Dark ages reionization & galaxy formation simulation XII: Bubbles at dawn

Abstract

Direct detection of regions of ionized hydrogen (HII) has been suggested as a promising probe of cosmic reionization. Observing the redshifted 21-cm signal of hydrogen from the epoch of reionization (EoR) is a key scientific driver behind new-generation, low-frequency radio interferometers. We investigate the feasibility of combining low-frequency observations with the Square Kilometre Array and near infra-red survey data of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope to detect cosmic reionization by imaging HII bubbles surrounding massive galaxies during the cosmic dawn. While individual bubbles will be too small to be detected, we find that by stacking redshifted 21-cm spectra centred on known galaxies, it will be possible to directly detect the EoR at $z\sim 9-12$, and to place qualitative constraints on the evolution of the spin temperature of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at $z\ge 9$. In particular, given a detection of ionized bubbles using this technique, it is possible to determine if the IGM surrounding them is typically in absorption or emission. Determining the globally-averaged neutral fraction of the IGM using this method will prove more difficult due to degeneracy with the average size of HII regions.

14 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables, published in MNRAS. Updated to match published version. Additional results and comments added from previous version. All other results and conclusions remain unchanged

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Measuring the properties of reionised bubbles with resolved Lyman alpha spectra
• The Prevalence of Galaxy Overdensities Around UV-Luminous Lyman $\alpha$ Emitters in the Epoch of Reionization
• Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy Formation Simulation XX. The Ly$\alpha$ IGM transmission properties and environment of bright galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization
• Deep learning approach for identification of HII regions during reionization in 21-cm observations -- II. foreground contamination
• Bubble mapping with the Square Kilometer Array -- I. Detecting galaxies with Euclid, JWST, WFIRST and ELT within ionized bubbles in the intergalactic medium at z>6
• Pre-selection of the Candidate Fields for Deep Imaging of the Epoch of Reionization with SKA1-Low
• Stacking Redshifted 21cm Images of HII Regions Around High Redshift Galaxies as a Probe of Early Reionization
• Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy Formation Simulation - XV. Stellar evolution and feedback in dwarf galaxies at high redshift
• Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy Formation Simulation - XIV. Gas accretion, cooling and star formation in dwarf galaxies at high redshift
• Radiative transfer of 21-cm line through ionised cavities in an expanding universe