skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Robust velocity-induced acoustic oscillations at cosmic dawn

Journal Article · · Physical Review D

The redshifted 21-cm line of hydrogen holds great potential for the study of cosmology, as it can probe otherwise unobservable cosmic epochs. In particular, measurements of the 21-cm power spectrum during cosmic dawn—the era when the first stars were formed—will provide us with a wealth of information about the astrophysics of stellar formation, as well as the origin of fluctuations intn our Universe. In addition to their usually considered density fluctuations, dark matter and baryons possess large relative velocities with respect to each other, due to the baryon acoustic oscillations suffered by the latter, which suppress the formation of stars during cosmic dawn, leaving an imprint on 21-cm observables during this era. Here we present 21cmvfast, a version of the publicly available code 21cmvfast modified to account for this effect. Previous work has shown that the inclusion of relative velocities produces an acoustic modulation on the large-scale 21-cm power spectrum during cosmic dawn. By comparing analytic calculations with simulations from 21cmvfast, here we demonstrate that this modulation takes the form of robust velocity-induced acoustic oscillations (VAOs), during both the Lyman-α coupling era and the subsequent epoch of heating. The unique shape of these VAOs, which is determined by the acoustic physics that generated the relative velocities, can be analytically computed and is easily distinguishable from the usual density-sourced fluctuations. Here, we find that, under a broad range of astrophysical assumptions, the VAOs are detectable at high significance by the upcoming HERA interferometer, which could therefore confirm the presence of acoustic oscillations at cosmic dawn.

Research Organization:
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019018
OSTI ID:
1613059
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1566930
Journal Information:
Physical Review D, Vol. 100, Issue 6; ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 28 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (173)

