Constraints on reionisation from the z=7.5 QSO ULASJ1342+0928

Abstract

The recent detection of ULASJ1342+0928, a bright QSO at $z=7.54$, provides a powerful probe of the ionisation state of the intervening intergalactic medium, potentially allowing us to set strong constraints on the epoch of reionisation (EoR). Here we quantify the presence of Ly$\alpha$ damping wing absorption from the EoR in the spectrum of ULASJ1342+0928. Our Bayesian framework simultaneously accounts for uncertainties on: (i) the intrinsic QSO emission (obtained from reconstructing the Ly$\alpha$ profile from a covariance matrix of emission lines) and (ii) the distribution of HII regions during reionisation (obtained from three different 1.6${}^3$ Gpc${}^3$ simulations spanning the range of plausible EoR morphologies). Our analysis is complementary to that in the discovery paper (Bañados et al.) and the accompanying method paper (Davies et al.) as it focuses solely on the damping wing imprint redward of Ly$\alpha$ ($1218<\lambda <1230$Å), and uses a different methodology for (i) and (ii). We recover weak evidence for damping wing absorption. Our intermediate EoR model yields a volume-weighted neutral hydrogen fraction at $z=7.5$ of ${\bar{x}}_{\mathrm{HI}}=0.21\begin{array}{c}+0.17\\ -0.19\end{array}$ (68 per cent). The constraints depend weakly on the EoR morphology. Our limits are lower than those presented previously, though they are consistent at ~1-1.5$\sigma$. We attribute this difference to: (i) a lower amplitude intrinsic Ly$\alpha$ profile obtained from our reconstruction pipeline, driven by correlations with other high-ionisation lines in the spectrum which are relatively weak; and (ii) only considering transmission redward of Ly$\alpha$ when computing the likelihood, which reduces the available constraining power but makes the results less model-dependent. Our results are consistent with previous estimates of the EoR history, and support the picture of a moderately extended EoR.

7 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to MNRAS, comments welcome

References in corpus (16)

• A luminous quasar at a redshift of z = 7.085
• An 800-million-solar-mass black hole in a significantly neutral Universe at redshift 7.5
• The Universe is Reionizing at z~7: Bayesian Inference of the IGM Neutral Fraction Using Ly$\alpha$ Emission from Galaxies
• Physical properties of 15 quasars at $z\gtrsim 6.5$
• Quantitative Constraints on the Reionization History from the IGM Damping Wing Signature in Two Quasars at z > 7
• Line Emitting Galaxies Beyond a Redshift of 7: An Improved Method for Estimating the Evolving Neutrality of the Intergalactic Medium
• The Extreme Faint End of the UV Luminosity Function at $z\sim 6$ Through Gravitational Telescopes: a comprehensive assessment of strong lensing uncertainties
• A measurement of secondary cosmic microwave background anisotropies from the 2500-square-degree SPT-SZ survey
• Can the intergalactic medium cause a rapid drop in Lyman alpha emission at z>6?
• Copious Amounts of Dust and Gas in a z=7.5 Quasar Host Galaxy
• Lyman-alpha Emitters During the Early Stages of Reionization
• Predicting Quasar Continua Near Lyman-$\alpha$ with Principal Component Analysis
• On the Size of HII Regions around High Redshift Quasars
• Re-examining the case for neutral gas near the redshift 7 quasar ULAS J1120+0641
• On the faint-end of the galaxy luminosity function in the Epoch of Reionization: updated constraints from the HST Frontier Fields
• First study of reionization in the Planck 2015 normalized closed $\Lambda$CDM inflation model

Cited by in corpus (105)

