NEW CONSTRAINTS ON COSMIC REIONIZATION FROM THE 2012 HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD CAMPAIGN

By Brant Robertson, S. Furlanetto, Evan Schneider, S. Charlot, Richard S. Ellis, D. Stark, R. McLure, J. Dunlop, A. Koekemoer, M. Schenker and 6 more. 2013

379 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Understanding cosmic reionization requires the identification and characterization of early sources of hydrogen-ionizing photons. The 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF12) campaign has acquired the deepest infrared images with the Wide Field Camera 3 aboard Hubble Space Telescope and, for the first time, systematically explored the galaxy population deep into the era when cosmic microwave background (CMB) data indicate reionization was underway. The UDF12 campaign thus provides the best constraints to date on the abundance, luminosity distribution, and spectral properties of early star-forming galaxies. We synthesize the new UDF12 results with the most recent constraints from CMB observations to infer redshift-dependent ultraviolet (UV) luminosity densities, reionization histories, and electron scattering optical depth evolution consistent with the available data. Under reasonable assumptions about the escape fraction of hydrogen-ionizing photons and the intergalactic medium clumping factor, we find that to fully reionize the universe by redshift z ∼ 6 the population of star-forming galaxies at redshifts z ∼ 7–9 likely must extend in luminosity below the UDF12 limits to absolute UV magnitudes of MUV ∼ −13 or fainter. Moreover, low levels of star formation extending to redshifts z ∼ 15–25, as suggested by the normal UV colors of z ≃ 7–8 galaxies and the smooth decline in abundance with redshift observed by UDF12 to z ≃ 10, are additionally likely required to reproduce the optical depth to electron scattering inferred from CMB observations.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/801a109fd03d3a133222730ce4e92cac50c5e3d9

