Effects of Bursty Star Formation on [CII] Line Intensity Mapping of High-redshift Galaxies

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Hauptverfasser: Liu, Lun-Jun, Sun, Guochao, Chang, Tzu-Ching, Furlanetto, Steven R., Bradford, Charles M.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Liu, Lun-Jun
Sun, Guochao
Chang, Tzu-Ching
Furlanetto, Steven R.
Bradford, Charles M.
author_facet Liu, Lun-Jun
Sun, Guochao
Chang, Tzu-Ching
Furlanetto, Steven R.
Bradford, Charles M.
contents Bursty star formation -- a key prediction for high-redshift galaxies from cosmological simulations explicitly resolving stellar feedback in the interstellar medium -- has recently been observed to prevail among galaxies at redshift $z \gtrsim 6$. Line intensity mapping (LIM) of the 158 $μ$m [CII] line as a star formation rate (SFR) indicator offers unique opportunities to tomographically constrain cosmic star formation at high redshift, in a way complementary to observations of individually detected galaxies. To understand effects of bursty star formation on [CII] LIM, which remain unexplored in previous studies, we present an analytic modeling framework for high-$z$ galaxy formation and [CII] LIM signals that accounts for bursty star formation histories induced by delayed supernova feedback. We use it to explore and characterize how bursty star formation can impact and thus complicate the interpretation of the [CII] luminosity function and power spectrum. Our simple analytic model indicates that bursty star formation mainly affects low-mass galaxies by boosting their average SFR and [CII] luminosity, and in the [CII] power spectrum it can create a substantial excess in the large-scale clustering term. This distortion results in a power spectrum shape which cannot be explained by invoking a mass-independent logarithmic scatter. We conclude that burstiness must be accounted for when modeling and analyzing [CII] datasets from the early universe, and that in the extreme, the signature of burstiness may be detectable with first-generation experiments such as TIME, CONCERTO, and CCAT-DSS.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_04204
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Effects of Bursty Star Formation on [CII] Line Intensity Mapping of High-redshift Galaxies
Liu, Lun-Jun
Sun, Guochao
Chang, Tzu-Ching
Furlanetto, Steven R.
Bradford, Charles M.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Bursty star formation -- a key prediction for high-redshift galaxies from cosmological simulations explicitly resolving stellar feedback in the interstellar medium -- has recently been observed to prevail among galaxies at redshift $z \gtrsim 6$. Line intensity mapping (LIM) of the 158 $μ$m [CII] line as a star formation rate (SFR) indicator offers unique opportunities to tomographically constrain cosmic star formation at high redshift, in a way complementary to observations of individually detected galaxies. To understand effects of bursty star formation on [CII] LIM, which remain unexplored in previous studies, we present an analytic modeling framework for high-$z$ galaxy formation and [CII] LIM signals that accounts for bursty star formation histories induced by delayed supernova feedback. We use it to explore and characterize how bursty star formation can impact and thus complicate the interpretation of the [CII] luminosity function and power spectrum. Our simple analytic model indicates that bursty star formation mainly affects low-mass galaxies by boosting their average SFR and [CII] luminosity, and in the [CII] power spectrum it can create a substantial excess in the large-scale clustering term. This distortion results in a power spectrum shape which cannot be explained by invoking a mass-independent logarithmic scatter. We conclude that burstiness must be accounted for when modeling and analyzing [CII] datasets from the early universe, and that in the extreme, the signature of burstiness may be detectable with first-generation experiments such as TIME, CONCERTO, and CCAT-DSS.
title Effects of Bursty Star Formation on [CII] Line Intensity Mapping of High-redshift Galaxies
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.04204