• Pōniuā'ena: A Luminous $z=7.5$ Quasar Hosting a 1.5 Billion Solar Mass Black Hole
• The GLASS James Webb Space Telescope Early Release Science Program. I. Survey Design and Release Plans
• Inferences on the Timeline of Reionization at z~8 From the KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey
• Introducing the THESAN project: radiation-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the epoch of reionization
• A Cosmic UV/X-ray Background Model Update
• Signature of Excess Radio Background in the 21-cm Global Signal and Power Spectrum
• A Significantly Neutral Intergalactic Medium Around the Luminous z=7 Quasar J0252-0503
• Constraining the neutral fraction of hydrogen in the IGM at redshift 7.5
• Long troughs in the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest below redshift 6 due to islands of neutral hydrogen
• HERA Phase I Limits on the Cosmic 21-cm Signal: Constraints on Astrophysics and Cosmology During the Epoch of Reionization
• The mean free path of ionizing photons at 5 < z < 6: evidence for rapid evolution near reionization
• Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Active Galactic Nucleus Disks and Jets
• Measurements of the z ~ 6 Intergalactic Medium Optical Depth and Transmission Spikes Using a New z > 6.3 Quasar Sample
• The ASTRID Simulation: Galaxy Formation and Reionization
• The THESAN project: properties of the intergalactic medium and its connection to Reionization-era galaxies
• The Impact of the First Galaxies on Cosmic Dawn and Reionization
• Reionization and galaxy inference from the high-redshift Lyα forest
• The redshifted 21-cm signal in the EDGES low-band spectrum
• The JWST-PRIMAL Legacy Survey. A JWST/NIRSpec reference sample for the physical properties and Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption and emission of $\sim 500$ galaxies at $z=5.5-13.4$
• LyC escape from SPHINX galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization
• IGM damping wing constraints on reionisation from covariance reconstruction of two $z\gtrsim 7$ QSOs
• (Nearly) Model-Independent Constraints on the Neutral Hydrogen Fraction in the Intergalactic Medium at $z\sim 5-7$ Using Dark Pixel Fractions in Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ Forests
• Tight Constraints on the Excess Radio Background at $z=9.1$ from LOFAR
• Reionization after JWST: a photon budget crisis?
• Measuring the properties of reionised bubbles with resolved Lyman alpha spectra
• Interpreting LOFAR 21-cm signal upper limits at z~9.1 in the context of high-z galaxy and reionisation observations
• Euclid preparation: V. Predicted yield of redshift 7<z<9 quasars from the wide survey
• The Impact of Scatter in the Galaxy UV Luminosity to Halo Mass Relation on Ly$\alpha$ Visibility During the Epoch of Reionization
• XQR-30: the ultimate XSHOOTER quasar sample at the reionization epoch
• The Evolution of the Lyman-Alpha Luminosity Function During Reionization
• Model-independent constraints on the hydrogen-ionizing emissivity at z>6
• Chasing the Tail of Cosmic Reionization with Dark Gap Statistics in the Ly$\alpha$ Forest over $5<z<6$
• Inferring the IGM Neutral Fraction at z ~ 6-8 with Low-Luminosity Lyman Break Galaxies
• LAGER Ly$\alpha$ Luminosity Function at $z\sim 7$, Implications for Reionization
• (Re)Solving Reionization with Lyα: How Bright Lyα Emitters account for the $z\approx 2-8$ Cosmic Ionizing Background
• A short mean free path at $z=6$ favors late and rapid reionization by faint galaxies
• Exploring reionisation and high-z galaxy observables with recent multi-redshift MWA upper limits on the 21-cm signal
• Results from EDGES High-Band: III. New Constraints on Parameters of the Early Universe
• Studying the Lyman-$\alpha$ optical depth fluctuations at $z\sim 5.5$ using fast semi-numerical methods
• Reionization history constraints from neural network based predictions of high-redshift quasar continua
• Constraining the state of the intergalactic medium during the Epoch of Reionization using MWA 21-cm signal observations
• Early Structure Formation Constraints on the Ultra-Light Axion in the Post-Inflation Scenario
• Comparing Foreground Removal Techniques for Recovery of the LOFAR-EoR 21cm Power Spectrum
• The impact of an evolving stellar initial mass function on early galaxies and reionisation
• Chronicling the reionization history at $6\lesssim z\lesssim 7$ with emergent quasar damping wings
• Damping Wing-Like Features in the Stacked Ly$\alpha$ Forest: Potential Neutral Hydrogen Islands at $z<6$
• A metal-poor damped Ly-alpha system at redshift 6.4
• Constraining the second half of reionization with the Lyman-$\beta$ forest
• Damping wings in the Lyman-α forest: a model-independent measurement of the neutral fraction at 5.4<z<6.1
• A 21-cm power spectrum at 48 MHz, using the Owens Valley Long Wavelength Array
• SILVERRUSH XI: Constraints on the Ly$\alpha$ luminosity function and cosmic reionization at $z=7.3$ with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam
• Inferring the Thermal History of the Intergalactic Medium from the Properties of the Hydrogen and Helium Lyman-alpha Forest
