Related papers: Promising Observational Methods for Detecting the …
A number of large current experiments aim to detect the signatures of the Cosmic Reionization at redshifts z>6. Their success depends crucially on understanding the character of the reionization process and its observable consequences and…
The recent discovery of a Gunn--Peterson (GP) trough in the spectrum of the redshift 6.28 SDSS quasar has raised the tantalizing possibility that we have detected the reionization of the universe. However, a neutral fraction (of hydrogen)…
Observations of QSOs at z ~ 5.7 - 6.4 show the appearance of Gunn-Peterson troughs around z ~ 6, and a change in the slope of the IGM optical depth tau(z) near z ~ 5.5. These results are interpreted as a signature of the end of the…
The redshift at which the universe was reionized is currently unknown. We examine the optimal strategy for extracting this redshift, z_{reion}, from the spectra of early sources. For a source located at a redshift z_s beyond but close to…
We show how the morphological analysis of the maps of the secondary CMB anisotropies can detect an extended period of ``smoldering'' reionization, during which the universe remains partially ionized. Neither radio observations of the…
The inhomogeneous cosmological reionization process leaves tangible imprints in the intergalactic medium down to z=4-5. The Lyman-alpha forest flux power spectrum provides a potentially powerful probe of the epoch of reionization. With the…
GRBs are expected to occur at redshifts far higher than the highest quasar redshifts so far detected. And unlike quasars, GRB afterglows may provide "clean" probes of the epoch of reionization because no complications (such as the presence…
Recent observations have set the first constraints on the epoch of reionization (EoR), corresponding to the formation epoch of the first luminous objects. Studies of Gunn-Peterson (GP) absorption, and related phenomena, suggest a…
The epoch of reionization (6 < z < 10) marks the period in our universe when the first large galaxies grew to fruition, and began to affect the universe around them. Massive stars, and potentially accreting supermassive black holes, filled…
For a source of Ly alpha radiation embedded in a neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) prior to the reionization epoch, the emission line is strongly suppressed by the intervening IGM. The damping wing of the so-called Gunn-Peterson trough can…
The goal of searching back in cosmic time to find star formation during the epoch of reionization will soon be within reach. We assess the detectability of high-redshift galaxies by combining cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy…
Detections and non-detections of Lyman alpha (Ly$\alpha$) emission from $z>6$ galaxies ($<1$ Gyr after the Big Bang) can be used to measure the timeline of cosmic reionization. Of key interest to measuring reionization's mid-stages, but…
We present moderate resolution Keck spectroscopy of quasars at z=5.82, 5.99 and 6.28, discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We find that the Ly Alpha absorption in the spectra of these quasars evolves strongly with redshift. To…
Recent observations have discovered long (up to ~110 Mpc/h), opaque Gunn-Peterson troughs in the z ~ 5.5 Lyman-alpha forest, which are challenging to explain with conventional models of the post-reionization intergalactic medium. Here we…
In this paper, we explore the constraints on the reionization history that are provided by current observations of the Lyman-alpha forest and the CMB. Rather than using a particular semi-analytic model, we take the novel approach of…
I present a review by epoch of baryons in the intergalactic medium (IGM), from the first star until today. Recent observations indicate a protracted period of reionization, suggesting multiple populations of reionizers; detection of these…
The next generation of telescopes aim to directly observe the first generation of galaxies that initiated the reionization process in our Universe. The Lyman Alpha (Lya) emission line is robustly predicted to be the most prominent intrinsic…
Recent observations have positioned the endpoint of the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) at redshift $z \sim 5.3$. However, observations of the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest have not yet been able to discern whether reionisation occurred slowly and…
We study the constraints that future multifrequency Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments will be able to set on the metal enrichment history of the Inter Galactic Medium at the epoch of reionisation. We forecast the signal to noise…
The amplitude of the ionizing background that pervades the intergalactic medium (IGM) at the end of the epoch of reionization provides a valuable constraint on the emissivity of the sources which reionized the Universe. While measurements…