Constraining the Epoch of Reionization With Highly Dispersed Fast Radio Bursts

Abstract

The period in which hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) is ionized, known as the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) is still poorly understood. The timing and duration of the EoR is expected to be governed by the underlying astrophysics. Furthermore, most models of reionization predict a correlation between the density and ionization field. Here we consider using the mean dispersion measure (DM) of high redshift Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) as a probe of the underlying astrophysics and morphology of the EoR. To do this, we forecast observational scenarios by building mock data sets of non-repeating FRBs between redshifts $8\le z\le 10$. It is assumed that all FRBs have accompanying spectroscopic redshift measurements. We find that samples of 100 high redshift FRBs, in the above mentioned narrow redshift range, can rule out uncorrelated reionization at $68\%$ credibility, while larger samples, $\ge 10^4$ FRBs, can rule out uncorrelated reionization at $95\%$ credibility. We also find 100 high redshift FRBs can rule out scenarios where the Universe is entirely neutral at $z=10$ with $68\%$ credibility. Further with $\ge 10^5$ FRBs, we can constrain the duration $\Delta z$ of reionization (duration between mean ionized fraction 0.25 to 0.75) to $\Delta z=2.0_{-0.4}^{+0.5}$, and the midpoint of reionization to $z=7.8_{-0.2}^{+0.4}$ at $95\%$ credibility.

12 pages, 7 Figures, 2 Tables

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• A new measurement of the Hubble constant using Fast Radio Bursts
• Cosmological-model-independent determination of Hubble constant from fast radio bursts and Hubble parameter measurements
• A Short Introduction to Reionization Physics
• What it Takes to Measure Reionization with Fast Radio Bursts
• Probing the baryon mass fraction in IGM and its redshift evolution with fast radio bursts using Bayesian inference method
• The Cosmic Evolution of Fast Radio Bursts Inferred from the CHIME/FRB Baseband Catalog 1
• The ultra narrow FRB20191107B, and the origins of FRB scattering
• Relativistic imprints on dispersion measure space distortions
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• Search for the correlations between host properties and $\mathrm{D}{\mathrm{M}}_{\mathrm{host}}$ of fast radio bursts: constraints on the baryon mass fraction in IGM
• Dispersion Measures of Fast Radio Bursts through the Epoch of Reionization
• Unveiling the distribution and redshift dependence of host galaxy dispersion measures using localized fast radio bursts
• Forecasting the FRB Population Observed Through Galaxy Cluster Lenses