Was reionization complete by z ~ 5-6? (2009)
It is generally taken for granted that reionization has completed by z=6, due to the detection of flux in the Lyman alpha forest at redshifts z
Gas in simulations of high-redshift galaxies and minihaloes (2009)
Naoz, Smadar, Barkana, Rennan, Mesinger , Andrei
We study the gas content of haloes in the early universe using high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations. We extract from the simulations and also predict, based on linear theory, the halo mass for...
The Inhomogeneous Ionizing Background Following Reionization (2009)
Mesinger, Andrei, Furlanetto, Steven
We study the spatial fluctuations in the hydrogen ionizing background in the epoch following reionization (z ~ 5--6). The rapid decrease with redshift in the photon mean free path (m.f.p.), combined...
Gas in Simulations of High Redshift Galaxies and Minihalos (2009)
Naoz, Smadar, Barkana, Rennan, Mesinger, Andrei
We study the gas content of halos in the early universe using high resolution hydrodynamical simulations. We extract from the simulations and also predict based on linear theory the halo mass for...
Cosmology from the Highly-Redshifted 21 cm Line (2009)
Furlanetto, Steven, Lidz, Adam, Loeb, Abraham, McQuinn, Matthew, Pritchard, Jonathan, Shapiro, Paul, ...
One of the next decade's most exciting prospects is to explore the cosmic "dark ages," during which the first stars in the Universe formed, with the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen. At z>6, this light...
Astrophysics from the Highly-Redshifted 21 cm Line (2009)
Furlanetto, Steven, Lidz, Adam, Loeb, Abraham, McQuinn, Matthew, Pritchard, Jonathan, Aguirre, James, ...
The cosmic dark ages and the epoch of reionization, during which the first generations of stars and galaxies formed, are among the most compelling frontiers of extragalactic astrophysics and...
Radiative Feedback in Relic HII Regions at High-Redshift (2008)
Mesinger, Andrei, Bryan, Greg L., Haiman, Zoltan
UV radiation from early astrophysical sources could have a large impact on subsequent star formation in nearby protogalaxies. Here we study the radiative feedback from the first, short-lived stars...
Dijkstra, Mark, Haiman, Zoltan, Mesinger, Andrei, Wyithe, Stuart
The earliest generation of stars and black holes must have established an early 'Lyman-Werner' background (LWB) at high redshift, prior to the epoch of reionization. Because of the long mean free...
The ionizing background at the end of overlap (2008)
Furlanetto, Steven, Mesinger, Andrei
One of the most sought-after signatures of reionization is a rapid increase in the ionizing background (usually measured through the Lyman-alpha optical depth toward distant quasars). Conventional...
UV Radiative Feedback During the Advanced Stages of Reionization (2008)
Mesinger, Andrei, Dijkstra, Mark
The ionizing ultraviolet background (UVB) during reionization can suppress the gas content of low-mass galaxies, even those capable of efficient atomic cooling, and thus lead to an extended...
Lyman-alpha Damping Wing Constraints on Inhomogeneous Reionization (2007)
Mesinger, Andrei, Furlanetto, Steven
One well-known way to constrain the hydrogen neutral fraction, x_H, of the high-redshift intergalactic medium (IGM) is through the shape of the red damping wing of the Lya absorption line. We examine...
Lyman-alpha Emitters During the Early Stages of Reionization (2007)
Mesinger, Andrei, Furlanetto, Steven
We investigate the potential of exploiting Lya Emitters (LAEs) to constrain the volume-weighted mean neutral hydrogen fraction of the IGM, x_H, at high redshifts (specifically z~9). We use...
Efficient Simulations of Early Structure Formation and Reionization (2007)
Mesinger, Andrei, Furlanetto, Steven
We present a method to construct semi-numerical ``simulations'', which can efficiently generate realizations of halo distributions and ionization maps at high redshifts. Our procedure combines an...
Mesinger, Andrei, Haiman, Zoltan
We make use of hydrodynamical simulations of the intergalactic medium (IGM) to create model quasar absorption spectra. We compare these model spectra with the observed Keck spectra of three z>6.2...
UV Radiative Feedback on High-Redshift Proto-Galaxies (2006)
Mesinger, Andrei, Bryan, Greg, Haiman, Zoltan
We use three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations to investigate the effects of a transient photoionizing ultraviolet (UV) flux on the collapse and cooling of pregalactic clouds. These clouds have...
Probing reionization and early structure formation (2006)
Theoretical estimates agree that the first astrophysical objects in the Universe appeared when its age was a few hundred million years. Observations of the cosmic microwave background and distant...
We develop and assess the potential of several powerful techniques, designed to investigate the details of reionization. First, we present a procedure to probe the neutral fraction, x_HI, using the...
The Redshift Distribution of Distant Supernovae and its Use in Probing Reionization (2005)
Mesinger, Andrei, Johnson, Benjamin D., Haiman, Zoltan
We model the number of detectable supernovae (SNe) as a function of redshift at different flux thresholds, making use of the observed properties of local SNe, such as their lightcurves, fiducial...
Mesinger, Andrei, Perna, Rosalba, Haiman, Zoltan
Cosmological models that include suppression of the power spectrum of density fluctuations on small scales exhibit an exponential reduction of high-redshift, non-linear structures, including a...
The Growth of the Earliest Supermassive Black Holes and Their Contribution to Reionization (2004)
Haiman, Zoltan, Dijkstra, Mark, Mesinger, Andrei
We discuss currently available observational constraints on the reionization history of the intergalactic medium (IGM), and the extent to which accreting black holes (BHs) can help explain these...
Mesinger, Andrei, Haiman, Zoltan
A bright quasar residing in a dense and largely neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) at high redshifts (z > 6) will be surrounded by a large cosmological Stromgren sphere. The quasar's spectrum will...
Implications of the Lyman alpha Emission Line from a Candidate z=10 Galaxy (2004)
Cen, Renyue, Haiman, Zoltan, Mesinger, Andrei
The recently discovered z=10 galaxy (Pello et al 2004) has a strong Lyman alpha emission line that is consistent with being surprisingly symmetric, even given the relatively poor quality of its...
Probing the Reionization History Using the Spectra of High-Redshift Sources (2004)
Mesinger, Andrei, Haiman, Zoltan, Cen, Renyue
We quantify and discuss the footprints of neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) on the spectra of high-redshift (z ~ 6) sources, using mock spectra generated from hydrodynamical...