3 counterparts, we find m_X > 1.2 keV (or v_rms < 0.03 km/s). However, given the uncertainties in current measurements from the proximity effect of the ionizing background at redshift 3, values of m_X as low as 0.75 keV (v_rms = 0.06 km/s) are not ruled out. The limit weakens further if, instead, the ionizing-photon production efficiency is greater at high z, but this limit will tighten considerably if reionization is shown in the future to have occurred at higher redshifts. WDM models with m_X < 1 keV (v_rms > 0.04 km/s) produce a low-luminosity cutoff in the high-redshift galaxy luminosity function which is directly detectable with the Next Generation Space Telescope (abridged).

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

In the Beginning: The First Sources of Light and the Reionization of the Universe

The formation of the first stars and quasars marks the transformation of the universe from its smooth initial state to its clumpy current state. In popular cosmological models, the first sources of light began to form at redshift 30 and reionized most of the hydrogen in the universe by redshift 7. Current observations are at the threshold of probing the hydrogen reionization epoch. The study of high-redshift sources is likely to attract major attention in observational and theoretical cosmology over the next decade.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

Warm Dark Matter, Small Scale Crisis, and the High Redshift Universe

Warm Dark Matter (WDM) models have recently been resurrected to resolve apparent conflicts of Cold Dark Matter (DM) models with observations. Endowing the DM particles with non-negligible velocities causes free-streaming, which suppresses the primordial power spectrum on small scales. The choice of a root-mean-square velocity dispersion v(rms) = 0.05 km/s at redshift z=0 (corresponding to a particle mass of 1 keV if the WDM particles are fermions decoupling while relativistic) helps alleviate most, but probably not all, of the small-scale problems faced by CDM. An important side-effect of the particle velocities is the severe decrease in the number of collapsed halos at high redshift. This is caused both by the loss of small-scale power, and by the delay in the collapse of the smallest individual halos (with masses near the effective Jeans mass of the DM). The presence of early halos is required in order (1) to host either early quasars or galaxies that can reionize the universe by redshift z=5.8, and (2) to allow the growth of the supermassive black hole believed to power the recently discovered quasar SDSS 1044-1215 at this redshift. We quantify these constraints using a modified Press-Schechter formalism, and find v(rms) < 0.04 km/s (or m_X > 1 keV). If future observations uncover massive black holes at z > 10, or reveal that reionization occurred at z > 10, this could conclusively rule out WDM models as the solution to the small-scale crisis of the CDM paradigm.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

The Reionization of the Universe by the First Stars and Quasars

The first light from stars and quasars ended the ``dark ages'' of the universe and led to the reionization of hydrogen by redshift 7. Current observations are at the threshold of probing this epoch. The study of high-redshift sources is likely to attract major attention in observational and theoretical cosmology over the next decade.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

New VLBI Constraints for 0957+561 Lens Models

Time-delay measurements of 0957+561 based on radio monitoring now agree with optical monitoring. Recent models incorporate many recent observations, but the systematic uncertainties in the models still dominate the uncertainty in the cosmological results. VLBI observations of the milli-arcsec jet structure have provided the most important set of modeling constraints. We present new observations of this structure, made at 18 cm with the Very Long Baseline Array, the Very Large Array, and the Green Bank 140 ft. telescope. Compared to the data set of Garrett et al. (1994), ours has a similar theoretical noise level (20 microJy), but nearly twice as many baselines (66 compared to 36) and more uniform coverage of the UV plane. Our initial maps confirm the basic jet structures seen by Garrett et al., with comparable RMS noise (60-80 microJy), and are in reasonable agreement with the jet structure model of Barkana et al. (1999). The maps also hint at a new compact component leaving the core, and a previously undetected diffuse component at the end of the jet. Further refinements in fringe-fitting, mapping, and self-calibration should yield significantly lower RMS noise (closer to the theoretical level). We will use a modified form of the CalTech VLBI Modelfit program (written by Barkana et al. 1999) to determine the magnification matrix between the images. The refined magnification matrix should provide stronger constraints on the lens model, and thus reduce the uncertainty in the cosmological results.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Cold and Fuzzy Dark Matter

