Evolution of the 21 cm signal throughout cosmic history

Abstract

The potential use of the redshifted 21 cm line from neutral hydrogen for probing the epoch of reionization is motivating the construction of several low-frequency interferometers. There is also much interest in the possibility of constraining the initial conditions from inflation and the nature of the dark matter and dark energy by probing the power-spectrum of density perturbations in three dimensions and on smaller scales than probed by the microwave background anisotropies. Theoretical understanding of the 21 cm signal has been fragmented into different regimes of physical interest. In this paper, we make the first attempt to describe the full redshift evolution of the 21 cm signal between 0<z<300. We include contributions to the 21 cm signal from fluctuations in the gas density, temperature and neutral fraction, as well as the Lyman alpha flux, and allow for a post-reionization signal from damped Ly alpha systems. Our comprehensive analysis provides a useful foundation for optimizing the design of future arrays whose goal is to separate the particle physics from the astrophysics, either by probing the peculiar velocity distortion of the 21 cm power spectrum, or by extending the 21 cm horizon to z > 25 before the first galaxies had formed, or to z < 6 when the residual pockets of hydrogen trace large scale structure.

15 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PRD

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• Inside-out or Outside-in: The topology of reionization in the photon-starved regime suggested by Lyman-alpha forest data
• The Fast Fourier Transform Telescope
• Probing Reionization with the 21 cm-Galaxy Cross Power Spectrum
• Detection and extraction of signals from the epoch of reionization using higher order one-point statistics
• Forecasted 21 cm constraints on compensated isocurvature perturbations
• Lyman Alpha Driven Outflows Around Star Forming Galaxies
• Cosmological constraints from 21cm surveys after reionization
• Let there be Light: the Emergence of Structure out of the Dark Ages in the Early Universe
• Gravitational Wave Detection Using Redshifted 21-cm Observations