The Birth of a Galaxy - III. Propelling reionisation with the faintest galaxies

2014/03/24 by John Wise, John H. Wise, Vasiliy G. Demchenko +9 · 1 voice · 24 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy formation and evolution #Luminosity #Luminosity function #Physics #Redshift #Reionization #Solar mass #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.GA

paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stu979

published as Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2014 442 (2): 2560-2579 · 21 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. Accepted in MNRAS

arxiv published 2014/03/24 · arxiv created 2014/05/19 · arxiv updated 2014/05/19 · openalex publication_date 2014/06/26 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Starlight from galaxies plays a pivotal role throughout the process of cosmic reionisation. We present the statistics of dwarf galaxy properties at z > 7 in haloes with masses up to 10⁹ solar masses, using a cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulation that follows their buildup starting with their Population III progenitors. We find that metal-enriched star formation is not restricted to atomic cooling (T_{\rm vir} ≥ 10⁴ K) haloes, but can occur in haloes down to masses ~10⁶ solar masses, especially in neutral regions. Even though these smallest galaxies only host up to 10⁴ solar masses of stars, they provide nearly 30 per cent of the ionising photon budget. We find that the galaxy luminosity function flattens above M_UV ~ -12 with a number density that is unchanged at z < 10. The fraction of ionising radiation escaping into the intergalactic medium is inversely dependent on halo mass, decreasing from 50 to 5 per cent in the mass range log M/M_\odot = 7.0-8.5. Using our galaxy statistics in a semi-analytic reionisation model, we find a Thomson scattering optical depth consistent with the latest Planck results, while still being consistent with the UV emissivity constraints provided by Lyα forest observations at z = 4-6.

Citations

• LOWER-LUMINOSITY GALAXIES COULD REIONIZE THE UNIVERSE: VERY STEEP FAINT-END SLOPES TO THE UV LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS AT z ⩾ 5-8 FROM THE HUDF09 WFC3/IR OBSERVATIONS
• SIMULATIONS ON A MOVING MESH: THE CLUSTERED FORMATION OF POPULATION III PROTOSTARS
• Resolving the Formation of Protogalaxies. III. Feedback from the First Stars
• The Direct Detection of Lyman Continuum Emission from Star‐forming Galaxies atz∼3
• Cosmological H II regions and the photoionization of the intergalactic medium
• THE DELAY OF POPULATION III STAR FORMATION BY SUPERSONIC STREAMING VELOCITIES
• Nucleosynthesis yields of core-collapse supernovae and hypernovae, and galactic chemical evolution
• Computer Simulations of Cosmic Reionization
• X-ray pre-ionization powered by accretion on the first black holes - I. A model for theWMAPpolarization measurement
• Radiative Transfer in a Clumpy Universe. III. The Nature of Cosmological Ionizing Sources
• Constraints on the Ionizing Efficiency of the First Galaxies
• Reionization of the Universe and the Early Production of Metals
• How Massive Single Stars End Their Life
• Effect of Reionization on Structure Formation in the Universe
• Photoevaporation of cosmological minihaloes during reionization
• The Escape of Ionizing Photons from OB Associations in Disk Galaxies: Radiation Transfer through Superbubbles
• Simulating cosmic reionization at large scales - I. The geometry of reionization
• The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• CANDELS: THE COSMIC ASSEMBLY NEAR-INFRARED DEEP EXTRAGALACTIC LEGACY SURVEY
• CANDELS: THE COSMIC ASSEMBLY NEAR-INFRARED DEEP EXTRAGALACTIC LEGACY SURVEY—THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS, IMAGING DATA PRODUCTS, AND MOSAICS

Cited by

• Near-field limits on the role of faint galaxies in cosmic reionization
• The Soft, Fluctuating UVB atz∼ 6 as Traced by C IV, Si IV, and C II
• Mean energy density of photogenerated magnetic fields throughout the Epoch of Reionization
• Impact of ultraluminous X-ray sources on photoabsorption in the first galaxies
• Charting the parameter space of the global 21-cm signal
• Self-consistent Semianalytic Modeling of Feedback during Primordial Star Formation and Reionization
• Constraining the contribution of galaxies and active galactic nuclei to cosmic reionization
• Probing cosmic dawn: Ages and star formation histories of candidate z ≥ 9 galaxies
• Introducing SPHINX-MHD: the impact of primordial magnetic fields on the first galaxies, reionization, and the global 21-cm signal
• The 21-cm BAO signature of enriched low-mass galaxies during cosmic reionization
• DISSIPATION OF MAGNETIC FIELDS IN STAR-FORMING CLOUDS WITH DIFFERENT METALLICITIES
• The first galaxies: simulating their feedback-regulated assembly
• Design and characterization of the Large-aperture Experiment to Detect the Dark Age (LEDA) radiometer systems
• The Evolution Of 21 cm Structure (EOS): public, large-scale simulations of Cosmic Dawn and reionization
• 21 cm forest constraints on primordial black holes
• LATE POP III STAR FORMATION DURING THE EPOCH OF REIONIZATION: RESULTS FROM THE RENAISSANCE SIMULATIONS
• A low Lyman Continuum escape fraction of <10 per cent for extreme [O iii] emitters in an overdensity at z ∼ 3.5
• THE Lyα–LyC CONNECTION: EVIDENCE FOR AN ENHANCED CONTRIBUTION OF UV-FAINT GALAXIES TO COSMIC REIONIZATION
• HUBBLE IMAGING OF THE IONIZING RADIATION FROM A STAR-FORMING GALAXY AT Z = 3.2 WITH *
• High star cluster formation efficiency in the strongly lensed Sunburst Lyman-continuum galaxy at z=2.37
• The VANDELS survey: global properties of CIII]λ1908Å emitting star-forming galaxies at z∼3
• The Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction of Galaxies and AGN in the GOODS Fields
• Dust extinction in the first galaxies
• Inhomogeneous reionization models in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations

Discussions

• #dwarfgalaxies2024 in questions, it was asked whether galaxies form below the atomic cooling limit. The answer is yes arxiv.org/abs/1403.6123 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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