Detecting Helium Reionization with Fast Radio Bursts

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRB) probe the electron density of the universe along the path of propagation, making high redshift FRB sensitive to the helium reionization epoch. We analyze the signal to noise with which a detection of the amplitude of reionization can be made, and its redshift, for various cases of future FRB survey samples, assessing survey characteristics including total number, redshift distribution, peak redshift, redshift depth, and number above the reionization redshift, as well as dependence on reionization redshift. We take into account scatter in the dispersion measure due to an inhomogeneous intergalactic medium (IGM) and uncertainty in the FRB host and environment dispersion measure, as well as cosmology. For a future survey with 500 FRB extending out to $z=5$, and a sudden reionization, the detection of helium reionization can approach the $5\sigma$ level and the reionization redshift be determined to $\sigma (z_r)\approx 0.24$ in an optimistic scenario, or $2\sigma$ and $\sigma (z_r)\approx 0.34$ taking into account further uncertainties on IGM fraction evolution and redshift uncertainties.

8 pages, 8 figures; v2 minor clarifications in text and Fig. 3, matches PRD version

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Cited by in corpus (25)

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• The z-DM distribution of fast radio bursts
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• Intergalactic medium dispersion measures of fast radio bursts estimated from IllustrisTNG simulation and their cosmological applications
• CHIME/FRB Catalog 1 results: statistical cross-correlations with large-scale structure
• The BINGO Project I: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Integrated Neutral Gas Observations
• Exploring the epoch of hydrogen reionization using FRBs
• Fast radio bursts to be detected with the Square Kilometre Array
• Cosmological-model-independent determination of Hubble constant from fast radio bursts and Hubble parameter measurements
• Search for lensing signatures from the latest fast radio burst observations and constraints on the abundance of primordial black holes
• What it Takes to Measure Reionization with Fast Radio Bursts
• A forecast of using fast radio burst observations to constrain holographic dark energy
• Revealing the cosmic reionisation history with fast radio bursts in the era of Square Kilometre Array
• Fast Radio Burst Dispersion Measure Distribution as a Probe of Helium Reionization
• Constraints on the abundance of primordial black holes with different mass distributions from lensing of fast radio bursts
• Constraining the Epoch of Reionization With Highly Dispersed Fast Radio Bursts
• Constraining HeII Reionization Detection Uncertainties via Fast Radio Bursts
• Probing helium reionization with kinetic Sunyaev Zel'dovich tomography
• Reconstruction of Reionization History through Dispersion Measure of Fast Radio Bursts
• The BINGO Project IX: Search for Fast Radio Bursts -- A Forecast for the BINGO Interferometry System
• Dark Twilight Joined with the Light of Dawn to Unveil the Reionization History
• Fast radio bursts as probes of feedback from active galactic nuclei
• Reconstructing patchy helium reionization using the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure
• Forecasting the FRB Population Observed Through Galaxy Cluster Lenses
• Detecting the signature of helium reionization through 3HeII 3.46cm line-intensity mapping