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Constraining the intergalactic medium at z ≈ 9.1 using LOFAR Epoch of Reionization observations

  • Ghara, R ORCID Department of Physics, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel
  • Giri, S K ORCID Institute for Computational Science, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
  • Mellema, G ORCID The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
  • Ciardi, B Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
  • Zaroubi, S Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, NL-9700AV Groningen, the Netherlands
  • Iliev, I T ORCID Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Pevensey II Building, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
  • Koopmans, L V E Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, NL-9700AV Groningen, the Netherlands
  • Chapman, E ORCID Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
  • Gazagnes, S Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, NL-9700AV Groningen, the Netherlands
  • Gehlot, B K ORCID School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
  • Ghosh, A ORCID Department of Physics, Banwarilal Bhalotia College, Asansol, West Bengal, India
  • Jelić, V ORCID Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • Mertens, F G ORCID LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, F-75014 Paris, France
  • Mondal, R ORCID Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Pevensey II Building, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
  • Schaye, J ORCID Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, NL-2300RA Leiden, the Netherlands
  • Silva, M B Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, PO Box 1029 Blindern, N-0315 Oslo, Norway
  • Asad, K M B ORCID Independent University Bangladesh, Plot 16, Block B, Aftabuddin Ahmed Road, Bashundhara R/A, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Kooistra, R Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan
  • Mevius, M ASTRON, PO Box 2, NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
  • Offringa, A R ASTRON, PO Box 2, NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
  • Pandey, V N ASTRON, PO Box 2, NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
  • Yatawatta, S ORCID ASTRON, PO Box 2, NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
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  • 2020-2-19
Published in:
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2020, vol. 493, no. 4, p. 4728-4747
Space and Planetary Science
Astronomy and Astrophysics
English ABSTRACT
We derive constraints on the thermal and ionization states of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at redshift ≈ 9.1 using new upper limits on the 21-cm power spectrum measured by the LOFAR radio telescope and a prior on the ionized fraction at that redshift estimated from recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. We have used results from the reionization simulation code grizzly and a Bayesian inference framework to constrain the parameters which describe the physical state of the IGM. We find that, if the gas heating remains negligible, an IGM with ionized fraction ≳0.13 and a distribution of the ionized regions with a characteristic size ≳ 8 h−1 comoving megaparsec (Mpc) and a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) ≳16 h−1 Mpc is ruled out. For an IGM with a uniform spin temperature TS ≳ 3 K, no constraints on the ionized component can be computed. If the large-scale fluctuations of the signal are driven by spin temperature fluctuations, an IGM with a volume fraction ≲0.34 of heated regions with a temperature larger than CMB, average gas temperature 7–160 K, and a distribution of the heated regions with characteristic size 3.5–70 h−1 Mpc and FWHM of ≲110 h−1 Mpc is ruled out. These constraints are within the 95 per cent credible intervals. With more stringent future upper limits from LOFAR at multiple redshifts, the constraints will become tighter and will exclude an increasingly large region of the parameter space.
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  • English
Open access status
hybrid
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https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/284300
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