• The impact of inhomogeneous subgrid clumping on cosmic reionization
• Constraints on the End of Reionization from the Density Fields Surrounding Two Highly Opaque Quasar Sightlines
• Deep learning approach for identification of HII regions during reionization in 21-cm observations
• Constraining the reionization history using deep learning from 21cm tomography with the Square Kilometre Array
• 21cmEMU: an emulator of 21cmFAST summary observables
• Constraining the primordial magnetic field with dwarf galaxy simulations
• Limits to Rest-Frame Ultraviolet Emission From Far-Infrared-Luminous z~6 Quasar Hosts
• The Universe is at Most 88% Neutral at z=10.6
• Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy Formation Simulation XX. The Ly$\alpha$ IGM transmission properties and environment of bright galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization
• The need for obscured supermassive black hole growth to explain quasar proximity zones in the epoch of reionization
• SPICE: the connection between cosmic reionisation and stellar feedback in the first galaxies
• The host galaxies of z=7 quasars: predictions from the BlueTides simulation
• Predictions for measuring the 21-cm multi-frequency angular power spectrum using SKA-Low
• Probing the thermal history during reionization using a semi-numerical photon-conserving code SCRIPT
• The effect of inhomogeneous reionisation on the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest power spectrum at redshift $z>4$: implications for thermal parameter recovery
• The impact of inhomogeneous subgrid clumping on cosmic reionization II: modelling stochasticity
• Retrieving cosmological information from small-scale CMB foregrounds II. The kinetic Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect
• Dispu$\tau$able: the high cost of a low optical depth
• The Morphology of Reionization in a Dynamically Clumpy Universe
• Studying the morphology of reionisation with the triangle correlation function of phases
• 21cmfish: Fisher-matrix framework for fast parameter forecasts from the cosmic 21-cm signal
• The impact of non-Gaussianity on the Epoch of Reionization parameter forecast using 21-cm power spectrum measurements
• LIMFAST. I. A Semi-Numerical Tool for Line Intensity Mapping
• Statistical analysis of the causes of excess variance in the 21 cm signal power spectra obtained with the Low-Frequency Array
• New quasar proximity zone size measurements at $z\sim 6$ using the enlarged XQR-30 sample
• Quasar Factor Analysis -- An Unsupervised and Probabilistic Quasar Continuum Prediction Algorithm with Latent Factor Analysis
• The large-scale 21-cm power spectrum from reionization
• The detectability of strong 21 centimetre forest absorbers from the diffuse intergalactic medium in late reionisation models
• Exploring the cosmic dawn and epoch of reionization with 21cm line
• First study of reionization in tilted flat and untilted non-flat dynamical dark energy inflation models
• Constraints on the $z\sim 6-13$ intergalactic medium from JWST spectroscopy of Lyman-alpha damping wings in galaxies
• Late-end reionization with ATON-HE: towards constraints from Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters observed with JWST
• Probing Reionization and Early Cosmic Enrichment with the MgII Forest
• Implications of the $z>5$ Lyman-$\alpha$ forest for the 21-cm power spectrum from the epoch of reionization
• Beyond optical depth: Future determination of ionization history from the CMB
• The Impact of Cosmic Variance on Inferences of Global Neutral Fraction Derived from Ly$\alpha$ Luminosity Functions During Reionization
• Non-parametric Reconstruction of Photon Escape Fraction from Reionization
• The impact of faint AGN discovered by JWST on reionization
• Extracting the astrophysics of reionization from the Ly$\alpha$ forest power spectrum: a first forecast
• The miniJPAS Survey: Detection of double-core Lyα morphology of two high-redshift (z>3) QSOs
• Impact of the primordial fluctuation power spectrum on the reionization history
• Clues to the nature of dark matter from first galaxies
• Dark matter model favoured by reionization data: 7 keV sterile neutrino vs cold dark matter
• Ly$\alpha$ Emission from [OIII] Emitters Near Reionization: The role of environment in galaxy Ly$\alpha$ detection
• Reionizing islands with inhomogeneous recombinations
• Narrowing the discovery space of the cosmological 21-cm signal using multi-wavelength constraints
• The impact of cosmic ray feedback during the epoch of reionisation
• ECHO21: a tool for modelling global 21-cm signal from dark ages to reionization
• Uncertainty-Aware Neural Networks for Fuzzy Dark Matter Model Selection from \texorpdfstring{$x_{\mathrm{HI}}$}{x_HI} Measurements
• A New Boundary Condition on Reionization
• An Estimate of the Impact of Reionization on Supermassive Black Hole Growth
• First constraints on the local ionization topology in front of two quasars at z ~ 7.5
• Studying dark gaps in Ly-$\alpha$ forest transmission with large reionization simulations