Signatures of X-rays in the early Universe journal March 2013
Resolving the Formation of Protogalaxies. III. Feedback from the First Stars journal September 2008
21-cm fluctuations from inhomogeneous X-ray heating before reionization journal March 2007
The observable signature of late heating of the Universe during cosmic reionization journal February 2014
Second‐Generation Objects in the Universe: Radiative Cooling and Collapse of Halos with Virial Temperatures above 10 4 K journal April 2002
Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Intensity Mapping of Dark Energy journal March 2008
Separating out the Alcock-Paczynski effect on 21-cm fluctuations journal October 2006
The rich complexity of 21-cm fluctuations produced by the first stars journal September 2014
Comparison of reionization models: radiative transfer simulations and approximate, seminumeric models: Comparison of reionization models journal April 2011
Unusually Large Fluctuations in the Statistics of Galaxy Formation at High Redshift journal July 2004
Destruction of Molecular Hydrogen during Cosmological Reionization journal February 1997
The clustering of the SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR14 quasar sample: first measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations between redshift 0.8 and 2.2 journal October 2017
Detecting the rise and fall of the First Stars by Their Impact on Cosmic Reionization journal August 2012
Ellipsoidal collapse and an improved model for the number and spatial distribution of dark matter haloes journal May 2001
COSMIC REIONIZATION ON COMPUTERS. MEAN AND FLUCTUATING REDSHIFTED 21 cm SIGNAL journal June 2016
Simulations of Pregalactic Structure Formation with Radiative Feedback journal February 2001
Simultaneously constraining the astrophysics of reionization and the epoch of heating with 21CMMC journal August 2017
Formation of the First Star Clusters and Massive Star Binaries by Fragmentation of Filamentary Primordial Gas Clouds journal February 2018
21 cm cosmology in the 21st century journal July 2012
The first stars in the Universe journal November 2006
Effect of relative velocity and density perturbations between baryons and dark matter on the clustering of galaxies journal September 2016
The Photoevaporation of Dwarf Galaxies during Reionization journal September 1999
Baryonic Features in the Matter Transfer Function journal April 1998
Transients from initial conditions: a perturbative analysis journal October 1998
The First Stars journal September 2004
Charting the parameter space of the 21-cm power spectrum journal May 2018
How accurately can 21 cm tomography constrain cosmology? journal July 2008
Impact of the relative motion between the dark matter and baryons on the first stars: semi-analytical modelling: Impact of relative motion on the first stars journal June 2012
Cosmic Dawn (CoDa): the first radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of reionization and galaxy formation in the Local Universe journal August 2016
The history of star formation in a   cold dark matter universe journal February 2003
The cosmic microwave background radiation fluctuations from H i perturbations prior to reionization journal July 2004
New light on 21 cm intensity fluctuations from the dark ages journal April 2014
Formation of the First Supermassive Black Holes journal October 2003
Probing the epoch of early baryonic infall through 21-cm fluctuations journal October 2005
Population III Star Formation in a ΛCDM Universe. I. The Effect of Formation Redshift and Environment on Protostellar Accretion Rate journal January 2007
The 21-cm signature of the first stars during the Lyman–Werner feedback era journal May 2013
21-cm Fluctuations from Charged Dark Matter journal September 2018
Line-of-Sight Anisotropies in the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization 21-cm Power Spectrum journal November 2016
Charting the parameter space of the global 21-cm signal journal August 2017
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL FOREGROUND POWER SPECTRUM SHAPES FOR 21 cm COSMOLOGY OBSERVATIONS journal June 2012
Cosmology at low frequencies: The 21cm transition and the high-redshift Universe journal October 2006
Cosmic Reionization on Computers. i. Design and Calibration of Simulations journal September 2014
Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) journal March 2017
Suppression and spatial variation of early galaxies and minihaloes: Suppression of minihaloes journal September 2011
Unique signatures of Population III stars in the global 21-cm signal journal May 2018
Efficient Simulations of Early Structure Formation and Reionization journal November 2007
Simulations of the formation, evolution and clustering of galaxies and quasars journal June 2005
Reconstructing the Nature of the First Cosmic Sources from the Anisotropic 21-cm Signal journal March 2015
Small-scale structure and the Lyman-α forest baryon acoustic oscillation feature journal November 2017
21CMMC with a 3D light-cone: the impact of the co-evolution approximation on the astrophysics of reionization and cosmic dawn journal March 2018
Extracting Primordial Non-Gaussianity without Cosmic Variance journal January 2009
Simulations of Early Baryonic Structure Formation with Stream Velocity. i. halo Abundance journal February 2012
Structure of Stationary Photodissociation Fronts journal September 1996
Mass loss of galaxies due to an ultraviolet background journal November 2008
Low-Mass Suppression of the Satellite Luminosity Function due to the Supersonic Baryon-Cold-Dark-Matter Relative Velocity journal April 2013
The Formation of the First Star in the Universe journal November 2001
The rise of the first stars: Supersonic streaming, radiative feedback, and 21-cm cosmology journal July 2016
The influence of streaming velocities on the formation of the first stars journal January 2019
The 21-cm BAO signature of enriched low-mass galaxies during cosmic reionization journal March 2016
Baryonic acoustic oscillations in 21-cm emission: a probe of dark energy out to high redshifts: Dark energy and 21-cm emission journal December 2007
