He II recombination lines from the first luminous objects

The hardness of the ionizing continuum from the first sources of UV radiation plays a crucial role in the reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM). While usual stellar populations have soft spectra, miniquasars or metal-free stars with high effective temperatures may emit hard photons, capable of doubly ionizing helium and increasing the IGM temperature. Absorption within the source and in the intervening IGM will render the ionizing continuum of high-redshift sources inaccessible to direct observation. Here we show that He II recombination lines from the first luminous objects are potentially detectable by the Next Generation Space Telescope. Together with measurements of the H alpha emission line, this detection can be used to infer the ratio of He II to H I ionizing photons, Q = (N) over dot(ion)(HeII)/(N) over dot(ion)(Ht). A measurement of this ratio would shed light on the nature and emission mechanism of the first luminous sources, with important astrophysical consequences for the reheating and reionization of the IGM.