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Title: Was there an early reionization component in our universe?

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Valencia (Spain). Univ. of Valencia (UV), Inst. de Fisica Corpuscular
  2. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

A deep understanding of the Epoch of Reionization is still missing in our knowledge of the universe. While future probes will allow us to test the precise evolution of the free electron fraction from redshifts between $$z\simeq 6$$ and $$z\simeq 20$$, at present one could ask what kind of reionization processes are allowed by present Cosmic Microwave Background temperature and polarization measurements. An early contribution to reionization could imply a departure from the standard picture where star formation determines the reionization onset. BBy considering a broad class of possible reionization parameterizations, we find that current data do not require an early reionization component in our universe and that only one marginal class of models, based on a particular realization of reionization, may point to that. In addition, the frequentist Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) provides strong evidence against alternative reionization histories, favoring the most simple reionization scenario, which describes reionization by means of only one (constant) reionization optical depth $$\tau$$.

Research Organization:
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359
OSTI ID:
1431582
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-17-605-A; arXiv:1712.02807; 1642197; TRN: US1802390
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2018, Issue 04; ISSN 1475-7516
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 7 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cosmological parameters from WMAP 5-year temperature maps text January 2008
The effect of early dark matter halos on reionization text January 2008
Constraints on leptonically annihilating Dark Matter from reionization and extragalactic gamma background text January 2009
Effects of Dark Matter Annihilation on the Cosmic Microwave Background text January 2009
Distinguishing standard reionization from dark matter models text January 2010
Harrison-Z'eldovich primordial spectrum is consistent with observations text January 2010
Constraints on dark matter annihilation from CMB observations before Planck text January 2013
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New observations of z~7 galaxies: evidence for a patchy reionization text January 2014
Line Emitting Galaxies Beyond a Redshift of 7: An Improved Method for Estimating the Evolving Neutrality of the Intergalactic Medium text January 2014
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Robustness of cosmological axion mass limits text January 2015
Gamma-ray Burst Cosmology text January 2015
Planck 2015 results. XI. CMB power spectra, likelihoods, and robustness of parameters text January 2015
Cold or Warm? Constraining Dark Matter with Primeval Galaxies and Cosmic Reionization after Planck text January 2015
Dark Radiation and Inflationary Freedom after Planck 2015 text January 2016
The 21 cm signal and the interplay between dark matter annihilations and astrophysical processes text January 2016
Planck intermediate results. XLVI. Reduction of large-scale systematic effects in HFI polarization maps and estimation of the reionization optical depth text January 2016
Reionisation in sterile neutrino cosmologies text January 2016
A fresh look at linear cosmological constraints on a decaying dark matter component text January 2016
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Constraints on dark matter scenarios from measurements of the galaxy luminosity function at high redshifts text January 2016
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Constraints on Warm Dark Matter from Cosmological Reionization text January 2001
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