Related papers: Quantifying the Precision of IGM Damping Wing Meas…
The intense radiation emitted by luminous quasars dramatically alters the ionization state of their surrounding IGM. This so-called proximity effect extends out to tens of Mpc, and manifests as large coherent regions of enhanced…
A bright quasar residing in a dense and largely neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) at high redshifts (z > 6) will be surrounded by a large cosmological Stromgren sphere. The quasar's spectrum will then show a sharp increase in resonant…
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…
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…
The Lyman Alpha damping wing is seen in absorption against the spectra of high-redshift galaxies. Modeling of this wing is a way to measure the volume neutral hydrogen fraction of the Universe, as well as to measure the strength of HI…
During reionization, intergalactic ionization fronts (I-fronts) are sources of Ly$\alpha$ line radiation produced by collisional excitation of hydrogen atoms within the fronts. In principle, detecting this emission could provide direct…
The intergalactic medium (IGM) around quasars is shaped by their dense environments and by their excess ionizing radiation, forming a "quasar proximity zone" whose size and anisotropy depend on the quasar's halo mass, luminosity, age, and…
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…
Ly$\alpha$ absorption spectra of QSOs at redshifts $z\simeq6$ show complete Gunn-Peterson absorption troughs (dark gaps) separated by tiny leaks. The dark gaps are from the intergalactic medium (IGM) where the density of neutral hydrogen…
We present a Bayesian inference on the neutral hydrogen fraction of the intergalactic medium (IGM), $x_{\textrm{HI}}$, at $z \sim$ 6-8 using the properties of Lyman break galaxies during the Epoch of Reionization. We use large samples of…
This is the first measurement and detection of coherence in the intergalactic medium (IGM) at substantially high redshift (z~3.8) and on large physical scales (~2.5 h^-1 Mpc). We perform the measurement by presenting new observations from…
We report new measurements of the intergalactic medium (IGM) Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ effective optical depth at $5.3<z<6.5$, using a new sample of quasar sightlines including 32 quasars at $6.308\le z\le7.00$. These quasars provide a large…
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…
Spectroscopic analysis of Ly$\alpha$ damping wings of bright sources at $z>6$ is a promising way to measure the reionization history of the universe. However, the theoretical interpretation of the damping wings is challenging due to the…
We present a new Bayesian algorithm making use of Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling that allows us to simultaneously estimate the unknown continuum level of each quasar in an ensemble of high-resolution spectra, as well as their common…
Measurements of the mean free path of Lyman-continuum photons in the intergalactic medium during the epoch of reionization can help constrain the nature of the sources as well as sinks of hydrogen-ionizing radiation. A recent approach to…
We present a quantitative model of Lyman-alpha (Ly-alpha) emission throughout cosmic history and determine the prospects for intensity mapping of spatial fluctuations in the Ly-alpha signal. Since i) our model assumes at z>6 the minimum…
We calculate the impact of the intergalactic medium (IGM) on the observed Lyman alpha lines (hereafter Lya) emitted by galaxies in an ionised IGM at z>4. Our model accounts for gas clumping in the IGM and for the fact that high-redshift…
Measurements of the intergalactic medium (IGM) temperature provide a potentially powerful constraint on the reionisation history due to the thermal imprint left by the photo-ionisation of neutral hydrogen. However, until recently IGM…
The intergalactic medium (IGM) at $z\sim$ 5 to 6 is largely ionized, and yet the main source for the IGM ionization in the early universe is uncertain. Of the possible contributors are faint quasars with $-26 \lesssim M_{\rm 1450} \lesssim…