Tracing the cosmological evolution of stars and cold gas with CMB spectral surveys

Abstract

A full account of galaxy evolution in the context of LCDM cosmology requires measurements of the average star-formation rate (SFR) and cold gas abundance across cosmic time. Emission from the CO ladder traces cold gas, and [CII] fine structure emission at 158 um traces the SFR. Intensity mapping surveys the cumulative surface brightness of emitting lines as a function of redshift, rather than individual galaxies. CMB spectral distortion instruments are sensitive to both the mean and anisotropy of the intensity of redshifted CO and [CII] emission. Large-scale anisotropy is proportional to the product of the mean surface brightness and the line luminosity-weighted bias. The bias provides a connection between galaxy evolution and its cosmological context, and is a unique asset of intensity mapping. Cross-correlation with galaxy redshift surveys allows unambiguous measurements of redshifted line brightness despite residual continuum contamination and interlopers. Measurement of line brightness through cross-correlation also evades cosmic variance and suggests new observation strategies. Galactic foreground emission is $\sim 10^3$ times larger than the expected signals, and this places stringent requirements on instrument calibration and stability. Under a range of assumptions, a linear combination of bands cleans continuum contamination sufficiently that residuals produce a modest penalty over the instrumental noise. For PIXIE, the $2\sigma$ sensitivity to CO and [CII] emission scales from $\sim 5\times 10^{-2}$ kJy/sr at low redshift to ~2 kJy/sr by reionization.

11 pages, 9 figures, accepted in ApJ

References in corpus (13)

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• The Neutral Hydrogen Cosmological Mass Density at z=5
• A Herschel [CII] Galactic plane survey III: [CII] as a tracer of star formation
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• Cross-correlations as a cosmological carbon monoxide detector
• Carbon Monoxide Intensity Mapping at Moderate Redshifts
• Dissecting the high-z interstellar medium through intensity mapping cross-correlations
• Measurement of CIB power spectra over large sky areas from Planck HFI maps
• Measuring Galaxy Clustering and the Evolution of [CII] Mean Intensity with far-IR Line Intensity Mapping During 0.5 < z < 1.5
• Cross-correlation of cosmic far-infrared background anisotropies with large scale structures
• Multimode bolometer development for the PIXIE instrument

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Data Analysis for Precision 21 cm Cosmology
• Prospects for Measuring Cosmic Microwave Background Spectral Distortions in the Presence of Foregrounds
• An Intensity Mapping Detection of Aggregate CO Line Emission at 3 mm
• Search for CII Emission on Cosmological Scales at Redshift Z~2.6
• Constraining the CO intensity mapping power spectrum at intermediate redshifts
• Constraining the evolution of CII intensity through the end stages of reionization
• Line intensity mapping with [CII] and CO(1-0) as probes of primordial non-Gaussianity
• Simulated multi-tracer analyses with HI intensity mapping
• Intensity Mapping in the Presence of Foregrounds and Correlated Continuum Emission
• Probing Cosmic Origins with CO and [CII] Emission Lines
• Coupling parsec and gigaparsec scales: primordial non-Gaussianity with multi-tracer intensity mapping
• Delensing Degree-Scale $B$-Mode Polarization with High-Redshift Line Intensity Mapping
• Constraining low redshift [CII] Emission by Cross-Correlating FIRAS and BOSS Data
• Intensity Mapping without Cosmic Variance
• New Horizons in Cosmology with Spectral Distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Mapping the Universe in HD