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Title: Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn

Abstract

The matter in our Universe comes in two flavors: dark and baryonic. Of these, only the latter couples to photons, giving rise to the well-known baryon acoustic oscillations and, in the process, generating supersonic relative velocities between dark matter and baryons. These velocities—imprinted with the acoustic scale in their genesis—impede the formation of the first stars during cosmic dawn (z ~ 20), modulating the expected 21-cm signal from this era. In a companion paper we showed, combining numerical simulations and analytic models, that this modulation takes the form of robust velocity-induced acoustic oscillations (VAOs), with a well-understood shape that is frozen at recombination, and unaffected by the unknown astrophysics of star formation. Here we propose using these VAOs as a standard ruler at cosmic dawn. We find that three years of 21-cm power-spectrum data from the upcoming HERA interferometer should be able to measure the Hubble expansion rate H(z) at z = 15–20 to percent-level precision, ranging from 0.3% to 11% depending on the strength of astrophysical feedback processes and foregrounds. Furthermore, this would provide a new handle on the expansion rate of our Universe during an otherwise unprobed epoch, opening a window to the mysterious cosmic-dawn era.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1613062
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1566935
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0019018
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 123; Journal Issue: 13; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Physics; Cosmological parameters; CosmologyDark energy; Evolution of the Universe; Intergalactic medium; Large scale structure of the Universe; Astrophysical & cosmological simulations

Citation Formats

Muñoz, Julian B. Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.123.131301.
Muñoz, Julian B. Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.131301
Muñoz, Julian B. 2019. "Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.123.131301. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1613062.
@article{osti_1613062,
title = {Standard Ruler at Cosmic Dawn},
author = {Muñoz, Julian B.},
abstractNote = {The matter in our Universe comes in two flavors: dark and baryonic. Of these, only the latter couples to photons, giving rise to the well-known baryon acoustic oscillations and, in the process, generating supersonic relative velocities between dark matter and baryons. These velocities—imprinted with the acoustic scale in their genesis—impede the formation of the first stars during cosmic dawn (z ~ 20), modulating the expected 21-cm signal from this era. In a companion paper we showed, combining numerical simulations and analytic models, that this modulation takes the form of robust velocity-induced acoustic oscillations (VAOs), with a well-understood shape that is frozen at recombination, and unaffected by the unknown astrophysics of star formation. Here we propose using these VAOs as a standard ruler at cosmic dawn. We find that three years of 21-cm power-spectrum data from the upcoming HERA interferometer should be able to measure the Hubble expansion rate H(z) at z = 15–20 to percent-level precision, ranging from 0.3% to 11% depending on the strength of astrophysical feedback processes and foregrounds. Furthermore, this would provide a new handle on the expansion rate of our Universe during an otherwise unprobed epoch, opening a window to the mysterious cosmic-dawn era.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.123.131301},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1613062}, journal = {Physical Review Letters},
issn = {0031-9007},
number = 13,
volume = 123,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Thu Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

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Cited by: 33 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Cosmic Expansion History from Line-Intensity Mapping
journal, December 2019


The Cosmic Expansion History from Line-Intensity Mapping
text, January 2019