Current models of the observable consequences of cosmic reionization and their detectability

Abstract

A number of large current experiments aim to detect the signatures of the Cosmic Reionization at redshifts z>6. Their success depends crucially on understanding the character of the reionization process and its observable consequences and designing the best strategies to use. We use large-scale simulations of cosmic reionization to evaluate the reionization signatures at redshifted 21-cm and small-scale CMB anisotropies in the best current model for the background universe, with fundamental cosmological parameters given by WMAP 3-year results (WMAP3). We find that the optimal frequency range for observing the ``global step'' of the 21-cm emission is 120-150 MHz, while statistical studies should aim at 140-160 MHz, observable by GMRT. Some strongly-nongaussian brightness features should be detectable at frequencies up to ~190 MHz. In terms of sensitivity-signal trade-off relatively low resolutions, corresponding to beams of at least a few arcminutes, are preferable. The CMB anisotropy signal from the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect from reionized patches peaks at tens of muK at arcminute scales and has an rms of ~1 muK, and should be observable by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the South Pole Telescope. We discuss the various observational issues and the uncertainties involved, mostly related to the poorly-known reionization parameters and, to a lesser extend, to the uncertainties in the background cosmology.

accepted by MNRAS, replaced to match the accepted version, substantial rewriting (including change in the original title and expanded discussions), no changes in the results, 13 pages, 11 figures, most in color

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Detecting the Rise and Fall of 21 cm Fluctuations with the Murchison Widefield Array
• The Dependence of Galaxy Formation on Cosmological Parameters: Can we distinguish the WMAP1 and WMAP3 Parameter Sets?
• Non-parametric foreground subtraction for 21cm epoch of reionization experiments
• The simulated 21 cm signal during the epoch of reionization : full modeling of the Ly-alpha pumping
• Effect of the intergalactic environment on the observability of Ly-alpha emitters during reionization
• Detection and extraction of signals from the epoch of reionization using higher order one-point statistics
• Redshifted 21-cm bispectrum II: Impact of the spin temperature fluctuations and redshift space distortions on the signal from the Cosmic Dawn
• Constraining the epoch of reionization from the observed properties of the high-z Universe
• Redshifted 21-cm bispectrum: Impact of the source models on the signal and the IGM physics from the Cosmic Dawn
• Reionization: Characteristic Scales, Topology and Observability