No Arabic abstract
Small galaxies are thought to be the main contributors to the ionising budget of the Universe before reionisation was complete. There have been a number of numerical studies trying to quantify their ionising efficiency through the escape fraction $f_{esc}$. While there is a clear trend that $f_{esc}$ is higher for smaller haloes, there is a large scatter in the distribution of $f_{esc}$ for a single halo mass. We propose that this is due to the intrinsic burstiness of star formation in low mass galaxies. We performed high resolution radiative hydrodynamics simulations with Ramses-RT to model the evolution of three galaxies and their ionising efficiency. We found that the variability of $f_{esc}$ follows that of the star formation rate. We then discuss the consequences of this variability on the observability of such galaxies by JWST.
Cosmic Dawn (CoDa) II yields the first statistically-meaningful determination of the relative contribution to reionization by galaxies of different halo mass, from a fully-coupled radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of the epoch of reionization large enough ($sim$ 100 Mpc) to model global reionization while resolving the formation of all galactic halos above $sim 10^8 M_odot$. Cell transmission inside high-mass haloes is bi-modal -- ionized cells are transparent, while neutral cells absorb the photons their stars produce - and the halo escape fraction $f_{esc}$ reflects the balance of star formation rate (SFR) between these modes. The latter is increasingly prevalent at higher halo mass, driving down $f_{esc}$ (we provide analytical fits to our results), whereas halo escape luminosity, proportional to $f_{esc} times$SFR, increases with mass. Haloes with dark matter masses within $6.10^{8} M_odot < M_h < 3.10^{10} M_odot$ produce $sim 80$% of the escaping photons at z=7, when the Universe is 50% ionized, making them the main drivers of cosmic reionization. Less massive haloes, though more numerous, have low SFRs and contribute less than 10% of the photon budget then, despite their high $f_{esc}$. High mass haloes are too few and too opaque, contributing $<10$% despite their high SFRs. The dominant mass range is lower (higher) at higher (lower) redshift, as mass function and reionization advance together (e.g. at z$=8.5$, x$_{rm HI}=0.9$, $M_h < 5.10^9 M_odot$ haloes contributed $sim$80%). Galaxies with UV magnitudes $M_{AB1600}$ between $-12$ and $-19$ dominated reionization between z$=6$ and 8.
We present new deep ALMA and HST/WFC3 observations of MASOSA and VR7, two luminous Ly$alpha$ emitters (LAEs) at $z=6.5$, for which the UV continuum level differ by a factor four. No IR dust continuum emission is detected in either, indicating little amounts of obscured star formation and/or high dust temperatures. MASOSA, with a UV luminosity M$_{1500}=-20.9$, compact size and very high Ly$alpha$ EW$_{0}approx145$ A, is undetected in [CII] to a limit of L$_{rm [CII]}<2.2times10^7$ L$_{odot}$ implying a metallicity $Zlesssim0.07 Z_{odot}$. Intriguingly, our HST data indicates a red UV slope $beta=-1.1pm0.7$, at odds with the low dust content. VR7, which is a bright (M$_{1500}=-22.4$) galaxy with moderate color ($beta=-1.4pm0.3$) and Ly$alpha$ EW$_0 = 34$ A, is clearly detected in [CII] emission (S/N=15). VR7s rest-frame UV morphology can be described by two components separated by $approx1.5$ kpc and is globally more compact than the [CII] emission. The global [CII]-UV ratio indicates $Zapprox0.2 Z_{odot}$, but there are large variations in the UV-[CII] ratio on kpc scales. We also identify diffuse, possibly outflowing, [CII]-emitting gas at $approx 100$ km s$^{-1}$ with respect to the peak. VR7 appears assembling its components at a slightly more evolved stage than other luminous LAEs, with outflows already shaping its direct environment at $zsim7$. Our results further indicate that the global [CII]-UV relation steepens at SFR $<30$ M$_{odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, naturally explaining why the [CII]-UV ratio is anti-correlated with Ly$alpha$ EW in many, but not all, observed LAEs.
