Heating of the Intergalactic Medium by Hydrogen Reionization

Abstract

During reionization, the intergalactic medium is heated impulsively by supersonic ionization fronts (I-fronts). The peak gas temperatures behind the I-fronts, $T_{\mathrm{reion}}$, are a key uncertainty in models of the thermal history after reionization. Here we use high-resolution radiative transfer simulations to study the parameter space of $T_{\mathrm{reion}}$. We show that $T_{\mathrm{reion}}$ is only mildly sensitive to the spectrum of incident radiation over most of the parameter space, with temperatures set primarily by I-front speeds. We also explore what current models of reionization predict for $T_{\mathrm{reion}}$ by measuring I-front speeds in cosmological radiative transfer simulations. We find that the post-I-front temperatures evolve toward hotter values as reionization progresses. Temperatures of $T_{\mathrm{reion}}=17,000-22,000$ K are typical during the first half of reionization, but $T_{\mathrm{reion}}=25,000-30,000$ K may be achieved near the end of this process if I-front speeds reach $\sim 10^4$ km/s as found in our simulations. Shorter reionization epochs lead to hotter $T_{\mathrm{reion}}$. We discuss implications for $z>5$ Ly$\alpha$ forest observations, which potentially include sight lines through hot, recently reionized patches of the Universe. Interpolation tables from our parameter space study are made publicly available, along with a simple fit for the dependence of $T_{\mathrm{reion}}$ on the I-front speed.

arXiv commentAccepted by ApJ. Results unchanged. Added (1) tests showing that conclusions are unaltered by density fluctuations; (2) analytic discussion that provides intuition for numerical results

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