Related papers: Relative Role of Stars and Quasars in Cosmic Reion…
We study quasar proximity zones in the redshift range $5.77 \leq z \leq 6.54$ by homogeneously analyzing $34$ medium resolution spectra, encompassing both archival and newly obtained data, and exploiting recently updated systemic redshift…
The post-recombination streaming of baryons through dark matter keeps baryons out of low mass (<10^6 solar masses) halos coherently on scales of a few comoving Mpc. It has been argued that this will have a large impact on the 21-cm signal…
Recent results have suggested that active galactic nuclei (AGN) could provide enough photons to reionise the Universe. We assess the viability of this scenario using a semi-numerical framework for modeling reionisation, to which we add a…
Quasars emit more energy than any other objects in the universe, yet are not much bigger than the solar system. We are almost certain that quasars are powered by giant black holes of up to $10^{10}$ times the mass of the Sun, and that black…
A variety of observations now indicate that intergalactic helium was fully ionized by z~3. The most recent measurements of the high-redshift quasar luminosity function imply that these sources had produced ~2.5 ionizing photons per helium…
Virtually all massive galaxies, including our own, host central black holes ranging in mass from millions to billions of solar masses. The growth of these black holes releases vast amounts of energy that powers quasars and other weaker…
The identification of sources driving cosmic reionization, a major phase transition from neutral Hydrogen to ionized plasma around 600-800 Myr after the Big Bang (Dayal et al. 2018, Mason et al. 2019, Robertson et al. 2022), has been a…
Proximity zones of high-redshift quasars are unique probes of their central supermassive black holes as well as the intergalactic medium in the last stages of reionization. We present 22 new measurements of proximity zones of quasars with…
Significant historic cosmic evolution for the formation rate of stellar black holes is inferred from current theoretical models of the evolution of massive stars, the multiple observations of compact stellar remnants in the near and distant…
In this paper we discuss the contribution of different astrophysical sources to the ionization of neutral hydrogen at different redshifts. We critically revise the arguments in favour/against a substantial contribution of Active Galactic…
We consider the effect of reionization on the clustering properties of galaxy samples at intermediate redshifts (z~0.3-5.5). Current models for the reionization of intergalactic hydrogen predict that overdense regions will be reionized…
We examine the contribution of high-redshift (z>6) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to cosmic hydrogen reionization, by tracing the growth and ionizing output of the first generation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Our calculations are…
The lifetime of quasars is fundamental for understanding the growth of supermassive black holes, and is an important ingredient in models of the reionization of the intergalactic medium. However, despite various attempts to determine quasar…
Quasars are galaxies hosting accreting supermassive black holes; due to their brightness, they are unique probes of the early universe. To date, only few quasars have been reported at $z > 6.5$ ($<$800 Myr after the Big Bang). In this work,…
The tight relationship between the masses of black holes and galaxy spheroids in nearby galaxies implies a causal connection between the growth of these two components. Optically luminous quasars host the most prodigious accreting black…
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…
From the first published z > 3 survey of 21-cm absorption within the hosts of radio galaxies and quasars, we found an apparent dearth of cool neutral gas at high redshift. From a detailed analysis of the photometry, each object is found to…
Starlight from galaxies plays a pivotal role throughout the process of cosmic reionisation. We present the statistics of dwarf galaxy properties at z > 7 in haloes with masses up to 10^9 solar masses, using a cosmological radiation…
The bulk of the hydrogen in the universe transformed from neutral to ionized somewhere in the redshift interval 5 < z < 40, most likely due to ionizing photons produced by an early generation of stars or mini-quasars. The resulting free…
Observations of high-redshift quasars hosting billion solar mass black holes at $z\gtrsim6$ challenge our understanding of early supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth. In this work, we conduct a near-infrared spectroscopic study of $19$…