Related papers: Astrophysics from the 21-cm background
The light of the first astrophysical objects is expected to leave an imprint on the global 21-cm signal as it heats, excites, and ionizes neutral hydrogen. This dependence on early astrophysics introduces significant uncertainties in…
The sky-averaged (global) 21-cm signal is a powerful probe of the intergalactic medium (IGM) prior to the completion of reionization. However, it has so far been unclear that even in the best case scenario, in which the signal is accurately…
Once we have a measurement, how do we extract this information from the signal? This chapter focusses on the inference of the interesting astrophysics and cosmology once we obtain a detection of the 21-cm signal. Essentially, inference of…
We consider the evolution of the sky-averaged 21 cm background during the early phases of structure formation. Using simple analytic models, we calculate the thermal and ionization histories, assuming that stellar photons dominate the…
We describe how the high-redshift 21-cm background can be used to improve both our understanding of the fundamental cosmological parameters of our Universe and exotic processes originating in the dark sector. The 21-cm background emerging…
Observations of the high-redshift Universe with the 21 cm hyperfine line of neutral hydrogen promise to open an entirely new window onto the early phases of cosmic structure formation. Here we review the physics of the 21 cm transition,…
The emission of 21-cm radiation from a neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) at high redshift is discussed in connection with the thermal and ionization history of the universe. The physical mechanisms that make such radiation detectable…
21-cm cosmology provides an exciting opportunity to probe new physics dynamics in the early universe. In particular, a tiny sub-component of dark matter that interacts strongly with the visible sector may cool the gas in the intergalactic…
The redshifted 21-cm background is expected to be a powerful probe of the early Universe, carrying both cosmological and astrophysical information from a wide range of redshifts. In particular, the power spectrum of fluctuations in the…
In this review article, we briefly outline our current understanding of the physics associated with the HI 21-cm signal from cosmic dawn. We discuss different phases of cosmic dawn as the ambient gas and the background radiations evolve…
The 21 cm signal appears to be a treasure trove to provide an insight into the period when the first generation of luminous objects formed in the Universe. Hydrogen is the predominating fraction of the total baryonic matter during cosmic…
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…
The early star-forming Universe is still poorly constrained, with the properties of high-redshift stars, the first heating sources, and reionization highly uncertain. This leaves observers planning 21-cm experiments with little theoretical…
Imaging the Universe during the first hundreds of millions of years remains one of the exciting challenges facing modern cosmology. Observations of the redshifted 21 cm line of atomic hydrogen offer the potential of opening a new window…
One of the most exciting probes of the early phases of structure formation and reionization is the spin-flip line of neutral hydrogen, with a rest wavelength of 21 cm. This chapter introduces the physics of this transition and the…
We investigate the 21-cm signature that may arise from the intergalactic medium (IGM) prior to the epoch of full reionization (z>5). In scenarios in which the IGM is reionized by discrete sources of photoionizing radiation, the neutral gas…
21 cm cosmology, the statistical observation of the high redshift universe using the hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen, has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of cosmology and the astrophysical processes that underlie…
The intergalactic medium - the cosmic gas that fills the great spaces between the galaxies - is affected by processes ranging from quantum fluctuations in the very early universe to radiative emission from newly-formed stars. This gives the…
We explore the complete history of the 21-cm signal in the redshift range z = 7-40. This redshift range includes various epochs of cosmic evolution related to primordial star formation, and should be accessible to existing or planned…
New low frequency radio telescopes currently being built open up the possibility of observing the 21-cm radiation before the Epoch of Reionization in the future, in particular at redshifts 200 > z > 30, also known as the dark ages. At these…