Fluctuations in the High-Redshift Lyman-Werner and Lyman-alpha Radiation Backgrounds

TL;DR

This paper models fluctuations in high-redshift Lyman-Werner and Lyman-alpha backgrounds using a new halo model variation, revealing their large-scale behavior, characteristic horizons, and implications for early star formation and 21-cm signals.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to efficiently generate power spectra of radiation background fluctuations at high redshift, accounting for horizon effects and source rarity.

Findings

LW power spectrum traces matter power at large scales

Fluctuations are weak on scales >10 cMpc, less than 0.5 fractional std dev

Horizon effects shape Lyman-alpha flux fluctuations

Abstract

We use a new method to model fluctuations of the Lyman-Werner (LW) and Lyman-alpha radiation backgrounds at high redshift. At these early epochs the backgrounds are symptoms of a universe newly lit with its first stars. LW photons (11.5-13.6 eV) are of particular interest because they dissociate molecular hydrogen, the primary coolant in the first minihalos. By using a variation of the halo model, we efficiently generate power spectra for any choice of radiation background. We find that the LW power spectrum typically traces the matter power spectrum at large scales but turns over at the scale corresponding to the effective `horizon' of LW photons (~100 comoving Mpc), unless the sources are extremely rare. The series of horizons that characterize the Lyman-alpha flux profile shape the fluctuations of that background in a similar fashion, though those imprints are washed out once one considers fluctuations in the brightness temperature of the 21-cm signal. The Lyman-alpha background strongly affects the redshifted 21-cm signal at just about the time the LW background begins to dissociate molecular hydrogen, so measuring that background's properties will reveal important information about the transition from early Population III stars to more normal stars. Around this time we find that fluctuations in the LW background are weak; the fractional standard deviation is less than ~0.5 on scales > 10 cMpc, only rising to be of order unity on scales < 1 cMpc. This should not lead to substantial spatial fluctuations in molecular hydrogen content, except at the earliest times. Even then, most halos form far from other sources, so the transition from star formation in low-mass to high-mass halos is rather homogeneous across the universe.