2019/07/31 by Guochao Sun, Brandon S. Hensley, Tzu-Ching Chang +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #COSMIC cancer database #Cosmic infrared background #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Hydrogen line #Intensity mapping #Interstellar medium #Line (geometry) #Luminosity #Star formation #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab55df
Accepted for publication in ApJ
openalex created_date 2019/07/12 · arxiv created 2019/12/01 · openalex publication_date 2019/12/17 · arxiv updated 2020/01/08 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract Line intensity mapping (LIM) is a promising approach to study star formation and the interstellar medium (ISM) in galaxies by measuring the aggregate line emission from the entire galaxy population. In this work, we develop a simple yet physically motivated framework for modeling the line emission as would be observed in LIM experiments. It is done by building on analytic models of the cosmic infrared background that connect total infrared luminosity of galaxies to their host dark matter halos. We present models of the 21 cm, CO (1−0), [ ] 158 μ m, and [ ] 122 and 205 μ m lines consistent with current observational constraints. With four case studies of various combinations of these lines that probe different ISM phases, we demonstrate the potential for reliably extracting physical properties of the ISM, and the evolution of these properties with cosmic time, from auto- and cross-correlation analysis of these lines as measured by future LIM experiments.