Simulating Reionization: Character and Observability

TL;DR

This paper presents large-scale radiative transfer simulations of the reionization epoch, providing realistic predictions for observations of high-redshift Ly-alpha sources based on detailed modeling of structure formation.

Contribution

First large-scale radiative transfer simulations of reionization integrated with structure formation, enabling realistic observational predictions.

Findings

Derived characteristic scales of reionization

Predicted observational signatures for high-redshift Ly-alpha sources

Enhanced understanding of reionization process features

Abstract

In recent years there has been considerable progress in our understanding of the nature and properties of the reionization process. In particular, the numerical simulations of this epoch have made a qualitative leap forward, reaching sufficiently large scales to derive the characteristic scales of the reionization process and thus allowing for realistic observational predictions. Our group has recently performed the first such large-scale radiative transfer simulations of reionization, run on top of state-of-the-art simulations of early structure formation. This allowed us to make the first realistic observational predictions about the Epoch of Reionization based on detailed radiative transfer and structure formation simulations. We discuss the basic features of reionization derived from our simulations and some recent results on the observational implications for the high-redshift Ly-alpha sources.