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Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) – XV. Constraining the cosmic reionization at 5.5 < z < 7

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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ABSTRACT

Revealing the cosmic hydrogen reionization history is one of the main goals of the modern cosmology. z > 5 quasars (QSOs) have been used as back-lights to investigate the evolution of the intervening intergalactic medium (IGM) during the cosmic reionization since their first discovery. However, due to the small population of luminous QSOs (∼130 QSOs known to date), a tight constraint on the reionization history has not yet been placed. In this work, we aim to tighten the constraint using the 93 QSOs (5.5 < z < 7.1) recently discovered in the Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQS) project. This is the largest QSO sample used to constrain the epoch of reionization. We measure the mean IGM Ly α transmission and the QSO near-zone size using the UV spectra of these QSOs. The mean IGM Ly α transmission rises above zero at z ≲ 6, indicating the end of the reionization. The near-zone sizes of the SHELLQs QSOs are consistent with sizes spanned by QSOs of lifetime tq ∼ 1–100 Myr in simulations. Due to the scatter created by the low signal-to-noise spectra and large Ly α redshift uncertainty, we cannot conclude whether the redshift evolution of the near-zone size is affected by the reionization effect.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
1891680
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 517; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English

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