Evolution of the Ionizing Radiation Background and Star Formation in the Aftermath of Cosmological Reionization

We investigate the implications of our measurement of the Lyman-alpha forest opacity at redshifts 2<z<4.2 from a sample of 86 high-resolution quasar spectra for the evolution of the cosmic ultraviolet luminosity density and its sources. The derived hydrogen photoionization rate is remarkably flat over this redshift range, implying an increasing comoving ionizing emissivity with redshift. Because the quasar luminosity function is strongly peaked near z~2, star-forming galaxies...

We study the evolution of the ionization state of the IGM at the end of the reionization epoch using spectra of a sample of nineteen quasars at 5.74<z<6.42 discovered in the SDSS. Three methods are used to trace IGM properties: (a) the evolution of the Gunn-Peterson optical depth in the Ly alpha,beta, and gamma; (b) the distribution of dark absorption gaps, and (c) the size of HII regions around quasars. We find that the evolution of the IGM accelerated at z>5.7: the optical ...

Quasar absorption spectra measurements suggest that reionization proceeded rapidly, ended late at $z \sim 5.5$, and was followed by a flat evolution of the ionizing background. Simulations that can reproduce this behavior often rely on a fine-tuned galaxy ionizing emissivity, which peaks at $z \sim 6 - 7$ and drops by a factor of $1.5-2.5$ by $z \sim 5$. This is puzzling since the abundance of galaxies has been observed to grow monotonically during this period. Explanations f...

The universe was reionized by redshift z ~ 6 by a small fraction of the baryons in the universe, which released energy following their condensation out of a cold, dark, and neutral IGM into the earliest galaxies. The theory of this reionization is a critical missing link in the theory of galaxy formation. Its numerous observable consequences include effects on the spectrum, anisotropy and polarization of the cosmic microwave background and signatures of high-redshift star and...

We present a suite of cosmological radiation-hydrodynamical simulations of the assembly of galaxies driving the reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z >~ 6. The simulations account for the hydrodynamical feedback from photoionization heating and the explosion of massive stars as supernovae (SNe). Our reference simulation, which was carried out in a box of size 25 comoving Mpc/h using 2 x 512^3 particles, produces a reasonable reionization history and matches the ...

We carry out a new suite of cosmological radiation hydrodynamic simulations and explore the relative impacts on reionization-epoch star formation of galactic outflows and photoionization heating. By itself, an extragalactic ultraviolet background (EUVB) suppresses the luminosity function by less than 50% at z=6, overproducing the observed galaxy abundance by a factor of 3-5. Galactic outflows restore agreement with observations without preventing Population II star formation ...

We present self-consistent radiation hydrodynamic simulations of hydrogen reionization performed with Arepo-RT complemented by a state-of-the-art galaxy formation model. We examine how photoheating feedback, due to reionization, shapes the galaxies properties. Our fiducial model completes reionization by $z\approx6$ and matches observations of the Ly$\alpha$ forest, the CMB electron scattering optical depth, the high-redshift UV luminosity function, and stellar mass function....

The cosmic reionization of hydrogen was the last major phase transition in the evolution of the universe, which drastically changed the ionization and thermal conditions in the cosmic gas. To the best of our knowledge today, this process was driven by the ultra-violet radiation from young, star-forming galaxies and from first quasars. We review the current observational constraints on cosmic reionization, as well as the dominant physical effects that control the ionization of...

We discuss expectations for the absorption of high-energy gamma-rays by gamma-gamma pair production with intergalactic radiation fields (IRFs) at very high redshifts (z~5-20), and the prospects thereof for probing the cosmic reionization era. For the evolving IRF, a semi-analytical model incorporating both Population II and Population III stars is employed, which is consistent with a wide variety of existing high-z observations including QSO spectral measurements, WMAP Thomso...

In popular cosmological scenarios, some time beyond a redshift of 10, stars within protogalaxies created the first heavy elements; these systems, together perhaps with an early population of quasars, generated the ultraviolet radiation and mechanical energy that reheated and reionized the cosmos. The history of the Universe during and soon after these crucial formative stages is recorded in the all-pervading intergalactic medium (IGM), which contains most of the ordinary bary...