The galaxy-IGM connection in THESAN: observability and information content of the galaxy-Lyman-$\alpha$ cross-correlation at z$\geq$6

TL;DR

This study characterizes the galaxy-Lyman-alpha cross-correlation at high redshift, revealing its physical origin, observational requirements, and potential for probing the early universe's galaxy-IGM interactions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed physical explanation of the GaLaCC and assesses observational limitations, guiding future surveys and analysis of the galaxy-IGM connection at z≥6.

Findings

At least 25 sightlines are needed to recover the true GaLaCC signal.

The intrinsic GaLaCC can be recovered with low S/N and spectral resolution if the sightline requirement is met.

GaLaCC peaks are larger for opaque sightlines and evolve similarly to the mean free path of ionizing photons.

Abstract

The galaxy--Lyman-$\alpha$ cross-correlation (GaLaCC) is a promising tool to study the interplay of galaxies and inter-galactic medium (IGM) in the first billion years of the Universe. Here we thoroughly characterise the impact of observational limitations on our ability to retrieve the intrinsic GaLaCC and provide new physical insights on its origin and connection to other IGM properties. This is extremely relevant to identify promising datasets, design future surveys and assess the limitations of current measurements. We find that sightline-to-sightline variations demand at least 25 independent sightlines to quantitatively recover the true signal. Once this condition is met, the intrinsic signal can be recovered even for a relatively low signal-to-noise ratio and spectral resolution. The galaxy selection method does not affect the inferred GaLaCC and lightcone effects are only relevant for redshift windows $\Delta z \gtrsim 0.5$. We discuss the implications of these findings for previous theoretical studies. We elucidate explicitly for the first time the physical origin of the GaLaCC and demonstrate that this signal is collectively sourced by the ensemble of galaxies residing in overdense regions rather than individual objects. We show that GaLaCC measured for opaque sightlines shows a larger peak at smaller scales with respect to transparent lines of sight. We connect this to the evolution of the mean free path of ionizing photons, showing that GaLaCC peak position has a very similar evolution but on smaller scales, as it probes only the core of ionised regions. Finally, we discuss which ongoing surveys can be used to measure the GaLaCC and provide an initial analysis of future developments, including using galaxies as background sources. Our results outline a bright future for the GaLaCC as a tool to unveil the galaxy-IGM interplay during the first billion years of the Universe.