Are we witnessing the epoch of reionisation at z = 7.1 from the spectrum of J1120+0641?
© 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society We quantify the presence of Lyα damping wing absorption from a partially neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) in the spectrum of the z = 7.08 QSO, ULASJ1120+0641. Using a Bayesian framework, we simultan...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134293 |
| _version_ | 1811076387122970624 |
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| author | Greig, Bradley Mesinger, Andrei Haiman, Zoltán Simcoe, Robert A |
| author2 | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research |
| author_facet | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Greig, Bradley Mesinger, Andrei Haiman, Zoltán Simcoe, Robert A |
| author_sort | Greig, Bradley |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society We quantify the presence of Lyα damping wing absorption from a partially neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) in the spectrum of the z = 7.08 QSO, ULASJ1120+0641. Using a Bayesian framework, we simultaneously account for uncertainties in: (i) the intrinsic QSO emission spectrum; and (ii) the distribution of cosmic H I patches during the epoch of reionization (EoR). For (i), we use a new intrinsic Lyα emission line reconstruction method, sampling a covariance matrix of emission line properties built from a large data base of moderate-z QSOs. For (ii), we use the Evolution of 21-cm Structure (EOS; Mesinger et al.) simulations, which span a range of physically motivated EoR models. We find strong evidence for the presence of damping wing absorption redward of Lyα (where there is no contamination from the Lyα forest). Our analysis implies that the EoR is not yet complete by z = 7.1, with the volume-weighted IGM neutral fraction constrained to x¯ HI = 0.40+−002119 at 1σ (x¯ HI = 0.40+−004132 at 2σ ). This result is insensitive to the EoR morphology. Our detection of significant neutral H I in the IGM at z = 7.1 is consistent with the latest Planck 2016 measurements of the CMB Thompson scattering optical depth. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:20:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/134293 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:20:39Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1342932023-03-01T18:09:25Z Are we witnessing the epoch of reionisation at z = 7.1 from the spectrum of J1120+0641? Greig, Bradley Mesinger, Andrei Haiman, Zoltán Simcoe, Robert A MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics © 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society We quantify the presence of Lyα damping wing absorption from a partially neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) in the spectrum of the z = 7.08 QSO, ULASJ1120+0641. Using a Bayesian framework, we simultaneously account for uncertainties in: (i) the intrinsic QSO emission spectrum; and (ii) the distribution of cosmic H I patches during the epoch of reionization (EoR). For (i), we use a new intrinsic Lyα emission line reconstruction method, sampling a covariance matrix of emission line properties built from a large data base of moderate-z QSOs. For (ii), we use the Evolution of 21-cm Structure (EOS; Mesinger et al.) simulations, which span a range of physically motivated EoR models. We find strong evidence for the presence of damping wing absorption redward of Lyα (where there is no contamination from the Lyα forest). Our analysis implies that the EoR is not yet complete by z = 7.1, with the volume-weighted IGM neutral fraction constrained to x¯ HI = 0.40+−002119 at 1σ (x¯ HI = 0.40+−004132 at 2σ ). This result is insensitive to the EoR morphology. Our detection of significant neutral H I in the IGM at z = 7.1 is consistent with the latest Planck 2016 measurements of the CMB Thompson scattering optical depth. 2021-10-27T20:04:21Z 2021-10-27T20:04:21Z 2016 2019-06-18T11:28:28Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134293 en 10.1093/MNRAS/STW3351 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Oxford University Press (OUP) arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Greig, Bradley Mesinger, Andrei Haiman, Zoltán Simcoe, Robert A Are we witnessing the epoch of reionisation at z = 7.1 from the spectrum of J1120+0641? |
| title | Are we witnessing the epoch of reionisation at z = 7.1 from the spectrum of J1120+0641? |
| title_full | Are we witnessing the epoch of reionisation at z = 7.1 from the spectrum of J1120+0641? |
| title_fullStr | Are we witnessing the epoch of reionisation at z = 7.1 from the spectrum of J1120+0641? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are we witnessing the epoch of reionisation at z = 7.1 from the spectrum of J1120+0641? |
| title_short | Are we witnessing the epoch of reionisation at z = 7.1 from the spectrum of J1120+0641? |
| title_sort | are we witnessing the epoch of reionisation at z 7 1 from the spectrum of j1120 0641 |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134293 |
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