THE COSMIC NEAR INFRARED BACKGROUND. III. FLUCTUATIONS, REIONIZATION, AND THE EFFECTS OF MINIMUM MASS AND SELF-REGULATION

Journal Article · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/750/1/20· OSTI ID:22034626

Fernandez, Elizabeth R ^[1]; Iliev, Ilian T ^[2]; Komatsu, Eiichiro

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1. Univ Paris-Sud, Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, UMR8617, 91405 Orsay Cedex (France)
2. Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Pevensey II Building, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom)

Current observations suggest that the universe was reionized sometime before z {approx} 6. One way to observe this epoch of the universe is through the Near Infrared Background (NIRB), which contains information about galaxies which may be too faint to be observed individually. We calculate the angular power spectrum (C{sub l} ) of the NIRB fluctuations caused by the distribution of these galaxies. Assuming a complete subtraction of any post-reionization component, C{sub l} will be dominated by galaxies responsible for completing reionization (e.g., z {approx} 6). The shape of C{sub l} at high l is sensitive to the amount of nonlinear bias of dark matter halos hosting galaxies. As the nonlinear bias depends on the mass of these halos, we can use the shape of C{sub l} to infer typical masses of dark matter halos responsible for completing reionization. We extend our previous study by using a higher-resolution N-body simulation, which can resolve halos down to 10{sup 8} M{sub Sun }. We also include improved radiative transfer, which allows for the suppression of star formation in small-mass halos due to photoionization heating. As the nonlinear bias enhances the dark matter halo power spectrum on small scales, we find that C{sub l} is steeper for the case with a complete suppression of small sources or partial suppression of star formation in small halos (the minimum galaxy mass is M{sub min} = 10{sup 9} M{sub Sun} in ionized regions and M{sub min} = 10{sup 8} M{sub Sun} in neutral regions) than for the case in which these small halos were unsuppressed. In all cases, we do not see a turnover toward high l in the shape of l{sup 2} C{sub l} .

• OSTI ID: 22034626
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 750; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COSMOLOGY
ENERGY SPECTRA
FLUCTUATIONS
GALAXIES
INFRARED SPECTRA
MASS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
PHOTOIONIZATION
RADIANT HEAT TRANSFER
RED SHIFT
STARS
UNIVERSE