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Recent observations show that the measured rates of star formation in the early universe are insufficient to produce re-ionization, and therefore, another source of ionizing photons is required. In this \emph{Letter}, we examine the…
Hydrogen in the Universe was (re)ionised between redshifts $z \approx 10$ and $z \approx 6$. The nature of the sources of the ionising radiation is hotly debated, with faint galaxies below current detection limits regarded as prime…
Cosmic (hydrogen) reionization marks one of the major phase transitions of the universe at redshift z >= 6. During this epoch, hydrogen atoms in the intergalactic medium (IGM) were ionized by Lyman continuum (LyC) photons. However, it…
Absorption spectra of high redshift quasars suggest that the reionisation of cosmic hydrogen was complete near z~6. The dominant sources of ionising photons responsible for this reionisation are generally thought to be stars and quasars. In…
The reionization epoch concludes when ionizing photons reach every corner of the Universe. Reionization has generally been assumed to be limited primarily by the rate at which galaxies produce ionizing photons, but the recent measurement of…
The electron scattering optical depth constraints on reionization suggest that there may be other sources that contribute to the ionization of hydrogen aside from observable star forming galaxies. Often the calculated value of the electron…
Observational evidence suggest that shocks may affect the spatial and velocity distributions of gas in the NLR/ENLR of some active galaxies. It thus seemed plausible that shocks may also energize the NLR. The observed emission line ratios…
Cosmic reionization put an end to the dark ages that came after the recombination era. Observations seem to favor the scenario where massive stars generating photons in low-mass galaxies were responsible for the bulk of reionization. Even…
While stars are widely discussed as the source of the high energy photons which reionized the universe, an additional source of ionizing photons that must also contribute to reionization in this scenario is the supernovae (SNe) which mark…
Star-forming galaxies in the early universe provide us with perhaps the most natural way of explaining the reionization of the universe. Current observational results are sufficiently comprehensive, as to allow us to approximately calculate…
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…
In this paper, we address which sources contributed most of the reionizing photons. Our argument assumes that the reionization ended around z ~ 6 and that it was a relatively quick process, i.e., that there was a non-negligible fraction of…
We compare the available catalogs of $z\approx6$ galaxies in the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (UDF) and in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) with the expected properties of the sources of cosmological reionization from our…
The history of the transition from a neutral intergalactic medium to one that is almost fully ionized can reveal the character of cosmological ionizing sources. In this talk I will discuss the implications for rival reionization scenarios…
The contribution of stars in galaxies to cosmic reionisation depends on the star formation history in the Universe, the abundance of galaxies during reionisation, the escape fraction of ionising photons and the clumping factor of the…
Observations on the high-redshift galaxies at $z>6$ imply that their ionizing emissivity is unable to fully reionize the Universe at $z\sim 6$. Either a high escape fraction of ionizing photons from these galaxies or a large population of…
We revisit the classical view that quasar contribution to the reionization of hydrogen is unimportant. When secondary ionization are taken into account, in many plausible scenarios for the formation and growth of supermassive black holes…
Early galaxies were the radiation source for reionization, with the photoheating feedback from the reionization process expected to reduce the efficiency of star formation in low mass haloes. Hence, to fully understand reionization and…
We use a set of 3D radiative transfer simulations to study the effect that a large fraction of binary stars in galaxies during the epoch of reionization has on the physical properties of the intergalactic medium (i.e. the gas temperature…
Reionization represents an important phase in the history of our Universe when ultraviolet radiation from the first luminous sources, primarily stars and accreting black holes, ionized the neutral hydrogen atoms in the intergalactic medium…