Tantalizing Evidence of Reionization Relics in the eBOSS DR16 Ly$\boldsymbolα$ Forest Correlations: a Preference for Early Reionization
Fuente:
arXiv
Salvato in:
| Autori principali: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2025
|
| Soggetti: | |
| Accesso online: | |
| Tags: |
Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
|
| _version_ | 1866908642337357824 |
|---|---|
| author | Zheng, Yifan Montero-Camacho, Paulo Cai, Zheng Mao, Yi |
| author_facet | Zheng, Yifan Montero-Camacho, Paulo Cai, Zheng Mao, Yi |
| contents | Cosmic reionization of HI leaves enduring relics in the post-reionization intergalactic medium, potentially influencing the Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$) forest down to redshifts as low as $z \approx 2$, which is the so-called ''memory of reionization'' effect. Here, we re-analyze the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements from Ly$α$ absorption and quasar correlations using data from the extended Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) Data Release 16 (DR16), incorporating for the first time the memory of reionization in the Ly$α$ forest. Three distinct scenarios of reionization timeline are considered in our analyses. We find that the recovered BAO parameters ($α_\parallel$, $α_\perp$) remain consistent with the original eBOSS DR16 analysis. However, models incorporating reionization relics provide a better fit to the data, with a tantalizing preference for early reionization, consistent with recent findings from the James Webb Space Telescope. Furthermore, the inclusion of reionization relics significantly impacts the non-BAO parameters. For instance, we report deviations of up to $3σ$ in the Ly$α$ redshift-space distortion parameter and $\sim7σ$ in the linear Ly$α$ bias for the late reionization scenario. Our findings suggest that the eBOSS Ly$α$ data is more accurately described by models that incorporate a broadband enhancement to the Ly$α$ forest power spectrum, highlighting the importance of accounting for reionization relics in cosmological analyses. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_09971 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Tantalizing Evidence of Reionization Relics in the eBOSS DR16 Ly$\boldsymbolα$ Forest Correlations: a Preference for Early Reionization Zheng, Yifan Montero-Camacho, Paulo Cai, Zheng Mao, Yi Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Cosmic reionization of HI leaves enduring relics in the post-reionization intergalactic medium, potentially influencing the Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$) forest down to redshifts as low as $z \approx 2$, which is the so-called ''memory of reionization'' effect. Here, we re-analyze the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements from Ly$α$ absorption and quasar correlations using data from the extended Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) Data Release 16 (DR16), incorporating for the first time the memory of reionization in the Ly$α$ forest. Three distinct scenarios of reionization timeline are considered in our analyses. We find that the recovered BAO parameters ($α_\parallel$, $α_\perp$) remain consistent with the original eBOSS DR16 analysis. However, models incorporating reionization relics provide a better fit to the data, with a tantalizing preference for early reionization, consistent with recent findings from the James Webb Space Telescope. Furthermore, the inclusion of reionization relics significantly impacts the non-BAO parameters. For instance, we report deviations of up to $3σ$ in the Ly$α$ redshift-space distortion parameter and $\sim7σ$ in the linear Ly$α$ bias for the late reionization scenario. Our findings suggest that the eBOSS Ly$α$ data is more accurately described by models that incorporate a broadband enhancement to the Ly$α$ forest power spectrum, highlighting the importance of accounting for reionization relics in cosmological analyses. |
| title | Tantalizing Evidence of Reionization Relics in the eBOSS DR16 Ly$\boldsymbolα$ Forest Correlations: a Preference for Early Reionization |
| topic | Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.09971 |