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Constraining the intergalactic medium at z approximate to 9.1 using LOFAR Epoch of Reionization observations
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Astronomy. Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmo Particle Physics (OKC). The Open University of Israel, Israel; Technion, Israel.
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Astronomy. Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmo Particle Physics (OKC). University of Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2560-536X
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Astronomy. Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmo Particle Physics (OKC).ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2512-6748
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Number of Authors: 222020 (English)In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, ISSN 0035-8711, E-ISSN 1365-2966, Vol. 493, no 4, p. 4728-4747Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

We derive constraints on the thermal and ionization states of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at redshift approximate to 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 greater than or similar to 0.13 and a distribution of the ionized regions with a characteristic size greater than or similar to 8 h(-1) comoving megaparsec (Mpc) and a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) greater than or similar to 16 h(-1) Mpc is ruled out. For an IGM with a uniform spin temperature T-S greater than or similar to 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 less than or similar to 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 less than or similar to 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.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2020. Vol. 493, no 4, p. 4728-4747
Keywords [en]
radiative transfer, galaxies: formation, intergalactic medium, cosmology: theory, dark ages, reionization, first stars, X-rays: galaxies
National Category
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-183595DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa487ISI: 000539094400011OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-183595DiVA, id: diva2:1455183
Available from: 2020-07-22 Created: 2020-07-22 Last updated: 2022-03-23Bibliographically approved

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Ghara, RaghunathGiri, Sambit K.Mellema, GarreltIliev, I. T.Gehlot, B. K.Jelic, V

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Ghara, RaghunathGiri, Sambit K.Mellema, GarreltIliev, I. T.Gehlot, B. K.Jelic, V
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Department of AstronomyThe Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmo Particle Physics (OKC)
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Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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