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The wavelength range 912-2000A (hereafter far-UV) provides access to absorption lines of the interstellar medium (ISM), circumgalactic medium (CGM), and intergalactic medium (IGM) in phases spanning a wide range of ionization, density,…
We publicly release a new sample of $34$ medium resolution quasar spectra at $5.77\leq z_{\rm em}\leq6.54$ observed with the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager (ESI) on the Keck telescope. This quasar sample represents an ideal laboratory…
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)…
As a result of our limited data on reionization, the total optical depth for electron scattering, $\tau$, limits precision measurements of cosmological parameters from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). It was recently shown that the…
The recombination of hydrogen and helium at z~1000-7000 gives unavoidable distortions to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) spectrum. We present a detailed calculation of the line intensities arising from the Ly-alpha (2p-1s) and…
We study constraints on allowed reionization histories by comparing predictions of a physical semi-numerical model with secondary temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Our model has four free…
The standard cosmological model, with its six independent parameters, successfully describes our observable Universe. One of these parameters, the optical depth to reionization $\tau_\mathrm{reio}$, represents the scatterings that Cosmic…
Joint analysis of CMB and large-scale structure at high redshifts provide new and unique windows into unexplored epochs of early structure formation. Here, we demonstrate how cosmic infrared background and high-redshift galaxies can be…
We present an analytic model, based on previous works which tackled the reionization history of the universe, which allows us to describe the generation of the secondary CMB anisotropies due to the kinetic SZ effect. We take into account…
Recent suggestions of a "photon underproduction crisis" (Kollmeier \etal\ 2014) have generated concern over the intensity and spectrum of ionizing photons in the metagalactic ultraviolet background (UVB). The balance of hydrogen…
We present a detailed analysis of the ionisation state and heavy element abundances in the Intergalactic Medium (IGM). The CIV doublet is shown by 30 % of the 182 selected optically thin \lya clouds in 10 QSO lines of sight. Direct…
Cosmic Reionization imprints its signature on the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Advances in CMB telescopes have already placed a significant constraint on the history of reionization. As…
The first, self-consistent calculations are presented of the cosmological, H2-dissociating UV background produced during the epoch of reionization by the sources of reionization. Large-scale radiative transfer simulations of reionization…
We report the first detection of the dark matter distribution around Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at high redshift through the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) lensing measurements with the public {\it Planck} PR3 $\kappa$ map. The LBG…
A model of the density distribution in the intergalactic medium, motivated by that found in numerical simulations, is used to demonstrate the effect of a clumpy IGM and discrete sources on the reionization of the universe. In an…
Ionization balance in the intergalactic medium (IGM) is central to the interpretation of quasar absorption spectra, linking observed ionic columns to the underlying gas density, temperature, metallicity, and ionizing radiation field.…
There is growing interest in using 3-dimensional neutral hydrogen mapping with the redshifted 21 cm line as a cosmological probe, as it has been argued to have a greater long-term potential than the cosmic microwave background. However, its…
In this thesis we focus on studying the physics of cosmological recombination and how the details of recombination affect the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. We present a detailed calculation of the spectral line distortions…
The large-angle polarization anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) arise from Thomson scattering of CMB photons off free electrons in the post-recombination Universe. In the standard $\Lambda$ cold dark matter cosmological…
A number of current and future experiments aim to detect the reionization of neutral hydrogen by the first stars and galaxies in the Universe via the redshifted 21cm line. Using the \textsc{BlueTides} simulation, we investigate the…