The Structure of Reionization in Hierarchical Galaxy Formation Models

TL;DR

This paper predicts the structure of reionization and the 21cm power spectrum using detailed galaxy formation models, highlighting the dominant role of supernova feedback in shaping early universe ionization patterns.

Contribution

It combines semi-analytic galaxy formation models with ionization simulations to explore how feedback processes influence reionization structure and observable 21cm signals.

Findings

Supernova feedback significantly impacts reionization structure.

Radiative feedback has minimal effect on total stellar mass and ionizing photons.

21cm power spectrum measurements can reveal details of early galaxy formation.

Abstract

Understanding the epoch of reionization and the properties of the first galaxies represents an important goal for modern cosmology. The structure of reionization, and hence the observed power spectrum of redshifted 21cm fluctuations are known to be sensitive to the astrophysical properties of the galaxies that drove reionization. Thus, detailed measurements of the 21cm power spectrum and its evolution could lead to measurements of the properties of early galaxies that are otherwise inaccessible. In this paper, we make predictions for the ionised structure during reionization and the 21cm power spectrum based on detailed models of galaxy formation. We combine the semi-analytic GALFORM model implemented within the Millennium-II dark matter simulation, with a semi-numerical scheme to describe the resulting ionization structure. Using these models we show that the details of SNe and radiative feedback affect the structure and distribution of ionised regions, and hence the slope and amplitude of the 21 cm power spectrum. These results indicate that forthcoming measurements of the 21cm power-spectrum could be used to uncover details of early galaxy formation. We find that the strength of SNe feedback is the dominant effect governing the evolution of structure during reionization. In particular we show SNe feedback to be more important than radiative feedback, the presence of which we find does not influence either the total stellar mass or overall ionising photon budget. Thus, if SNe feedback is effective at suppressing star formation in high redshift galaxies, we find that photoionization feedback does not lead to self-regulation of the reionization process as has been thought.