The impact of cosmic ray feedback during the epoch of reionisation

TL;DR

This study uses cosmological simulations to examine how cosmic ray feedback influences galaxy evolution and reionisation during the Epoch of Reionisation, revealing that cosmic rays can hinder reionisation by reducing ionising photon escape.

Contribution

First simulation study to compare cosmic ray feedback with supernova feedback during the Epoch of Reionisation, highlighting its impact on ionising photon escape and reionisation.

Findings

Cosmic ray feedback reduces ionising photon escape from galaxies.

Both feedback models regulate star formation and match high-redshift UV luminosity functions.

Cosmic rays lead to incomplete reionisation, conflicting with observations.

Abstract

Galaxies form and evolve via a multitude of complex physics. In this work, we investigate the role of cosmic ray (CR) feedback in galaxy evolution and reionisation, by examining its impact on the escape of ionising radiation from galaxies. For this purpose, we present two Sphinx cosmological radiation-magneto-hydrodynamics simulations, allowing for the first time a study of the impact of CR feedback on thousands of resolved galaxies during the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR). The simulations differ in their feedback prescriptions: one adopts a calibrated strong supernova (SN) feedback, while the other simulation reduces the strength of SN feedback and includes CR feedback instead. We show that both comparably regulate star formation, reasonably match observations of high-redshift UV luminosity functions, and produce a similar amount of hydrogen ionising photons. In contrast to the model with strong SN feedback, the model with CRs lead to incomplete reionisation, which is in strong disagreement with observational estimates of the reionisation history. This is due to CR feedback shaping the ISM differently, filling with gas the low density cavities otherwise carved by SN explosions. As a result, this reduces the escape of ionising photons, at any halo mass, and primarily in the close vicinity of the stars. Our study indicates that CR feedback regulates galaxy growth during the EoR, but negatively affects reionisation, a tension which paves the way for further exploration and refinement of existing galaxy formation and feedback models. Such improvements are crucial in order to capture and understand the process of reionisation and the underlying evolution of galaxies through cosmic time.