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.
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LIMFAST. II. Line Intensity Mapping as a Probe of High-redshift Galaxy Formation
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.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1812458
- PAR ID:
- 10486649
- Publisher / Repository:
- Institute of Physics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Volume:
- 950
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0004-637X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 40
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Bursty star formation—a key prediction for high-redshift galaxies from cosmological simulations explicitly resolving stellar feedback in the interstellar medium—has recently been observed to prevail among galaxies at redshift
z ≳ 6. Line intensity mapping (LIM) of the 158μ m [Cii ] line as a star formation rate (SFR) indicator offers unique opportunities to tomographically constrain cosmic star formation at high redshift, in a way complementary to observations of individually detected galaxies. To understand the effects of bursty star formation on [Cii ] LIM, which have remained unexplored in previous studies, we present an analytic modeling framework for high-z galaxy formation and [Cii ] LIM signals that accounts for bursty star formation histories induced by delayed supernova feedback. We use it to explore and characterize how bursty star formation can impact and thus complicate the interpretation of the [Cii ] luminosity function and power spectrum. Our simple analytic model indicates that bursty star formation mainly affects low-mass galaxies by boosting their average SFR and [Cii ] luminosity, and in the [Cii ] power spectrum it can create a substantial excess in the large-scale clustering term. This distortion results in a power spectrum shape that cannot be explained by invoking a mass-independent logarithmic scatter. We conclude that burstiness must be accounted for when modeling and analyzing [Cii ] data sets from the early Universe, and that in the extreme, the signature of burstiness may be detectable with first-generation experiments such as TIME, CONCERTO, and CCAT-DSS. -
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 We present self-consistent radiation hydrodynamic simulations of hydrogen reionization performed with arepo-rt complemented by a state-of-the-art galaxy formation model. We examine how photoheating feedback, due to reionization, shapes the galaxies properties. Our fiducial model completes reionization by z ≈ 6 and matches observations of the Ly α forest, the cosmic microwave background electron scattering optical depth, the high-redshift ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function, and stellar mass function. Contrary to previous works, photoheating suppresses star formation rates by more than $50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ only in haloes less massive than ∼108.4 M⊙ (∼108.8 M⊙) at z = 6 (z = 5), suggesting inefficient photoheating feedback from photons within galaxies. The use of a uniform UV background that heats up the gas at z ≈ 10.7 generates an earlier onset of suppression of star formation compared to our fiducial model. This discrepancy can be mitigated by adopting a UV background model with a more realistic reionization history. In the absence of stellar feedback, photoheating alone is only able to quench haloes less massive than ∼109 M⊙ at z ≳ 5, implying that photoheating feedback is sub-dominant in regulating star formation. In addition, stellar feedback, implemented as a non-local galactic wind scheme in the simulations, weakens the strength of photoheating feedback by reducing the amount of stellar sources. Most importantly, photoheating does not leave observable imprints in the UV luminosity function, stellar mass function, or the cosmic star formation rate density. The feasibility of using these observables to detect imprints of reionization therefore requires further investigation.more » « less
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ABSTRACT We present new observations of 16 bright (r = 19–21) gravitationally lensed galaxies at z ≃ 1–3 selected from the CASSOWARY survey. Included in our sample is the z = 1.42 galaxy CSWA-141, one of the brightest known reionization-era analogues at high redshift (g = 20.5), with a large specific star formation rate (31.2 Gyr−1) and an [O iii]+H β equivalent width (EW[O iii] + H β = 730 Å) that is nearly identical to the average value expected at z ≃ 7–8. In this paper, we investigate the rest-frame UV nebular line emission in our sample with the goal of understanding the factors that regulate strong C iii] emission. Although most of the sources in our sample show weak UV line emission, we find elevated C iii] in the spectrum of CSWA-141 (EWC iii] = 4.6 ± 1.9 Å) together with detections of other prominent emission lines (O iii], Si iii], Fe ii⋆, Mg ii). We compare the rest-optical line properties of high-redshift galaxies with strong and weak C iii] emission, and find that systems with the strongest UV line emission tend to have young stellar populations and nebular gas that is moderately metal-poor and highly ionized, consistent with trends seen at low and high redshift. The brightness of CSWA-141 enables detailed investigation of the extreme emission line galaxies which become common at z > 6. We find that gas traced by the C iii] doublet likely probes higher densities than that traced by [O ii] and [S ii]. Characterization of the spectrally resolved Mg ii emission line and several low-ionization absorption lines suggests neutral gas around the young stars is likely optically thin, potentially facilitating the escape of ionizing radiation.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acc9b3