The (re)ionisation of hydrogen in the early universe has a profound effect on the formation of the first galaxies: by raising the gas temperature and pressure, it prevents gas from cooling into small haloes thus affecting the abundance of present-day small galaxies. Using the Galform semi-analytic model of galaxy formation, we show that two key aspects of the reionisation process -- when reionisation takes place and the characteristic scale below which it suppresses galaxy formation -- are imprinted in the luminosity function of dwarf galaxies. We focus on the luminosity function of satellites of galaxies like the Milky Way and the LMC, which is easier to measure than the luminosity function of the dwarf population as a whole. Our results show that the details of these two characteristic properties of reionisation determine the shape of the luminosity distribution of satellites in a unique way, and is largely independent of the other details of the galaxy formation model. Our models generically predict a bimodality in the distribution of satellites as a function of luminosity: a population of faint satellites and population of bright satellites separated by a valley forged by reionisation. We show that this bimodal distribution is present at high statistical significance in the combined satellite luminosity function of the Milky Way and M31. We make predictions for the expected number of satellites around LMC-mass dwarfs where the bimodality may also be measurable in future observational programmes. Our preferred model predicts a total of $26 pm 10$ (68 per cent confidence) satellites brighter than ${rm M}_V=0$ in LMC-mass systems.
We investigate the impact of neutral hydrogen (HI) in galaxies on the statistics of 21-cm fluctuations using analytic and semi-numerical modelling. Following the reionisation of hydrogen the HI content of the Universe is dominated by damped absorption systems (DLAs), with a cosmic density in HI that is observed to be constant at a level equal to ~2% of the cosmic baryon density from z~1 to z~5. We show that extrapolation of this constant fraction into the reionisation epoch results in a reduction of 10-20% in the amplitude of 21-cm fluctuations over a range of spatial scales. The assumption of a different percentage during the reionisation era results in a proportional change in the 21-cm fluctuation amplitude. We find that consideration of HI in galaxies/DLAs reduces the prominence of the HII region induced shoulder in the 21-cm power spectrum (PS), and hence modifies the scale dependence of 21-cm fluctuations. We also estimate the 21cm-galaxy cross PS, and show that the cross PS changes sign on scales corresponding to the HII regions. From consideration of the sensitivity for forthcoming low-frequency arrays we find that the effects of HI in galaxies/DLAs on the statistics of 21-cm fluctuations will be significant with respect to the precision of a PS or cross PS measurement. In addition, since overdense regions are reionised first we demonstrate that the cross-correlation between galaxies and 21-cm emission changes sign at the end of the reionisation era, providing an alternative avenue to pinpoint the end of reionisation. The sum of our analysis indicates that the HI content of the galaxies that reionise the universe will need to be considered in detailed modelling of the 21-cm intensity PS in order to correctly interpret measurements from forthcoming low-frequency arrays.
We present the photometric properties of galaxies in the First Light and Reionisation Epoch Simulations (FLARES). The simulations trace the evolution of galaxies in a range of overdensities through the Epoch of Reionistion (EoR). With a novel weighting scheme we combine these overdensities, extending significantly the dynamic range of observed composite distribution functions compared to periodic simulation boxes. FLARES predicts a significantly larger number of intrinsically bright galaxies, which can be explained through a simple model linking dust-attenuation to the metal content of the interstellar medium, using a line-of-sight (LOS) extinction model. With this model we present the photometric properties of the FLARES galaxies for $z in [5,10]$. We show that the ultraviolet (UV) luminosity function (LF) matches the observations at all redshifts. The function is fit by Schechter and double power-law forms, with the latter being favoured at these redshifts by the FLARES composite UV LF. We also present predictions for the UV continuum slope as well as the attenuation in the UV. The impact of environment on the UV LF is also explored, with the brightest galaxies forming in the densest environments. We then present the line luminosity and equivalent widths of some prominent nebular emission lines arising from the galaxies, finding rough agreement with available observations. We also look at the relative contribution of obscured and unobscured star formation, finding comparable contributions at these redshifts.