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Revealing reionization with the thermal history of the intergalactic medium: new constraints from the Lyman-α flux power spectrum

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arxiv 1809.06980 v2 pith:ESBDF6LX submitted 2018-09-19 astro-ph.CO

Revealing reionization with the thermal history of the intergalactic medium: new constraints from the Lyman-α flux power spectrum

classification astro-ph.CO
keywords reionizationlesssimconstraintsfluxhistorypowerthermalalpha
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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We present a new investigation of the thermal history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) during and after reionization using the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest flux power spectrum at $4.0\lesssim z\lesssim5.2$. Using a sample of 15 high-resolution spectra, we measure the flux power down to the smallest scales ever probed at these redshifts ($-1\lesssim \log(k/$km$^{-1}$s)$\lesssim -0.7$). These scales are highly sensitive to both the instantaneous temperature of the IGM and the total energy injected per unit mass during and after reionization. We measure temperatures at the mean density of $T_{0}\sim7000$-8000 K, consistent with no significant temperature evolution for redshifts $4.2\lesssim z\lesssim5.0$. We also present the first observational constraints on the integrated IGM thermal history, finding that the total energy input per unit mass increases from $u_{0}\sim4.6$ ${\rm eV}$ $m_{\rm p}^{-1}$ to 7.3 eV $m_{\rm p}^{-1}$ from $z\sim 6$ to $4.2$ assuming a $\Lambda$-CDM cosmology. We show how these results can be used simultaneously to obtain information on the timing and the sources of the reionization process. Our first proof of concept using simplistic models of instantaneous reionization produces results comparable to and consistent with the recent Planck constraints, favoring models with $z_{\rm rei}\sim 8.5^{+1.1}_{-0.8}$.

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Cited by 6 Pith papers

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