21CMMC: an MCMC analysis tool enabling astrophysical parameter studies of the cosmic 21 cm signal journal April 2015
Effect of Reionization on Structure Formation in the Universe journal October 2000
Reionization and beyond: detecting the peaks of the cosmological 21 cm signal journal February 2014
A PER-BASELINE, DELAY-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUE FOR ACCESSING THE 21 cm COSMIC REIONIZATION SIGNATURE journal August 2012
Large-scale BAO signatures of the smallest galaxies journal November 2010
Spontaneous creation of almost scale-free density perturbations in an inflationary universe journal August 1983
Cosmological perturbations in the inflationary universe journal July 1987
Relative velocity of dark matter and baryonic fluids and the formation of the first structures journal October 2010
Emulating Simulations of Cosmic Dawn for 21 cm Power Spectrum Constraints on Cosmology, Reionization, and X-Ray Heating journal October 2017
THE IMPACT OF THE SUPERSONIC BARYON-DARK MATTER VELOCITY DIFFERENCE ON THE z ∼ 20 21 cm BACKGROUND journal October 2012
Light-cone effect on the reionization 21-cm power spectrum: Light-cone effect on the 21-cm power spectrum journal July 2012
THE FORMATION OF THE FIRST COSMIC STRUCTURES AND THE PHYSICS OF THE z ∼ 20 UNIVERSE journal October 2012
OPENING THE 21 cm EPOCH OF REIONIZATION WINDOW: MEASUREMENTS OF FOREGROUND ISOLATION WITH PAPER journal April 2013
Wouthuysen-Field coupling strength and application to high-redshift 21-cm radiation journal March 2006
Dark-ages Reionization and Galaxy formation simulation – I. The dynamical lives of high-redshift galaxies journal March 2016
The Evolution Of 21 cm Structure (EOS): public, large-scale simulations of Cosmic Dawn and reionization journal April 2016
The Cosmic Linear Anisotropy Solving System (CLASS). Part II: Approximation schemes journal July 2011
Formation of First Galaxies inside Density Peaks and Voids under the Influence of Dark Matter–Baryon Streaming Velocity. I. Initial Condition and Simulation Scheme journal December 2018
Scale-dependent bias of galaxies from baryonic acoustic oscillations: Scale-dependent bias from BAOs journal June 2011
The Delay of Population iii star Formation by Supersonic Streaming Velocities journal July 2011
Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn journal September 2019
High-redshift star formation in a time-dependent Lyman–Werner background journal September 2014
Inferring the astrophysics of reionization and cosmic dawn from galaxy luminosity functions and the 21-cm signal journal January 2019
An improved method for 21-cm foreground removal journal September 2009
In the beginning: the first sources of light and the reionization of the universe journal July 2001
A SENSITIVITY AND ARRAY-CONFIGURATION STUDY FOR MEASURING THE POWER SPECTRUM OF 21 cm EMISSION FROM REIONIZATION journal June 2012
Light-cone anisotropy in 21-cm fluctuations during the epoch of reionization journal October 2006
21cmfast: a fast, seminumerical simulation of the high-redshift 21-cm signal: 21cmfast journal November 2010
Simulations of Early Baryonic Structure Formation with Stream Velocity. ii. the gas Fraction journal December 2012
Was Star Formation Suppressed in High‐Redshift Minihalos? journal October 2006
Energy Feedback from X-Ray Binaries in the Early Universe journal October 2013
The halo mass function from the dark ages through the present day journal January 2007
Formation of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies by Self-Similar Gravitational Condensation journal February 1974
Measuring the Small-Scale Power Spectrum of Cosmic Density Fluctuations through 21 cm Tomography Prior to the Epoch of Structure Formation journal May 2004
The impact of foregrounds on redshift space distortion measurements with the highly redshifted 21-cm line journal December 2014
THE INHOMOGENEOUS BACKGROUND OF H 2 -DISSOCIATING RADIATION DURING COSMIC REIONIZATION journal April 2009
Lyman–Werner escape fractions from the first galaxies journal February 2017
Effect of Streaming Motion of Baryons Relative to dark Matter on the Formation of the First Stars journal February 2011
The Spin Temperature of Intergalactic Neutral Hydrogen. journal January 1959
The X-ray spectra of the first galaxies: 21 cm signatures journal July 2014
On the excitation mechanism of the 21-cm (radio-frequency) interstellar hydrogen emission line. journal January 1952
Simulations of Early Structure Formation: Primordial Gas Clouds journal August 2003
Cosmological Perturbation Theory in the Synchronous and Conformal Newtonian Gauges journal December 1995
Constraining high-redshift X-ray sources with next generation 21-cm power spectrum measurements journal February 2016
The Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Broadband and Broad-Beam Array: Design Overview and Sensitivity Forecasts journal January 2013
Secondary ionization and heating by fast electrons journal March 2010
WHAT NEXT-GENERATION 21 cm POWER SPECTRUM MEASUREMENTS CAN TEACH US ABOUT THE EPOCH OF REIONIZATION journal January 2014
Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in p p collisions at s = 13 TeV using the ATLAS detector journal August 2016
Computer Simulations of Cosmic Reionization journal February 2011
Ultraviolet radiative feedback during the advanced stages of reionization journal November 2008
BRIGHT SOURCE SUBTRACTION REQUIREMENTS FOR REDSHIFTED 21 cm MEASUREMENTS journal November 2010
The signature of the first stars in atomic hydrogen at redshift 20 journal June 2012
A Method for Separating the Physics from the Astrophysics of High-Redshift 21 Centimeter Fluctuations journal April 2005
The formation and gas content of high-redshift galaxies and minihaloes journal May 2007
Does radiative feedback by the first stars promote or prevent second generation star formation? journal March 2007
Complete history of the observable 21 cm signal from the first stars during the pre-reionization era journal October 2013
How the Density Environment Changes the Influence of the dark Matter–Baryon Streaming Velocity on Cosmological Structure Formation journal October 2016
Star formation in the first galaxies - I. Collapse delayed by Lyman-Werner radiation: Star formation in the first galaxies journal September 2012
