Distinctive 21 cm structures of the first stars, galaxies, and quasars

TL;DR

This paper uses radiative transfer simulations to analyze 21 cm signals from the first stars, galaxies, and quasars, revealing distinctive structures and the dominant role of Lya scattering in shaping the signals during cosmic reionization.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of 21 cm structures from different early universe ionizing sources, highlighting the impact of spectral energy distribution and Lya scattering on observable signals.

Findings

Pop III stars and quasars produce smooth ionization transitions.

Galaxies show extended absorption troughs in 21 cm signals.

Future radio surveys may detect signals from primordial galaxies and quasars.

Abstract

Observations of the redshifted 21 cm line with upcoming radio telescopes promise to transform our understanding of the cosmic reionization. To unravel the underlying physical process, we investigate the 21 cm structures of three different ionizing sources, Population (Pop) III stars, the first galaxies, and the first quasars, by using radiative transfer simulations that include both ionization of neutral hydrogen and resonant scattering of Lya photons. We find that Pop III stars and quasars produce a smooth transition from an ionized and hot state to a neutral and cold one, owing to their hard spectral energy distribution with abundant ionizing photons, in contrast to the sharp transition in galaxies. Furthermore, Lya scattering plays a dominant role in producing the 21 cm signal as it determines the relation between hydrogen spin temperature and gas kinetic temperature. This effect, also called Wouthuysen-Field coupling, depends strongly on the ionizing source. It is the strongest around galaxies, where the spin temperature is highly coupled to that of the gas, resulting in extended absorption troughs in the 21 cm brightness temperature. On the other hand, in the case of Pop III stars, the 21 cm signal shows both emission and absorption regions around a small HII bubble. For quasars, a large emission region in the 21 cm signal is produced, and the absorption region decreases as the size of the HII bubble becomes large due to the limited traveling time of photons. We predict that future surveys from large radio arrays such as MWA, LOFAR and SKA may be able to detect the 21 cm signals of primordial galaxies and quasars, but not likely Pop III stars due to its small angular diameter.