Intensity Mapping across Cosmic Times with the Lyα Line
- Creators
- Pullen, Anthony R.
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Doré, Olivier
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Bock, Jamie
Abstract
We present a quantitative model of Lyα emission throughout cosmic history and determine the prospects for intensity mapping spatial fluctuations in the Lyα signal. Since (1) our model assumes at z > 6 the minimum star formation required to sustain reionization and (2) is based at z < 6 on a luminosity function (LF) extrapolated from the few observed bright Lyα emitters, this should be considered a lower limit. Mapping the line emission allows probes of reionization, star formation, and large-scale structure (LSS) as a function of redshift. While Lyα emission during reionization has been studied, we also predict the postreionization signal to test predictions of the intensity and motivate future intensity mapping probes of reionization. We include emission from massive dark matter halos and the intergalactic medium (IGM) in our model. We find agreement with current, measured LFs of Lyα emitters at z < 8. However, diffuse IGM emission, not associated with Lyα emitters, dominates the intensity up to z ~ 10. While our model is applicable for deep-optical or near-infrared observers like the James Webb Space Telescope, only intensity mapping will detect the diffuse IGM emission. We also construct a three-dimensional power spectrum model of the Lyα emission. Finally, we consider the prospects of an intensity mapper for measuring Lyα fluctuations while identifying interloper contamination for removal. Our results suggest that while the reionization signal is challenging, Lyα fluctuations can be an interesting new probe of LSS at late times when used in conjunction with other lines, e.g., Hα, to monitor low-redshift foreground confusion.
Additional Information
© 2014 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2013 December 13; accepted 2014 March 22; published 2014 April 24. We thank P. Capak, A. Cooray, S. Furlanetto, Y. Gong, C. Hirata, A. Lidz, G. Rudie, M. Viero, and M. Zemcov for helpful comments and useful discussions. Part of the research described in this paper was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A.P. was supported by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities through a contract with NASA. This work was supported by the Keck Institute of Space Studies and we thank colleagues at the "First Billion Years" for stimulating discussions, in particular J. Bowman and A. Readhead for organizing it.Attached Files
Published - Pullen_2014_ApJ_786_111.pdf
Submitted - 1309.2295v1.pdf
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Additional details
- Alternative title
- Intensity Mapping across Cosmic Times with the Lyman-Alpha Line
- Eprint ID
- 41533
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130925-143816733
- NASA Postdoctoral Program
- NASA/JPL/Caltech
- Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS)
- Created
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2013-09-25Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-03-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Keck Institute for Space Studies