Related papers: The Epoch of Reionization
Recent observations on the cosmic microwave background by Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe(WMAP) strongly suggest that the reionization of the universe took place quite early (z \sim 17). On the other hand, it has been pointed out that…
A large number of faint galaxies, born less than a billion years after the big bang, have recently been discovered. The fluctuations in the distribution of these galaxies contributed to a scatter in the ionization fraction of cosmic…
We study the evolution of baryonic gas before the reionization in the lognormal (LN) model of cosmic clustering. We show that the thermal history of the universe around the reionization can roughly be divided into three epochs: 1) cold dark…
We have modelled the process of reionization of the IGM by photoionization by galaxies, in order to predict the epoch of reionization. We use a sophisticated semi-analytic model to track the formation of galaxies. Our study represents a…
How and when did the first generation of stars form at the end of the cosmic dark ages? Quite generically, within variants of the cold dark matter model of cosmological structure formation, the first sources of light are expected to form in…
Theoretical studies and current observations of the high-redshift intergalactic medium (IGM) indicate that at least two cosmic transitions occur by the time the universe reaches gas metallicities of about $10^{-3}$ of solar values. These…
A deep understanding of the Epoch of Reionization is still missing in our knowledge of the universe. While future probes will allow us to test the precise evolution of the free electron fraction from redshifts between $z\simeq 6$ and…
The redshifted 21-cm line of distant neutral H atoms provides a probe of the cosmic ``dark ages'' and the epoch of reionization (``EOR'') which ended them. The radio continuum produced by this redshifted line can be seen in absorption or…
After the so-called cosmic recombination, the expanding universe entered into a period of darkness since most of the matter was in a neutral state. About a billion years later, however, the intergalactic space was once again ionized. The…
The epoch of reionization (EoR) marks the last phase transition of hydrogen in our Universe, as it evolves from cold and neutral to hot and ionized in the intergalactic medium (IGM). While its endpoint and duration can be estimated from…
Cosmic structure originated from minute density perturbations in an almost homogeneous universe. The first stars are believed to be very massive and luminous, providing the first ionizing radiation and heavy elements to the universe and…
The transition between the nearly smooth initial state of the Universe and its clumpy state today occurred during the epoch when the first stars and low-luminosity quasars formed. For Cold Dark Matter cosmologies, the radiation produced by…
The exploration of the end of the Dark Ages will be one of the most exciting field of the next decade. While most of the proposed observations must await the next-generation telescopes, the observational window of the redshifted 21cm line…
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…
Identifying the population of galaxies that was responsible for the reionization of the universe is a long-standing quest in astronomy. We present a possible local analog that has an escape fraction of ionizing flux of 21%. Our detection…
The first major star-forming galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei will produce Balmer and higher order extended haloes during the Epoch of Reionization through the scattering of Lyman resonance line photons off the surrounding neutral…
The presence of elements heavier than helium ("metals") is of fundamental importance for a large number of astrophysical processes occurring in planet, star and galaxy formation; it also affects cosmic structure formation and evolution in…
(Abridged) In these lectures aimed for non-specialists, I review progress in understanding how galaxies form and evolve. Both the star formation history and assembly of stellar mass can be empirically traced from redshifts z~6 to the…
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…
Within one billion years of the Big Bang, intergalactic hydrogen was ionized by sources emitting ultraviolet and higher energy photons. This was the final phenomenon to globally affect all the baryons (visible matter) in the Universe. It is…