Related papers: Was the Universe neutral beyond redshift six?
We present a new method to directly map the neutral-hydrogen distribution during the reionization epoch and to constrain the emission properties of the highest-redshift quasars (QSOs). As a tracer of HI, we propose to use the Ly-alpha…
The Lyman alpha absorption from intergalactic, once-ionized helium (HeII) has been measured with HST in four quasars over the last few years, over the redshift range 2.4 < z < 3.2. These observations have indicated that the HeII…
Using radiative transfer calculations and cosmological simulations of structure formation, we study constraints that can be placed on the nature of the cosmic ultraviolet (UV) background in the redshift interval 2.5< z <5. Our approach…
A late end to reionisation at redshift $z\simeq 5.3$ is consistent with observed spatial variations in the Ly$\alpha$ forest transmission and the deficit of Ly$\alpha$ emitting galaxies around extended Ly$\alpha$ absorption troughs at…
The reionisation of the Universe is thought to have ended around z~6, as inferred from spectroscopy of distant bright background sources, such as quasars (QSO) and gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows. Furthermore, spectroscopy of a GRB…
Observations of fluctuations in the redshifted 21 cm radiation from neautral hydrogen (HI) are perceived to be an important future probe of the universe at high redshifts. Under the assumption that at redshifts z less than 6…
Our understanding of the intergalactic medium at redshifts $z=5$-$6$ has improved considerably in the last few years due to the discovery of quasars with $z>6$ that enable Lyman-$\alpha$ forest studies at these redshifts. A realisation from…
We use a large N-body simulation to examine the detectability of HI in emission at redshift z ~ 1, and the constraints imposed by current observations on the neutral hydrogen mass function of galaxies at this epoch. We consider three…
Observations of the Lyman-alpha (Ly-$\alpha$) forest may allow reionization to complete as late as $z \sim 5.5$, provided the ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) is sufficiently inhomogeneous at these redshifts. In this case,…
We investigate the cosmic reionization history by comparing semi-analytical models of the Lya forest with observations of high-z quasars and gamma ray bursts absorption spectra. In order to constrain the reionization epoch z_rei, we…
We use hydrodynamic cosmological simulations in a 9.6 Mpc box to explore the evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) transmissivity from z=2 through the epoch of reionization. Reionization is achieved through an ultraviolet background…
We present a study of the Ly\alpha forest at z<0.4 from which we conclude that at least 20% of the total baryons in the universe are located in the highly-ionized gas traced by broad Ly\alpha absorbers. The cool photoionized low-z…
We investigate the implications of the intergalactic opacity for the evolution of the cosmic UV luminosity density and its sources. Our main constraint is our measurement of the Lya forest opacity at redshifts 2<z<4.2 from 86…
We analyze the size evolution of HII regions around 27 quasars between z=5.7 to 6.4 ('quasar near-zones' or NZ). We include more sources than previous studies, and we use more accurate redshifts for the host galaxies, with 8 CO molecular…
We use cosmological simulations of reionization to predict the effect of large HII regions around individual high-redshift quasars on the possible signal from the redshifted 21cm line of neutral hydrogen in the pre-reionization era. We show…
We present the first results from a survey of the relative spatial distributions of galaxies, intergalactic neutral hydrogen, and intergalactic metals at high redshift. We obtained high-resolution spectra of 8 bright QSOs at 3.1<z<4.1 and…
We develop a new method to determine the distance between a high-redshift galaxy and a foreground screen of atomic hydrogen. In a partially neutral universe, and assuming spherical symmetry, this equates to the radius of a ionized 'bubble'…
I discuss fluctuations in the neutral hydrogen (HI) density of the z~2.3 intergalactic medium and show that their relation to cosmic overdensity is strongly scale-dependent. This behaviour arises from a linearized version of the well-known…
We quantify the presence of Ly\alpha\ damping wing absorption from a partially-neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) in the spectrum of the $z=7.08$ QSO, ULASJ1120+0641. Using a Bayesian framework, we simultaneously account for uncertainties…
We present the results of a blind search for intervening HI 21 cm absorption toward 260 radio sources in the redshift range 0<z<2.74 with the Green Bank Telescope. The survey has the sensitivity to detect sub-damped Lyman-alpha (DLA)…