Self-regulated reionization

dc.creatorIliev, Ilian T.
dc.creatorMellema, Garrelt
dc.creatorShapiro, Paul R.
dc.creatorPen, Ue-Li
dc.date2006-07-22
dc.date2007-11-07
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T11:04:06Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T11:04:06Z
dc.descriptionRecently, we have presented the first large-scale radiative transfer simulations of reionization. Here we present new simulations which extend the source halo mass range downward to 10^8M_solar, to capture the full range of halo masses thought to be primarily responsible for reionization by their star formation following atomic hydrogen radiative cooling and gravitational collapse. Haloes below about 10^9M_solar, however, are subject to Jeans-mass filtering in the ionized regions, which suppresses their baryonic content and their ability to release ionizing radiation. By including these smaller-mass haloes but accounting for their suppression, too, we find that reionization is ``self-regulating,'' as follows. As the mean ionized fraction rises, so does the fraction of the volume within which suppression occurs. Hence, the degree of suppression is related to the mean ionized fraction. Since low-mass haloes with high emissivity achieve a given mean ionized fraction earlier than do those with low efficiency, Jeans-mass filtering compensates for the difference in the emissivity of the suppressible haloes in these two cases. As a result, in the presence of lower-mass source haloes, reionization begins earlier, but the later stages of reionization and the time of overlap are dictated by the efficiency of the higher-mass haloes, independent of the efficiency of the suppressible, lower-mass haloes. Reionization histories consistent with current observational constraints are shown to be achievable with standard stellar sources in haloes above 10^8M_solar. Neither minihalos nor exotic sources are required, and the phenomenon of ``double reionization'' previously suggested does not occur. (abridged)
dc.description16 pages, 10 figures, most in color. MNRAS, in print. Replaced to match the accepted version. High-quality images and movies can be found at http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~iliev/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=reionization_sims
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0607517
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0607517
dc.identifierMon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.376:534-548,2007
dc.identifierdoi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11482.x
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/188773
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleSelf-regulated reionization
dc.typetext

Files

Collections