High-Redshift Galaxy Surveys and the Reionization of the Universe

Abstract

Star-forming galaxies in the early universe provide us with perhaps the most natural way of explaining the reionization of the universe. Current observational results are sufficiently comprehensive, as to allow us to approximately calculate how the ionizing radiation from galaxies varies as a function of cosmic time. Important uncertainties in modeling reionization by galaxies revolve around the escape fraction and its luminosity and redshift dependence, a possible truncation of the galaxy luminosity function at the faint end, and an evolution in the production efficiency of Lyman-continuum photons with cosmic time. Despite these uncertainties, plausible choices for these parameters naturally predict a cosmic ionizing emissivity at z~6-10 whose evolution and overall normalization is in excellent agreement with that derived from current observational constraints. This strongly suggests that galaxies provide the necessary photons to reionize the universe.

37 pages, 14 figures, Book chapter in "Understanding the Epoch of Cosmic Reionization: Challenges and Progress", Springer International Publishing, Ed. Andrei Mesinger, ISBN 978-3-319-21956-1, corrected a few minor typos

References in corpus (25)

• UV Luminosity Functions at redshifts z~4 to z~10: 10000 Galaxies from HST Legacy Fields
• Introducing the Illustris Project: the evolution of galaxy populations across cosmic time
• Cosmic Reionization and Early Star-Forming Galaxies: A Joint Analysis of New Constraints from Planck and Hubble Space Telescope
• The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• UltraVISTA: a new ultra-deep near-infrared survey in COSMOS
• UV Luminosity Functions at z~4, 5, and 6 from the HUDF and other Deep HST ACS Fields: Evolution and Star Formation History
• Model-independent evidence in favor of an end to reionization by z~6
• The observed ionization rate of the intergalactic medium and the ionizing emissivity at z >5: Evidence for a photon starved and extended epoch of reionization
• z~7-10 Galaxies in the HUDF and GOODS fields, and their UV Luminosity Functions
• Line Emitting Galaxies Beyond a Redshift of 7: An Improved Method for Estimating the Evolving Neutrality of the Intergalactic Medium
• Evolution of the Intergalactic Opacity: Implications for the Ionizing Background, Cosmic Star Formation, and Quasar Activity
• A Spectroscopic Redshift Measurement for a Luminous Lyman Break Galaxy at z=7.730 using Keck/MOSFIRE
• New redshift z ~ 9 galaxies in the Hubble Frontier Fields: Implications for early evolution of the UV luminosity density
• A Simple Technique for Predicting High-Redshift Galaxy Evolution
• New Constraints on the Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction at z~1.3
• A Geometrically Supported $z\sim 10$ Candidate Multiply-Imaged by the Hubble Frontier Fields Cluster Abell 2744
• The Evolution of the UV Luminosity Function from z ~ 0.75 to z ~ 2.5 using HST ERS WFC3/UVIS Observations
• Frontier Fields: High-Redshift Predictions and Early Results
• On the formation of dwarf galaxies and stellar halos
• Feedback in the local LBG Analog Haro 11 as probed by far-UV and X-ray observations
• The UDF05 Follow-up of the HUDF: II. Constraints on Reionization from z-dropout Galaxies
• A physical model for the evolving UV luminosity function of high redshift galaxies and their contribution to the cosmic reionization
• The Very Faint End of the UV Luminosity Function over Cosmic Time: Constraints from the Local Group Fossil Record
• Lyman continuum galaxies and the escape fraction of Lyman break galaxies
• The UV Continuum of z > 1 Star-forming Galaxies in the Hubble Ultraviolet UltraDeep Field

Cited by in corpus (10)

• The VLA-COSMOS 3 GHz Large Project: The cosmic star formation history since z~5
• Quantifying the non-Gaussianity in the EoR 21-cm signal through bispectrum
• The Aurora radiation-hydrodynamical simulations of reionization: calibration and first results
• The mean H$\alpha$ EW and Lyman-continuum photon production efficiency for faint $z\approx 4-5$ galaxies
• The Little Engines That Could? Globular Clusters Contribute Significantly to Reionization-era Star Formation
• Redshifted 21-cm Bispectrum I: Impact of the Redshift Space Distortions on the Signal from the Epoch of Reionization
• The ALMA REBELS Survey: The First Infrared Luminosity Function Measurement at $\mathbf{z \sim 7}
• Constraining the X-ray heating and reionization using 21-cm power spectra with Marginal Neural Ratio Estimation
• An IFU investigation of possible Lyman continuum escape from Mrk 71/NGC 2366
• Line of sight anisotropies in the Cosmic Dawn and EoR 21-cm power spectrum