Related papers: Model-independent constraints on reionization from…
We study the constraints on reionization from five years of WMAP data, parametrizing the evolution of the average fraction of ionized hydrogen with principal components that provide a complete basis for describing the effects of…
The first-year WMAP data release showed that the reionization optical depth to CMB photons is greater than previously thought. This follows from unexpectedly high values of the C^TE_l spectrum, for l up to ~30, presumably allowing a…
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) experiment has detected reionization at the $5.5 \sigma$ level and has reported a mean optical depth of $0.088 \pm 0.015$. A powerful probe of reionization is the large-angle $EE$ polarization…
We represent the reionization history of the universe as a free function in redshift and study the potential for its extraction from CMB polarization spectra. From a principal component analysis, we show that the ionization history…
Spectroscopic studies of high-redshift objects and increasingly precise data on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) are beginning to independently place strong complementary bounds on the epoch of hydrogen reionization. Parameter…
Based on the work by Mitra, Choudhury & Ferrara (2010), we obtain model-independent constraints on reionization from cosmic microwave background (CMB) and QSO absorption line data by decomposing the function N_{ion}(z) (the number of…
We explore the fundamental limits to which reionization histories can be constrained using only large-scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy measurements. The redshift distribution of the fractional ionization $x_e(z)$ affects…
This paper focuses on cosmological constraints derived from analysis of WMAP data alone. A simple LCDM cosmological model fits the five-year WMAP temperature and polarization data. The basic parameters of the model are consistent with the…
We conduct an analysis of the Planck 2015 data that is complete in reionization observables from the large angle polarization $E$-mode spectrum in the redshift range $6 < z < 30$. Based on 5 principal components, all of which are…
We constrain the history of reionization using the data from Planck 2015 Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropy observations. We also use prior constraints on the reionization history at redshifts…
The Thomson optical depth from reionization is a limiting factor in measuring the amplitude of primordial fluctuations, and hence in measuring physics that affects the low-redshift amplitude, such as the neutrino masses. Current constraints…
On large angular scales, CMB polarization depends mostly on the evolution of the ionization level of the IGM during reionization. In order to avoid biasing parameter estimates, an accurate and model independent approach to reionization is…
Patchy reionization leaves a number of imprints on the small-scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature fluctuations, the largest of which is the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ), the Doppler shift of CMB photons scattering off…
In light of the recent inference of a high optical depth to Thomson scattering, tau, from the WMAP data we investigate the effects of extended periods of partial ionization and ask if the value of tau inferred by assuming a single sharp…
The recent discovery of a high optical depth tau to Thomson scattering from the WMAP data implies that significant reionization took place at redshifts z~15. This discovery has important implications for the sources of reionization, and…
Cosmic Microwave Background temperature and polarization anisotropies from Planck have estimated a lower value of the optical depth to reionization ($\tau$) compared to WMAP. A significant period in the reionization history would then fall…
New results on the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and its polarization based on the first 3 years of data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) have revised the electron scattering optical depth downward…
Using a semi-analytical model developed by Choudhury & Ferrara (2005) we study the observational constraints on reionization via a principal component analysis (PCA). Assuming that reionization at z>6 is primarily driven by stellar sources,…
The large-angle polarization anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) arise from Thomson scattering of CMB photons off free electrons in the post-recombination Universe. In the standard $\Lambda$ cold dark matter cosmological…
We summarize existing constraints on the epoch of reionization and discuss the observational probes that are sensitive to the process. We focus on the role large scale polarization can play. Polarization probes the integrated optical depth…