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Register a new userThe Obelisk simulation: galaxies contribute more than AGN to HI reionization of protoclusters
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We present the Obelisk project, a cosmological radiation-hydrodynamics simulation following the assembly and reionization of a protocluster progenitor during the first two billions of years from the big bang, down to $z = 3.5$. The simulation resolves haloes down to the atomic cooling limit, and tracks the contribution of different sources of ionization: stars, active galactic nuclei, and collisions. The Obelisk project is designed specifically to study the coevolution of high redshift galaxies and quasars in an environment favouring black hole growth. In this paper, we establish the relative contribution of these two sources of radiation to reionization and their respective role in establishing and maintaining the high redshift ionizing background. Our volume is typical of an overdense region of the Universe and displays star formation rate and black hole accretion rate densities similar to high redshift protoclusters. We find that hydrogen reionization happens inside-out and is completed by $z sim 6$ in our overdensity, and is predominantly driven by galaxies, while accreting black holes only play a role at $z sim 4$.
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Metal-poor globular clusters (GCs) are both numerous and ancient, which indicates that they may be important contributors to ionizing radiation in the reionization era. Starting from the observed number density and stellar mass function of old GCs at $z=0$, I compute the contribution of GCs to ultraviolet luminosity functions (UVLFs) in the high-redshift Universe ($10 gtrsim z gtrsim 4$). Even under absolutely minimal assumptions - no disruption of GCs and no reduction in GC stellar mass from early times to the present - GC star formation contributes non-negligibly to the UVLF at luminosities that are accessible to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST; $M_{1500} approx -17$). If the stellar masses of GCs were significantly higher in the past, as is predicted by most models explaining GC chemical anomalies, then GCs dominate the UV emission from many galaxies in existing deep-field observations. On the other hand, it is difficult to reconcile observed UVLFS with models requiring stellar masses at birth that exceed present-day stellar masses by more than a factor of 10. The James Webb Space Telescope will be able to directly detect individual GCs at $z sim 6$ in essentially all bright galaxies, and many galaxies below the knee of the UVLF, for most of the scenarios considered here. The properties of a subset of high-$z$ galaxies with $-19 lesssim M_{1500} lesssim -14$ in HST lensing fields indicate that they may actually be GCs in formation.
The HI gas content is a key ingredient in galaxy evolution, the study of which has been limited to moderate cosmological distances for individual galaxies due to the weakness of the hyperfine HI 21-cm transition. Here we present a new approach that allows us to infer the HI gas mass $M_{rm HI}$ of individual galaxies up to $zapprox 6$, based on a direct measurement of the [CII]-to-HI conversion factor in star-forming galaxies at $zgtrsim 2$ using $gamma$-ray burst afterglows. By compiling recent [CII]-158 $mu$m emission line measurements we quantify the evolution of the HI content in galaxies through cosmic time. We find that the HI mass starts to exceed the stellar mass $M_star$ at $zgtrsim 1$, and increases as a function of redshift. The HI fraction of the total baryonic mass increases from around $20%$ at $z = 0$ to about $60%$ at $zsim 6$. We further uncover a universal relation between the HI gas fraction $M_{rm HI}/M_star$ and the gas-phase metallicity, which seems to hold from $zapprox 6$ to $z=0$. The majority of galaxies at $z>2$ are observed to have HI depletion times, $t_{rm dep,HI} = M_{rm HI}/{rm SFR}$, less than $approx 2$ Gyr, substantially shorter than for $zsim 0$ galaxies. Finally, we use the [CII]-to-HI conversion factor to determine the cosmic mass density of HI in galaxies, $rho_{rm HI}$, at three distinct epochs: $zapprox 0$, $zapprox 2$, and $zsim 4-6$. These measurements are consistent with previous estimates based on 21-cm HI observations in the local Universe and with damped Lyman-$alpha$ absorbers (DLAs) at $zgtrsim 2$, suggesting an overall decrease by a factor of $approx 5$ in $rho_{rm HI}(z)$ from the end of the reionization epoch to the present.
We use the GALFORM semi-analytical model to study high density regions traced by radio galaxies and quasars at high redshifts. We explore the impact that baryonic physics has upon the properties of galaxies in these environments. Star-forming emission-line galaxies (Ly{alpha} and H{alpha} emitters) are used to probe the environments at high redshifts. Radio galaxies are predicted to be hosted by more massive haloes than quasars, and this is imprinted on the amplitude of galaxy overdensities and cross-correlation functions. We find that Ly{alpha} radiative transfer and AGN feedback indirectly affect the clustering on small scales and also the stellar masses, star- formation rates and gas metallicities of galaxies in dense environments. We also investigate the relation between protoclusters associated with radio galaxies and quasars, and their present- day cluster descendants. The progenitors of massive clusters associated with radio galaxies and quasars allow us to determine an average protocluster size in a simple way. Overdensities within the protoclusters are found to correlate with the halo descendant masses. We present scaling relations that can be applied to observational data. By computing projection effects due to the wavelength resolution of modern spectrographs and narrow-band filters we show that the former have enough spectral resolution to map the structure of protoclusters, whereas the latter can be used to measure the clustering around radio galaxies and quasars over larger scales to determine the mass of dark matter haloes hosting them.
We reinvestigate a claimed sample of 22 X-ray detected active galactic nuclei (AGN) at redshifts z > 4, which has reignited the debate as to whether young galaxies or AGN reionized the Universe. These sources lie within the GOODS-S/CANDELS field, and we examine both the robustness of the claimed X-ray detections (within the Chandra 4Ms imaging) and perform an independent analysis of the photometric redshifts of the optical/infrared counterparts. We confirm the reality of only 15 of the 22 reported X-ray detections, and moreover find that only 12 of the 22 optical/infrared counterpart galaxies actually lie robustly at z > 4. Combining these results we find convincing evidence for only 7 X-ray AGN at z > 4 in the GOODS-S field, of which only one lies at z > 5. We recalculate the evolving far-UV (1500 Angstrom) luminosity density produced by AGN at high redshift, and find that it declines rapidly from z = 4 to z = 6, in agreement with several other recent studies of the evolving AGN luminosity function. The associated rapid decline in inferred hydrogen-ionizing emissivity contributed by AGN falls an order-of-magnitude short of the level required to maintain hydrogen ionization at z ~ 6. We conclude that all available evidence continues to favour a scenario in which young galaxies reionized the Universe, with AGN making, at most, a very minor contribution to cosmic hydrogen reionization.
The study of galaxy protoclusters is beginning to fill in unknown details of the important phase of the assembly of clusters and cluster galaxies. This review describes the current status of this field and highlights promising recent findings related to galaxy formation in the densest regions of the early universe. We discuss the main search techniques and the characteristic properties of protoclusters in observations and simulations, and show that protoclusters will have present-day masses similar to galaxy clusters when fully collapsed. We discuss the physical properties of galaxies in protoclusters, including (proto-)brightest cluster galaxies, and the forming red sequence. We highlight the fact that the most massive halos at high redshift are found in protoclusters, making these objects uniquely suited for testing important recent models of galaxy formation. We show that galaxies in protoclusters should be among the first galaxies at high redshift making the transition from a gas cooling regime dominated by cold streams to a regime dominated by hot intracluster gas, which could be tested observationally. We also discuss the possible connections between protoclusters and radio galaxies, quasars, and Ly-alpha blobs. Because of their early formation, large spatial sizes and high total star formation rates, protoclusters have also likely played a crucial role during the epoch of reionization, which can be tested with future experiments that will map the neutral and ionized cosmic web. Last, we review a number of promising observational projects that are expected to make significant impact in this growing, exciting field.
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