The Lyman-continuum photon production efficiency in the high-redshift Universe

TL;DR

This paper estimates the Lyman Continuum photon production efficiency in the high-redshift universe using cosmological simulations and stellar population models, finding values consistent with observations and highlighting the importance of binary evolution effects.

Contribution

It couples the BlueTides simulation with stellar population synthesis models to theoretically estimate $\xi_{ m ion}$ at high redshift, emphasizing the role of binary evolution.

Findings

Photon production efficiencies of $ ext{log}_{10}(\xi_{ m ion}) ext{ around } 25.1-25.5$

Results align with observational constraints at high redshift

Binary evolution models are favored for accurate efficiency estimates

Abstract

The Lyman Continuum photon production efficiency ($\xi_{\rm ion}$) is a critical ingredient for inferring the number of photons available to reionise the intergalactic medium. To estimate the theoretical production efficiency in the high-redshift Universe we couple the BlueTides cosmological hydrodynamical simulation with a range of stellar population synthesis models. We find Lyman Continuum photon production efficiencies of $\log_{10}(\xi_{\rm ion}/{\rm erg^{-1}\, Hz})\approx 25.1-25.5$ depending on the choice of stellar population synthesis model. These results are broadly consistent with recent observational constraints at high-redshift though favour a model incorporating the effects of binary evolution