Probing cosmic star formation up to z = 9.4 with GRBs

Abstract

We propose a novel approach, based on Principal Components Analysis, to the use of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) as probes of cosmic star formation history (SFH) up to very high redshifts. The main advantage of such approach is to avoid the necessity of assuming an \textit{ad hoc} parameterization of the SFH. We first validate the method by reconstructing a known SFH from Monte Carlo-generated mock data. We then apply the method to the most recent \textit{Swift} data of GRBs with known redshift and compare it against the SFH obtained by independent methods. The main conclusion is that the level of star formation activity at $z\approx 9.4$ could have been already as high as the present-day one ($\approx 0.01M_{\odot }$ yr${}^{-1}$ Mpc${}^{-3}$). This is a factor 3-5 times higher than deduced from high-$z$ galaxy searches through drop-out techniques. If true, this might alleviate the long-standing problem of a photon-starving reionization; it might also indicate that galaxies accounting for most of the star formation activity at high redshift go undetected by even the most deep searches.

accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (21)

• A Photometric Redshift of z ~ 9.4 for GRB 090429B
• Multi-Wavelength Constraints on the Cosmic Star Formation History from Spectroscopy: the Rest-Frame UV, H-alpha, and Infrared Luminosity Functions at Redshifts 1.9<z<3.4
• Fragmentation of star-forming clouds enriched with the first dust
• z~7-10 Galaxies in the HUDF and GOODS fields, and their UV Luminosity Functions
• GRBs as Cosmological Probes - Cosmic Chemical Evolution
• Star Formation History up to z = 7.4: Implications for Gamma-Ray Bursts and the Cosmic Metallicity Evolution
• Population III.1 and III.2 gamma-Ray Bursts: Constraints on the event rate for future radio and X-ray surveys
• The Gamma Ray Burst Luminosity Function in the Light of the Swift 2-year Data
• Shapley Optical Survey II: The effect of environment on the colour-magnitude relation and galaxy colours
• Population III stars and the Long Gamma Ray Burst rate
• Gamma-Ray Burst Selected High Redshift Galaxies: Comparison to Field Galaxy Populations to z~3
• Spitzer Observations of Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxies: A Unique Window into High Redshift Chemical Evolution and Star-formation
• Modeling The GRB Host Galaxy Mass Distribution: Are GRBs Unbiased Tracers of Star Formation?
• Reionization constraints using Principal Component Analysis
• Evidence for strong evolution of the cosmic star formation density at high redshift
• Hubble parameter reconstruction from a principal component analysis: minimizing the bias
• Selection effects shaping the Gamma Ray Burst redshift distributions
• A closer look at using quasar near-zones as a probe of neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium
• Gamma Ray Bursts from the early Universe: predictions for present-day and future instruments
• Spectropolarimetery of umbral fine structures from Hinode: Evidence for magnetoconvection
• On the detection of very high redshift Gamma Ray Bursts with Swift

Cited by in corpus (45)

• Formation of the First Stars
• Connecting the Gamma Ray Burst Rate and the Cosmic Star Formation History: Implications for Reionization and Galaxy Evolution
• The Evolution of Galaxy Number Density at z < 8 and its Implications
• The Impact of Star Formation and Gamma-Ray Burst Rates at High Redshift on Cosmic Chemical Evolution and Reionization
• The ALMA REBELS Survey: The Dust-obscured Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density at Redshift 7
• Probing the Cosmic Gamma-Ray Burst Rate with Trigger Simulations of the Swift Burst Alert Telescope
• The long gamma-ray burst rate and the correlation with host galaxy properties
• Kernel PCA for type Ia supernovae photometric classification
• The high-redshift star formation rate derived from GRBs: possible origin and cosmic reionization
• Constraints on Warm Dark Matter models from high-redshift long gamma-ray bursts
• Cosmological Tests Using GRBs, the Star Formation Rate and Possible Abundance Evolution
• The low-extinction afterglow in the solar-metallicity host galaxy of gamma-ray burst 110918A
• Finding the First Cosmic Explosions. III. Pulsational Pair-Instability Supernovae
• Detectability of the First Cosmic Explosions
• Probing the stellar initial mass function with high-$z$ supernovae
• Accessing the population of high redshift Gamma Ray Bursts
• Compact Binary Mergers and The Event Rate of Fast Radio Bursts
• Detectability of High-Redshift Superluminous Supernovae with Upcoming Optical and Near-Infrared Surveys - II. Beyond z=6
• Feedback from High-Mass X-Ray Binaries on the High Redshift Intergalactic Medium : Model Spectra
• Pair-Instability Supernovae in the Local Universe
• The high-redshift gamma-ray burst GRB140515A
• Exploring the spectroscopic diversity of type Ia supernovae with DRACULA: a machine learning approach
• Robust PCA and MIC statistics of baryons in early mini-haloes
• The Overlooked Potential of Generalized Linear Models in Astronomy-II: Gamma regression and photometric redshifts
• Counts of high-redshift GRBs as probe of primordial non-Gaussianities
• Some statistical remarks on the Giant GRB Ring
• Detecting Pair-Instability Supernovae at z<5 with the James Webb Space Telescope
• A metric space for type Ia supernova spectra
• Cosmological Parameter Estimation from SN Ia data: a Model-Independent Approach
• Gamma-ray Bursts and the Early Star-formation History
• Gamma-ray burst cosmology: Hubble diagram and star formation history
• Cosmic star formation rate: a theoretical approach
• Cosmic histories of star formation and reionization: An analysis with a power-law approximation
• The First Billion Years project: gamma-ray bursts at z>5
• Fires in the deep: The luminosity distribution of early-time gamma-ray-burst afterglows in light of the Gamow Explorer sensitivity requirements
• Probing reionization using quasar near-zones at redshift z ~ 6
• Searching for the first stars with the Gaia mission
• Machine Learning Model of the Swift/BAT Trigger Algorithm for Long GRB Population Studies
• J-PLUS: A catalogue of globular cluster candidates around the M81/M82/NGC3077 triplet of galaxies
• Semi-Numerical Simulation of Reionization with Semi-Analytical Modeling of Galaxy Formation
• A Multi-messenger view of Cosmic Dawn: Conquering the Final Frontier
• EmulART: Emulating Radiative Transfer -- A pilot study on autoencoder based dimensionality reduction for radiative transfer models
• The star formation history inferred from long gamma-ray bursts with high pseudo-redshifts
• AMADA-Analysis of Multidimensional Astronomical Datasets
• Implications of the cosmic infrared background excess for the cosmic star formation