Cold dark matter (CDM) models predict small-scale structure in excess of observations of the cores and abundance of dwarf galaxies. These problems might be solved, and the virtues of CDM models retained, even without postulating {\it ad hoc} dark matter particle or field interactions, if the dark matter is composed of ultra-light scalar particles (m ~ 10^{-22}eV), initially in a (cold) Bose-Einstein condensate, similar to axion dark matter models. The wave properties of the dark matter stabilize gravitational collapse providing halo cores and sharply suppressing small-scale linear power.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Identifying the Reionization Redshift from the Cosmic Star Formation Rate

We show that the cosmic star formation rate per comoving volume should exhibit a distinct drop around the reionization redshift, when the HII regions in the intergalactic medium around individual ionizing sources first overlapped. The drop results from the increase in the temperature of the intergalactic medium as it was photo-ionized, and the consequent suppression of the formation of low-mass galaxies. We show quantitatively that the detection of this drop, which is marked by a corresponding fall in the number counts of faint galaxies, should become feasible over the coming decade with the Next Generation Space Telescope.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Gravitational Lensing of High Redshift Sources

The combination of deep exposures and high resolution offered by telescopes in space allows the detection of lensing over a wide range of source redshifts and lens masses. As an example, we model a lens candidate found in the southern Hubble Deep Field. The system consists of a source galaxy lensed into an arc, 0.9 arcseconds from an elliptical galaxy with an implied mass-to-light ratio of order 15 in solar units. This lens system may be a preview of the large number of lensed high-redshift galaxies that will be detected with the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). Popular models of structure formation imply that roughly 3% of observed sources at z>5 should be multiply imaged. Thus, NGST should detect several lensed objects in each field of view. In addition, NGST will be a valuable tool for weak lensing measurements if it can resolve the background galaxies. We estimate the angular size distribution of high redshift sources within hierarchical models of structure formation and find that most will be resolved. (abridged)

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

High-Redshift Galaxies: Their Predicted Size and Surface Brightness Distributions and Their Gravitational Lensing Probability

Direct observations of the first generation of luminous objects will likely become feasible over the next decade. The advent of the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) will allow imaging of numerous galaxies and mini-quasars at redshifts z>5. We apply semi-analytic models of structure formation to estimate the rate of multiple imaging of these sources by intervening gravitational lenses. Popular CDM models for galaxy formation yield a lensing optical depth of about 1% for sources at redshift 10. The expected slope of the luminosity function of the early sources implies an additional magnification bias of about 5, bringing the fraction of lensed sources at z=10 to about 5%. We estimate the angular size distribution of high-redshift disk galaxies and find that most of them are more extended than the resolution limit of NGST, roughly 0.06 arcseconds. We also show that there is only a modest redshift evolution in the mean surface brightness of galaxies at z>2. The expected increase by 1-2 orders of magnitude in the number of resolved sources on the sky, due to observations with NGST, will dramatically improve upon the statistical significance of existing weak lensing measurements. We show that, despite this increase in the density of sources, confusion noise from z>2 galaxies is expected to be small for NGST observations.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1999

A reassessment of the data and models of the gravitational lens Q0957+561

We examine models of the mass distribution for the first known case of gravitational lensing. Several new sets of constraints are used, based on recent observations. We remodel the VLBI observations of the radio jets in the two images of Q0957+561, showing that the previously derived positions and uncertainties were incorrect. We use as additional constraints the candidate lensed pairs of galaxies identified recently with the Hubble Space Telescope. We explore a wider range of lens models than before, and find that the Hubble constant is not tightly constrained once elliptical lens models are considered. We also discuss the systematic uncertainties caused by the cluster containing the lens galaxy. We conclude that additional observations of the candidate lensed galaxies as well as direct measurements of the cluster mass profile are needed before an accurate value of the Hubble constant can be derived from this lens.

astro-ph↗