The 21 Centimeter Forest

Abstract

We examine the prospects for studying the pre-reionization intergalactic medium (IGM) through the so-called 21 cm forest in spectra of bright high-redshift radio sources. We first compute the evolution of the mean optical depth for models that include X-ray heating of the IGM gas, Wouthuysen-Field coupling, and reionization. Under most circumstances, the spin temperature T_S grows large well before reionization begins in earnest. As a result, the optical depth is less than 0.001 throughout most of reionization, and background sources must sit well beyond the reionization surface in order to experience measurable absorption. HII regions produce relatively large "transmission gaps" and may therefore still be observable during the early stages of reionization. Absorption from sheets and filaments in the cosmic web fades once T_S becomes large and should be rare during reionization. Minihalos can produce strong (albeit narrow) absorption features. Measuring their abundance would yield useful limits on the strength of feedback processes in the IGM as well as their effect on reionization.

9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to MNRAS

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