Feedback from Galaxy Formation: Production and Photodissociation of Primordial H 2 journal October 2001
The Growth of H ii Regions During Reionization journal September 2004
Does Radiative Feedback by the First Stars Promote or Prevent Second Generation Star Formation? conference January 2008
Charting the parameter space of the global 21-cm signal text January 2017
Cosmic Dawn (CoDa): the first radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of reionization and galaxy formation in the Local Universe text January 2016
Large-scale BAO signatures of the smallest galaxies text January 2010
The inhomogeneous background of H2 dissociating radiation during cosmic reionization text January 2008
Extracting primordial non-gaussianity without cosmic variance text January 2009
The Inhomogeneous Background of H2 Dissociating Radiation During Cosmic Reionization conference January 2008
Resolving the Formation of Protogalaxies. III. Feedback from the First Stars text January 2007
How accurately can 21 cm tomography constrain cosmology? text January 2008
An Improved Method for 21cm Foreground Removal text January 2009
Effect of Streaming Motion of Baryons Relative to Dark Matter on the Formation of the First Stars text January 2010
A Sensitivity and Array-Configuration Study for Measuring the Power Spectrum of 21cm Emission from Reionization text January 2011
Simulations of Early Baryonic Structure Formation with Stream Velocity: I. Halo Abundance text January 2011
The signature of the first stars in atomic hydrogen at redshift 20 text January 2012
Detecting the Rise and Fall of the First Stars by Their Impact on Cosmic Reionization text January 2012
Simulations of Early Baryonic Structure Formation with Stream Velocity: II. The Gas Fraction text January 2012
Energy Feedback from X-ray Binaries in the Early Universe text January 2013
Reionization and Beyond: detecting the peaks of the cosmological 21cm signal text January 2013
What Next-Generation 21 cm Power Spectrum Measurements Can Teach Us About the Epoch of Reionization text January 2013
A new light on 21 cm intensity fluctuations from the dark ages text January 2013
The observable signature of late heating of the Universe during cosmic reionization text January 2014
Cosmic Reionization On Computers I. Design and Calibration of Simulations text January 2014
The X-ray spectra of the first galaxies: 21cm signatures text January 2014
The rich complexity of 21-cm fluctuations produced by the first stars text January 2014
The Impact of Foregrounds on Redshift Space Distortion Measurements With the Highly-Redshifted 21 cm Line text January 2014
Reconstructing the nature of the first cosmic sources from the anisotropic 21-cm signal text January 2015
The effect of relative velocity and density perturbations between baryons and dark matter on the clustering of galaxies text January 2016
The Rise of the First Stars: Supersonic Streaming, Radiative Feedback, and 21-cm Cosmology text January 2016
Charting the Parameter Space of the Global 21-cm Signal text January 2016
Emulating Simulations of Cosmic Dawn for 21cm Power Spectrum Constraints on Cosmology, Reionization, and X-ray Heating text January 2017
21CMMC with a 3D light-cone: the impact of the co-evolution approximation on the astrophysics of reionisation and cosmic dawn text January 2018
21-cm Fluctuations from Charged Dark Matter text January 2018
Inferring the astrophysics of reionization and cosmic dawn from galaxy luminosity functions and the 21-cm signal text January 2018
The Influence of Streaming Velocities on the Formation of the First Stars text January 2018
A Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn text January 2019
Effect of Reionization on the Structure Formation in the Universe text January 2000
Simulations of Pregalactic Structure Formation with Radiative Feedback text January 2000
In the Beginning: The First Sources of Light and the Reionization of the Universe text January 2000
Second-Generation Objects in the Universe: Radiative Cooling and Collapse of Halos with Virial Temperatures Above 10^4 Kelvin text January 2001
Formation of the First Supermassive Black Holes text January 2002
Simulations of Early Structure Formation: Primordial Gas Clouds text January 2003
The First Stars text January 2003
Measuring the Small-Scale Power Spectrum of Cosmic Density Fluctuations Through 21 cm Tomography Prior to the Epoch of Structure Formation text January 2003
The Growth of HII Regions During Reionization text January 2004
A Method for Separating the Physics from the Astrophysics of High-Redshift 21cm Fluctuations text January 2004
Separating out the Alcock-Paczynski Effect on 21cm Fluctuations text January 2005
Light-cone anisotropy in 21cm fluctuations during the epoch of reionization text January 2005
Was Star-Formation Suppressed in High-Redshift Minihalos? text January 2006
The First Stars in The Universe text January 2006
Population III star formation in a Lambda CDM universe, I: The effect of formation redshift and environment on protostellar accretion rate text January 2006
The halo mass function from the dark ages through the present day text January 2006
Does Radiative Feedback by the First Stars Promote or Prevent Second Generation Star Formation? text January 2006
Structure of Stationary Photodissociation Fronts text January 1996

Cited By (3)

Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn journal September 2019
A Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn text January 2019
The Cosmic Expansion History from Line-Intensity Mapping text January 2019

Similar Records

Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn
Journal Article · Thu Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Physical Review Letters · OSTI ID:1613059

THE IMPACT OF THE SUPERSONIC BARYON-DARK MATTER VELOCITY DIFFERENCE ON THE z {approx} 20 21 cm BACKGROUND
Journal Article · Tue Nov 20 00:00:00 EST 2012 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:1613059

Radiation Backgrounds at Cosmic Dawn: X-Rays from Compact Binaries
Journal Article · Mon May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:1613059