The epoch of reionization (EoR) offers a unique window into the dawn of galaxy formation, through which high-redshift galaxies can be studied by observations of both themselves and their impact on the intergalactic medium. Line intensity mapping (LIM) promises to explore cosmic reionization and its driving sources by measuring intensity fluctuations of emission lines tracing the cosmic gas in varying phases. Using LIMFAST, a novel seminumerical tool designed to self-consistently simulate LIM signals of multiple EoR probes, we investigate how building blocks of galaxy formation and evolution theory, such as feedback-regulated star formation and chemical enrichment, might be studied with multitracer LIM during the EoR. On galaxy scales, we show that the star formation law and the feedback associated with star formation can be indicated by both the shape and redshift evolution of LIM power spectra. For a baseline model of metal production that traces star formation, we find that lines highly sensitive to metallicity are generally better probes of galaxy formation models. On larger scales, we demonstrate that inferring ionized bubble sizes from cross-correlations between tracers of ionized and neutral gas requires a detailed understanding of the astrophysics that shape the line luminosity–halo mass relation. Despite various modeling and observational challenges, wide-area, multitracer LIM surveys will provide important high-redshift tests for the fundamentals of galaxy formation theory, especially the interplay between star formation and feedback by accessing statistically the entire low-mass population of galaxies as ideal laboratories, complementary to upcoming surveys of individual sources by new-generation telescopes.
Line-intensity mapping (LIM) is an emerging technique to probe the large-scale structure of the Universe. By targeting the integrated intensity of specific spectral lines, it captures the emission from all sources and is sensitive to the astrophysical processes that drive galaxy evolution. Relating these processes to the underlying distribution of matter introduces observational and theoretical challenges, such as observational contamination and highly non-Gaussian fields, which motivate the use of simulations to better characterize the signal. In this work we present skyline , a computational framework to generate realistic mock LIM observations that include observational features and foreground contamination, as well as a variety of self-consistent tracer catalogues. We apply our framework to generate realizations of LIM maps from the multidark planck 2 simulations coupled to the universemachine galaxy formation model. We showcase the potential of our scheme by exploring the voxel intensity distribution and the power spectrum of emission lines such as 21 cm, CO, [C ii], and Lyman-α, their mutual cross-correlations, and cross-correlations with galaxy clustering. We additionally present cross-correlations between LIM and submillimetre extragalactic tracers of large-scale structure such as the cosmic infrared background and the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect, as well as quantify the impact of galactic foregrounds, line interlopers, and instrument noise on LIM observations. These simulated products will be crucial in quantifying the true information content of LIM surveys and their cross-correlations in the coming decade, and to develop strategies to overcome the impact of contaminants and maximize the scientific return from LIM experiments.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10471003
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 526
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 5883-5899
- Size(s):
- ["p. 5883-5899"]
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Line-intensity mapping (IM) experiments seek to perform statistical measurements of large-scale structure with spectral lines such as 21 cm, CO, and Ly
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Abstract Submillimeter emission lines produced by the interstellar medium (ISM) are strong tracers of star formation and are some of the main targets of line intensity mapping (LIM) surveys. In this work we present an empirical multiline emission model that simultaneously covers the mean, scatter, and correlations of [C ii ], CO J = 1–0 to J = 5–4, and [C i ] lines in the redshift range 1 ≤ z ≤ 9. We assume that the galaxy ISM line emission luminosity versus halo mass relations can be described by double power laws with redshift-dependent lognormal scatter. The model parameters are then derived by fitting to the state-of-the-art semianalytic simulation results that have successfully reproduced multiple submillimeter line observations at 0 ≤ z ≲ 6. We cross-check the line emission statistics predicted by the semianalytic simulation and our empirical model, finding that at z ≥ 1 our model reproduces the simulated line intensities with fractional error less than about 10%. The fractional difference is less than 25% for the power spectra. Grounded on physically motivated and self-consistent galaxy simulations, this computationally efficient model will be helpful in forecasting ISM emission-line statistics for upcoming LIM surveys.more » « less
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Abstract Line intensity mapping (LIM) is a rapidly emerging technique for constraining cosmology and galaxy formation using multi-frequency, low angular resolution maps.Many LIM applications crucially rely on cross-correlations of two line intensity maps, or of intensity maps with galaxy surveys or galaxy/CMB lensing.We present a consistent halo model to predict all these cross-correlations and enable joint analyses, in 3D redshift-space and for 2D projected maps.We extend the conditional luminosity function formalism to the multi-line case, to consistently account for correlated scatter between multiple galaxy line luminosities.This allows us to model the scale-dependent decorrelation between two line intensity maps,a key input for foreground rejection and for approaches that estimate auto-spectra from cross-spectra.This also enables LIM cross-correlations to reveal astrophysical properties of the interstellar medium inacessible with LIM auto-spectra.We expose the different sources of luminosity scatter or “line noise” in LIM, and clarify their effects on the 1-halo and galaxy shot noise terms.In particular, we show that the effective number density of halos can in some cases exceed that of galaxies, counterintuitively.Using observational and simulation input, we implement this halo model for the Hα, [Oiii], Lyman-α, CO and [Cii] lines.We encourage observers and simulators to measure galaxy luminosity correlation coefficients for pairs of lines whenever possible.Our code is publicly available at https://github.com/EmmanuelSchaan/HaloGen/tree/LIM .In a companion paper, we use this halo model formalism and codeto highlight the degeneracies between cosmology and astrophysics in LIM, and to compare the LIM observables to galaxy detection for a number of surveys.more » « less
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ABSTRACT Line intensity mapping (LIM) is rapidly emerging as a powerful technique to study galaxy formation and cosmology in the high-redshift Universe. We present LIM estimates of select spectral lines originating from the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies and 21 cm emission from neutral hydrogen gas in the Universe using the large volume, high resolution thesan reionization simulations. A combination of subresolution photoionization modelling for H ii regions and Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculations is employed to estimate the dust-attenuated spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of high-redshift galaxies (z ≳ 5.5). We show that the derived photometric properties such as the ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function and the UV continuum slopes match observationally inferred values, demonstrating the accuracy of the SED modelling. We provide fits to the luminosity–star formation rate relation (L–SFR) for the brightest emission lines and find that important differences exist between the derived scaling relations and the widely used low-z ones because the ISM of reionization era galaxies is generally less metal enriched than in their low-redshift counterparts. We use these relations to construct line intensity maps of nebular emission lines and cross-correlate with the 21 cm emission. Interestingly, the wavenumber at which the correlation switches sign (ktransition) depends heavily on the reionization model and to a lesser extent on the targeted emission line, which is consistent with the picture that ktransition probes the typical sizes of ionized regions. The derived scaling relations and intensity maps represent a timely state-of-the-art framework for forecasting and interpreting results from current and upcoming LIM experiments.more » « less
