期刊
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
卷 689, 期 2, 页码 L81-L84出版社
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1086/595678
关键词
cosmology: theory; hydrodynamics; intergalactic medium; large-scale structure of universe; methods: numerical; radiative transfer
资金
- NASA [NNX08AL43G, NNG06GI09G]
- NSF [AST 04-07176]
- FQXi
- Harvard University
We study the impact of inhomogeneous hydrogen reionization on the thermal evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) using hydrodynamic + radiative transfer simulations where reionization is completed either early (z similar to 9) or late (z similar to 6). In general, we find that low-density gas near large-scale overdensities is ionized and heated earlier than gas in the large-scale, underdense voids. Furthermore, at a later time the IGM temperature is inversely related to the reionization redshift because gas that is heated earlier has more time to cool through adiabatic expansion and Compton scattering. Thus, at the end of reionization the median temperature-density relation is an inverted power law with slope gamma - 1 similar to -0.2, in both models. However, at fixed density there is up to order unity scatter in the temperature due to the distribution of reionization redshifts. Because of the complex equation of state, the evolved IGM temperature-density relations for the redshift range 4 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 6 can still have significant curvature and scatter. These features must be taken into account when interpreting the Ly alpha absorption in high-redshift quasar spectra.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据