Prospects for ${\rm kSZ^2}$-${\rm 21cm^2}$ Cross-Correlations during Reionization

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Main Authors: Zhou, Meng, La Plante, Paul, Lidz, Adam, Mao, Yi, Ma, Yin-Zhe
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Zhou, Meng
La Plante, Paul
Lidz, Adam
Mao, Yi
Ma, Yin-Zhe
author_facet Zhou, Meng
La Plante, Paul
Lidz, Adam
Mao, Yi
Ma, Yin-Zhe
contents The 21\,cm line and the patchy kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect are promising and complementary probes of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). A challenge for cross-correlating these two signals is that foreground avoidance or removal algorithms applied to the 21\,cm data inevitably sacrifice Fourier modes with long wavelengths along the line-of-sight (i.e., low-$k_\parallel$ modes), yet \textit{only} these same modes contribute to the kSZ signal. Here we show that a suitable kSZ$^2$ $\times$ 21\,cm$^2$ cross-correlation statistic nevertheless remains non-vanishing, even after filtering out the corrupted low-$k_\parallel$ Fourier modes from the 21\,cm data. We simulate the kSZ$^2$ $\times$ 21\,cm$^2$ cross-correlation signal across reionization-era redshifts and find distinctive redshift evolution. This signal peaks early in the reionization history, when the volume-averaged fraction is around $0.1 \lesssim x_\mathrm{HII} \lesssim 0.2$, after which it changes sign and reaches a minimum near reionization's midpoint ($x_\mathrm{HII} \sim 0.5$), while the signal gradually vanishes as reionization completes. These trends appear generic across three simulated models which differ in their reionization histories. We forecast the detectability of the kSZ$^2$ $\times$ 21\,cm$^2$ cross-power spectrum for the HERA and SKA1-Low 21\,cm experiments in combination with current and next-generation CMB surveys including the Simons Observatory, CMB-S4, and CMB-HD. We find that a high-significance detection ($\mathrm{S/N} \gtrsim 5σ$) is possible with SKA1-Low and CMB-S4.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_09462
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Prospects for ${\rm kSZ^2}$-${\rm 21cm^2}$ Cross-Correlations during Reionization
Zhou, Meng
La Plante, Paul
Lidz, Adam
Mao, Yi
Ma, Yin-Zhe
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
The 21\,cm line and the patchy kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect are promising and complementary probes of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). A challenge for cross-correlating these two signals is that foreground avoidance or removal algorithms applied to the 21\,cm data inevitably sacrifice Fourier modes with long wavelengths along the line-of-sight (i.e., low-$k_\parallel$ modes), yet \textit{only} these same modes contribute to the kSZ signal. Here we show that a suitable kSZ$^2$ $\times$ 21\,cm$^2$ cross-correlation statistic nevertheless remains non-vanishing, even after filtering out the corrupted low-$k_\parallel$ Fourier modes from the 21\,cm data. We simulate the kSZ$^2$ $\times$ 21\,cm$^2$ cross-correlation signal across reionization-era redshifts and find distinctive redshift evolution. This signal peaks early in the reionization history, when the volume-averaged fraction is around $0.1 \lesssim x_\mathrm{HII} \lesssim 0.2$, after which it changes sign and reaches a minimum near reionization's midpoint ($x_\mathrm{HII} \sim 0.5$), while the signal gradually vanishes as reionization completes. These trends appear generic across three simulated models which differ in their reionization histories. We forecast the detectability of the kSZ$^2$ $\times$ 21\,cm$^2$ cross-power spectrum for the HERA and SKA1-Low 21\,cm experiments in combination with current and next-generation CMB surveys including the Simons Observatory, CMB-S4, and CMB-HD. We find that a high-significance detection ($\mathrm{S/N} \gtrsim 5σ$) is possible with SKA1-Low and CMB-S4.
title Prospects for ${\rm kSZ^2}$-${\rm 21cm^2}$ Cross-Correlations during Reionization
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.09462