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Citations in the corpus

ALMA SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY IN THE HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD: THE INFRARED EXCESS OF UV-SELECTED z = 2–10 GALAXIES AS A FUNCTION OF UV-CONTINUUM SLOPE AND STELLAR MASS (2016, background): “The above constraint is essentially identical to what Robertson et al. (2013) derive based on the available observations, but the above expression also shows the approximate dependence on the faint-end cut-off Mlim to the LF and the clumping factor C.”
The bright end of the galaxy luminosity function at z≃7: before the onset of mass quenching? (2013, background): “…of the LF is key for ascertaining the role LBGs play in reionizing the Universe, as only by extrapolating the number densities of galaxies beyond the faintest galaxy detected even in the HUDF, can the ionising photon budget be met by early galaxies (Robertson et al. 2013; Salvaterra et al. 2011).”
COSMIC REIONIZATION AND EARLY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES: A JOINT ANALYSIS OF NEW CONSTRAINTS FROM PLANCK AND THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE (2015, methodology): “However, Robertson et al. (2013) already demonstrated such an ionizing efficiency is required to maintain a highly ionized IGM at z ∼ 7 (Figure 3).”
Galaxy UV-luminosity function and reionization constraints on axion dark matter (2014, methodology): “…the recombination of free electrons and protons, as given by the differential equation (Madau, Haardt & Rees 1999; Kuhlen & FaucherGiguère 2012; Robertson et al. 2013; Schultz et al. 2014): dQHII dt = ṅion nH − QHII trec , (8) where the nH term represents the mean comoving hydrogen number…”
UV LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS AT REDSHIFTS z ∼ 4 TO z ∼ 10: 10,000 GALAXIES FROM HST LEGACY FIELDS (2014, background): “Establishing the UV LF at high redshift is also essential to assessing the impact of galaxies on the reionization of the universe (e.g., Bunker et al. 2004; Yan & Windhorst 2004; Oesch et al. 2009; Bouwens et al. 2012; Kuhlen & Faucher-Giguére 2012; Robertson et al. 2013).”
The z ∼ 6 Luminosity Function Fainter than −15 mag from the Hubble Frontier Fields: The Impact of Magnification Uncertainties (2016, background): “While much evidence suggests that the process might be driven by galaxies (e.g., Robertson et al. 2013, 2015; Mitra et al. 2015; Bouwens et al. 2015b), others have suggested that quasars could provide the dominant contribution (Giallongo et al. 2015; Madau & Haardt 2015; Mitra et al. 2016).”
REIONIZATION AFTER PLANCK: THE DERIVED GROWTH OF THE COSMIC IONIZING EMISSIVITY NOW MATCHES THE GROWTH OF THE GALAXY UV LUMINOSITY DENSITY (2015, background): “…et al. 2012; Bouwens et al. 2012a; Finkelstein et al. 2012a; Haardt & Madau 2012 [HM12]; Kuhlen & FaucherGiguère 2012 [KF12]; Shull et al. 2012; Robertson et al. 2013 [R13], 2015 [R15]; Cai et al. 2014; Choudhury et al. 2015; Ishigaki et al. 2015), and it is indeed encouraging that many recent…”
Inferences on the timeline of reionization at z ∼ 8 from the KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey (2019, background): “Accurately measuring the timeline of reionization enables us to constrain properties of these first sources (e.g., Robertson et al. 2013, 2015; Greig & Mesinger 2017).”
The First Billion Years project: the escape fraction of ionizing photons in the epoch of reionization (2015, background): “…determined escape fractions at low reshifts are too low for galaxies to contribute significantly to reionisation, which requires an escape fraction of at least 20% if the luminosity function is integrated down to MUV = −13 to account for the unobserved galaxy population (Robertson et al. 2013).”
The UV continua and inferred stellar populations of galaxies at z ~7-9 revealed by the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field 2012 campaign (2012, background): “A full analysis of the implications of the combined results of the UDF12 programme for our understanding of cosmic reionization is presented by Robertson et al. (2013).”
A new multifield determination of the galaxy luminosity function at z = 7-9 incorporating the 2012 Hubble Ultra-Deep Field imaging (2012, background): “A full discussion of the implications of these results within the context of cosmic reionization can be found in Robertson et al. (2013).”
The difficulty of getting high escape fractions of ionizing photons from high-redshift galaxies: A view from the FIRE cosmological simulations (2015, background): “…usually require fesc ∼ 20% if the universe was reionized by galaxies brighter than MUV >−13 only (e.g. Finkelstein et al. 2012; Kuhlen & Faucher-Giguère 2012; Robertson et al. 2013), the escape fractions we find from our simulations are considerably lower than what those models require.”
UV-CONTINUUM SLOPES OF >4000 z ∼ 4–8 GALAXIES FROM THE HUDF/XDF, HUDF09, ERS, CANDELS-SOUTH, AND CANDELS-NORTH FIELDS (2013, neutral): “We also account for some absorption from neutral hydrogen in the IGM (MiraldaEscude 1998), assuming a neutral fraction xe of 0.2 at z ∼ 8 (Bouwens et al. 2012; Kuhlen & Faucher-Giguere 2012; Robertson et al. 2013).”
The z = 9-10 galaxy population in the Hubble Frontier Fields and CLASH surveys: the z = 9 luminosity function and further evidence for a smooth decline in ultraviolet luminosity density at z≥ 8 (2016, background): “…smoothly beyond z ' 8, indicative of a gentle decline of star-formation rate density back to earlier epochs, as naturally required to consistently explain cosmic reionization and recent constraints on Thomson scattering optical depth delivered by WMAP and Planck (e.g. Robertson et al. 2013, 2015).”
LINE-EMITTING GALAXIES BEYOND A REDSHIFT OF 7: AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR ESTIMATING THE EVOLVING NEUTRALITY OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM (2014, background): “Recent progress in this area has been reviewed by Robertson et al. (2013) and Bromm (2013).”
New redshift z ≃ 9 galaxies in the Hubble Frontier Fields: implications for early evolution of the UV luminosity density (2014, background): “Secondly, such a down-turn in galaxy abundance would make it more difficult for young galaxies to be the primary agent of cosmic reionization (c.f. Robertson et al 2010, 2013), unless the optical depth due to Thomson scattering of the microwave background has been over-estimated (Hinshaw et al…”
Gravitational probes of dark matter physics (2017, background): “At high (z ∼ 10) redshifts, dwarf galaxies are expected to reionize the Universe; there are simply not enough big galaxies or quasars at early times to yield sufficient ionizing photons [582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 588].”
Ionization state of inter-stellar medium in galaxies: evolution, SFR-M * -Z dependence, and ionizing photon escape (2013, background): “Since a very high fesc of 0.8 is not required for cosmic reionization but only fesc 0.2 (Robertson et al. 2013), the weakening of Lyα in density-bounded nebulae does not rule out the possibility that major ionizing sources are LAEs.”
The mass evolution of the first galaxies: stellar mass functions and star formation rates at 4 < z < 7 in the CANDELS GOODS-South field (2014, result): “When nebular emission is included in the templates, we assume a moderate escape fraction fesc = 0.2, consistent with the observational constraints on reionization and with simulations (Yajima, Choi & Nagamine 2010; Fernandez & Shull 2011; Finkelstein et al. 2012b; Robertson et al. 2013).”