English

Redshift space 21 cm power spectra from reionization

Astrophysics 2009-11-13 v2

Abstract

We construct a simple but self-consistent analytic ionization model for rapid exploration of 21cm power spectrum observables in redshift space. It is fully described by the average ionization fraction xe(z)x_e(z) and HII patch size R(z)R(z) and has the flexibility to accommodate various reionization scenarios. The model associates ionization regions with dark matter halos of the number density required to recover xex_e and treats redshift space distortions self-consistently with the virial velocity of such halos. Based on this model, we study the line-of-sight structures in the brightness fluctuations since they are the most immune to foreground contamination. We explore the degeneracy between the HII patch size and nonlinear redshift space distortion in the one dimensional power spectrum. We also discuss the limitations experimental frequency and angular resolutions place on their distinguishability. Angular resolution dilutes even the radial signal and will be a serious limitation for resolving small bubbles before the end of reionization. Nonlinear redshift space distortions suggest that a resolution of order 1 -- 10\arcsec and a frequency resolution of 10kHz will ultimately be desirable to extract the full information in the radial field at z10z\sim 10. First generation instruments such as LOFAR and MWA can potentially measure radial HII patches of a few comoving Mpc and larger at the end of reionization and are unlikely to be affected by nonlinear redshift space distortions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0511141,
  title  = {Redshift space 21 cm power spectra from reionization},
  author = {Xiaomin Wang and Wayne Hu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0511141},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

13 pages, 10 figures. Revised version. Includes minor changes. Adds appendix on accomodating a distribution of radii for the HII regions. Accepted for publication in ApJ

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