No Arabic abstract
The cosmic near-infrared background (NIRB) offers a powerful integral probe of radiative processes at different cosmic epochs, including the pre-reionization era when metal-free, Population III (Pop III) stars first formed. While the radiation from metal-enriched, Population II (Pop II) stars likely dominates the contribution to the observed NIRB from the reionization era, Pop III stars -- if formed efficiently -- might leave characteristic imprints on the NIRB thanks to their strong Ly$alpha$ emission. Using a physically-motivated model of first star formation, we provide an analysis of the NIRB mean spectrum and anisotropy contributed by stellar populations at $z>5$. We find that in circumstances where massive Pop III stars persistently form in molecular cooling haloes at a rate of a few times $10^{-3},M_odot mathrm{yr}^{-1}$, before being suppressed towards the epoch of reionization (EoR) by the accumulated Lyman-Werner background, a unique spectral signature shows up redward of $1,mu$m in the observed NIRB spectrum sourced by galaxies at $z>5$. While the detailed shape and amplitude of the spectral signature depend on various factors including the star formation histories, IMF, LyC escape fraction and so forth, the most interesting scenarios with efficient Pop III star formation are within the reach of forthcoming facilities such as the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx). As a result, new constraints on the abundance and formation history of Pop III stars at high redshifts will be available through precise measurements of the NIRB in the next few years.
The Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER) is a suite of four instruments designed to study the near infrared (IR) background light from above the Earths atmosphere. The instrument package comprises two imaging telescopes designed to characterize spatial anisotropy in the extragalactic IR background caused by cosmological structure during the epoch of reionization, a low resolution spectrometer to measure the absolute spectrum of the extragalactic IR background, and a narrow band spectrometer optimized to measure the absolute brightness of the Zodiacal light foreground. In this paper we describe the design and characterization of the CIBER payload. The detailed mechanical, cryogenic, and electrical design of the system are presented, including all system components common to the four instruments. We present the methods and equipment used to characterize the instruments before and after flight, and give a detailed description of CIBERs flight profile and configurations. CIBER is designed to be recoverable and has flown twice, with modifications to the payload having been informed by analysis of the first flight data. All four instruments performed to specifications during the second flight, and the scientific data from this flight are currently being analyzed.
We calculate the contribution to the cosmic infrared background from very massive metal-free stars at high redshift. We explore two plausible star-formation models and two limiting cases for the reprocessing of the ionizing stellar emission. We find that Population III stars may contribute significantly to the cosmic near-infrared background if the following conditions are met: (i) The first stars were massive, with M > ~100 M_sun. (ii) Molecular hydrogen can cool baryons in low-mass haloes. (iii) Pop III star formation is ongoing, and not shut off through negative feedback effects. (iv) Virialized haloes form stars at about 40 per cent efficiency up to the redshift of reionization, z~7. (v) The escape fraction of the ionizing radiation into the intergalactic medium is small. (vi) Nearly all of the stars end up in massive black holes without contributing to the metal enrichment of the Universe.
We present a linear clustering model of cosmic infrared background (CIB) anisotropies at large scales that is used to measure the cosmic star formation rate density up to redshift 6, the effective bias of the CIB and the mass of dark-matter halos hosting dusty star-forming galaxies. This is achieved using the Planck CIB auto- and cross-power spectra (between different frequencies) and CIBxCMB lensing cross-spectra measurements, as well as external constraints (e.g. on the CIB mean brightness). We recovered an obscured star formation history which agrees well with the values derived from infrared deep surveys and we confirm that the obscured star formation dominates the unobscured one up to at least z=4. The obscured and unobscured star formation rate densities are compatible at $1sigma$ at z=5. We also determined the evolution of the effective bias of the galaxies emitting the CIB and found a rapid increase from $sim$0.8 at z$=$0 to $sim$8 at z$=$4. At 2$<$z$<$4, this effective bias is similar to that of galaxies at the knee of the mass functions and submillimeter galaxies. This effective bias is the weighted average of the true bias with the corresponding emissivity of the galaxies. The halo mass corresponding to this bias is thus not exactly the mass contributing the most to the star formation density. Correcting for this, we obtained a value of log(M$_h$/M$_{odot}$)=12.77$_{-0.125}^{+0.128}$ for the mass of the typical dark matter halo contributing to the CIB at z=2. Finally, we also computed using a Fisher matrix analysis how the uncertainties on the cosmological parameters affect the recovered CIB model parameters and find that the effect is negligible.
How, when and where the first stars formed are fundamental questions regarding the epoch of Cosmic Dawn. A second order effect in the fluid equations was recently found to make a significant contribution: an offset velocity between gas and dark matter, the so-called streaming velocity. Previous simulations of a limited number of low-mass dark matter haloes suggest that this streaming velocity can delay the formation of the first stars and decrease halo gas fractions and the halo mass function in the low mass regime. However, a systematic exploration of its effects in a large sample of haloes has been lacking until now. In this paper, we present results from a set of cosmological simulations of regions of the Universe with different streaming velocities performed with the moving mesh code AREPO. Our simulations have very high mass resolution, enabling us to accurately resolve minihaloes as small as $10^5 : {rm M_{odot}}$. We show that in the absence of streaming, the least massive halo that contains cold gas has a mass $M_{rm halo, min} = 5 times 10^{5} : {rm M_{odot}}$, but that cooling only becomes efficient in a majority of haloes for halo masses greater than $M_{rm halo,50%} = 1.6 times 10^6 : {rm M_{odot}}$. In regions with non-zero streaming velocities, $M_{rm halo, min}$ and $M_{rm halo,50%}$ both increase significantly, by around a factor of a few for each one sigma increase in the value of the local streaming velocity. As a result, in regions with streaming velocities $v_mathrm{stream} ge 3,sigma_mathrm{rms}$, cooling of gas in minihaloes is completely suppressed, implying that the first stars in these regions form within atomic cooling haloes.
We reanalyze data of near-infrared background taken by Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS) based on up-to-date observational results of zodiacal light, integrated star light and diffuse Galactic light. We confirm the existence of residual isotropic emission, which is slightly lower but almost the same as previously reported. At wavelengths longer than 2 {mu}m, the result is fairly consistent with the recent observation with AKARI. We also perform the same analysis using a different zodiacal light model by Wright and detected residual isotropic emission that is slightly lower than that based on the original Kelsall model. Both models show the residual isotropic emission that is significantly brighter than the integrated light of galaxies.