Intensity mapping of molecular gas during cosmic reionization

Abstract

I present a simple calculation of the expected mean CO brightness temperature from the large scale distribution of galaxies during cosmic reionization. The calculation is based on the cosmic star formation rate density required to reionize, and keep ionized, the intergalactic medium, and uses standard relationships between star formation rate, IR luminosity, and CO luminosity derived for star forming galaxies over a wide range in redshift. I find that the mean CO brightness temperature resulting from the galaxies that could reionize the Universe at $z=8$ is $T_B\sim 1.1(C/5)(f_{esc}/0.1{)}^{-1}\mu$K, where $f_{esc}$ is the escape fraction of ionizing photons from the first galaxies, and $C$ is the IGM clumping factor. Intensity mapping of the CO emission from the large scale structure of the star forming galaxies during cosmic reionization on scales of order $10^2$ to 10${}^3$ deg${}^2$, in combination with HI 21cm imaging of the neutral IGM, will provide a comprehensive study of the earliest epoch of galaxy formation.

12 pages, 1 figure, aastex. to appear in ApJ letters

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Cited by in corpus (54)

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• Line-Intensity Mapping: 2017 Status Report
• Connecting CO Intensity Mapping to Molecular Gas and Star Formation in the Epoch of Galaxy Assembly
• COPSS II: The Molecular Gas Content of Ten Million Cubic Megaparsecs at $z\sim 3$
• Intensity Mapping across Cosmic Times with the Lyman-Alpha Line
• Which galaxies dominate the neutral gas content of the Universe?
• On Removing Interloper Contamination from Intensity Mapping Power Spectrum Measurements
• The Spectrum of the Universe
• Cross-correlations as a cosmological carbon monoxide detector
• Interpreting the unresolved intensity of cosmologically redshifted line radiation
• CO/H2, C/CO, OH/CO, and OH/O2 in Dense Interstellar Gas: From High Ionization to Low Metallicity
• Carbon Monoxide Intensity Mapping at Moderate Redshifts
• Spectral Line De-confusion in an Intensity Mapping Survey
• Foreground contamination in Ly-alpha intensity mapping during the epoch of reionization
• Large-scale clustering of Lyman-alpha emission intensity from SDSS/BOSS
• Search for CII Emission on Cosmological Scales at Redshift Z~2.6
• Dissecting the high-z interstellar medium through intensity mapping cross-correlations
• Predictions and sensitivity forecasts for reionization-era [C II] line intensity mapping
• Constraining the CO intensity mapping power spectrum at intermediate redshifts
• Intensity mapping with SDSS/BOSS Lyman-alpha emission, quasars and their Lyman-alpha forest
• Line intensity mapping with [CII] and CO(1-0) as probes of primordial non-Gaussianity
• Demonstrating the Feasibility of Line Intensity Mapping Using Mock Data of Galaxy Clustering from Simulations
• Intensity mapping of H-alpha, H-beta, [OII] and [OIII] lines at z<5
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• First Results from COPSS: The CO Power Spectrum Survey
• Measuring Galaxy Clustering and the Evolution of [CII] Mean Intensity with far-IR Line Intensity Mapping During 0.5 < z < 1.5
• Small-scale Intensity Mapping: Extended Ly$\alpha$, H$\alpha$ and Continuum emission as a Probe of Halo Star Formation in High-redshift Galaxies
• Observing the first galaxies
• Phase-Space Spectral Line De-confusion in Intensity Mapping
• Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) Phase II Deployment and Commissioning
• Constraining the Expansion History and Early Dark Energy with Line Intensity Mapping
• Cosmological constraints from line intensity mapping with interlopers
• ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: implications for spectral line intensity mapping at millimeter wavelengths and CMB spectral distortions
• The OH line contamination of 21 cm intensity fluctuation measurements for z=1~4
• Molecular Cloud Properties and CO Line Emission in z >~ 6 Galaxies
• Probing the Pre-Reionization Epoch with Molecular Hydrogen Intensity Mapping
• The PAU survey: Ly$\alpha$ intensity mapping forecast
• Forecasts and Statistical Insights for Line Intensity Mapping Cross-Correlations: A Case Study with 21cm x [CII]
• SILVERRUSH. XI. Intensity Mapping for Lya Emission Extending over $100-1000$ comoving kpc around $z\sim 2-7$ LAEs with Subaru HSC-SSP and CHORUS Data
• Synergizing 21 cm and sub-millimetre surveys during reionization: new empirical insights
• Optimally Mapping Large-Scale Structures with Luminous Sources
• Delensing Degree-Scale $B$-Mode Polarization with High-Redshift Line Intensity Mapping
• Antisymmetric Cross-correlation between H I and CO Line Intensity Maps as a New Probe of Cosmic Reionization
• Cross-Correlation Forecast of CSST Spectroscopic Galaxy and MeerKAT Neutral Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Surveys
• Foreground Removal of CO Intensity Mapping Using Deep Learning
• Probing the Epoch of Reionization using synergies of line intensity mapping
• Angular fluctuations in the CXB: Is Fe 6.4 keV line tomography of the large-scale structure feasible?
• Predicting the intensity mapping signal for multi-$J$ CO lines
• Constraining the [CII] luminosity function from the power spectrum of line-intensity maps at redshift 3.6
• Radio studies of galaxy formation: Dense Gas History of the Universe
• Robust Intensity Mapping Analysis against Foregrounds for the Epoch of Reionization