2025/09/19 by Hutter, Anne, Heneka, Caroline
#Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.15906
21cm-galaxy cross-correlation will play a key role in confirming the cosmological 21cm signal. We investigate which survey configurations detect the 21cm-LAE cross-correlation signal, and assess its ability to distinguish reionisation scenarios. Our pipeline computes observational uncertainties for the 21cm-galaxy cross-power spectrum, accounting for key survey parameters: the field of view (FoV), limiting luminosity of galaxy surveys Lα, redshift uncertainty σz, and 21cm foreground wedge assumptions. We calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the 21cm-Lyman-α emitter (LAE) cross-power spectrum for two scenarios: one where reionisation is driven by faint or by bright galaxies. We find: (i) SNR increases with larger FoV, fainter Lα, and smaller σz, with the FoV having the strongest impact when σz is small. (ii) Under a moderate foreground wedge, photometric-like surveys yield insufficient SNR, and medium-deep (Lα\gtrsim1042.5erg s-1), wide-area (FoV>20deg2) slitless spectroscopic surveys are needed. (iii) Under an optimistic foreground wedge, detection is possible with deep (Lα\gtrsim1042.3erg s-1), wide-area (FoV\gtrsim80deg2) photometric-like or shallower, small-area (FoV≃2-3deg2) slitless spectroscopic surveys. (iv) To distinguish the two reionisation scenarios at z=7, moderate foreground wedge scenarios require deep-wide spectroscopic surveys; under an optimistic foreground wedge, shallower, medium-area (FoV≃10deg2) slitless spectroscopic surveys suffice. (v) Maximising the SNR for detection and model discrimination requires sampling the large-scale peak of the cross-power spectrum, which shifts to larger physical scales as reionisation proceeds and the less ionisation fronts follow the gas density - making surveys at z>7 more promising despite lower galaxy number densities.