Patchy Helium and Hydrogen Reionization from the Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect and Galaxies
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866913890837725184 |
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| author | Kumar, Neha Anil Çalışkan, Mesut Hotinli, Selim C. Kamionkowski, Marc Ferraro, Simone Smith, Kendrick |
| author_facet | Kumar, Neha Anil Çalışkan, Mesut Hotinli, Selim C. Kamionkowski, Marc Ferraro, Simone Smith, Kendrick |
| contents | Upcoming cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments will measure temperature fluctuations on small angular scales with unprecedented precision, enabling improved measurements of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect. This secondary anisotropy has emerged as a valuable probe of the distribution of ionized electrons in the post-recombination Universe. Although the sensitivity of the kSZ effect has recently been utilized to study the high-redshift epoch of hydrogen (H) reionization, its redshift-integrated nature -- combined with anticipated improvements in measurement precision -- suggests that accounting for the later epoch of helium (He) reionization will become increasingly important in the near future. Joint characterization of the epochs will allow for a more coherent understanding of early-star and -quasar formation, as these sources drive the ionization of H and He in the intergalactic medium. In this paper, we extend the kSZ higher-order statistic introduced by Smith \& Ferraro (2017) to forecast the ability of upcoming CMB surveys to probe the morphology of both H and He reionization. Moreover, given that upcoming large-scale structure surveys will trace density fluctuations at redshifts overlapping with the epoch of He reionization, we propose a novel cross-correlation between the kSZ higher-order statistic and galaxy survey measurements. Using a joint information-matrix analysis of H and He reionization, we show that next-generation CMB and galaxy surveys will have sufficient statistical power to characterize the patchy morphology of H reionization and set constraints on the redshift evolution of its He counterpart. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_11188 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Patchy Helium and Hydrogen Reionization from the Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect and Galaxies Kumar, Neha Anil Çalışkan, Mesut Hotinli, Selim C. Kamionkowski, Marc Ferraro, Simone Smith, Kendrick Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies Upcoming cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments will measure temperature fluctuations on small angular scales with unprecedented precision, enabling improved measurements of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect. This secondary anisotropy has emerged as a valuable probe of the distribution of ionized electrons in the post-recombination Universe. Although the sensitivity of the kSZ effect has recently been utilized to study the high-redshift epoch of hydrogen (H) reionization, its redshift-integrated nature -- combined with anticipated improvements in measurement precision -- suggests that accounting for the later epoch of helium (He) reionization will become increasingly important in the near future. Joint characterization of the epochs will allow for a more coherent understanding of early-star and -quasar formation, as these sources drive the ionization of H and He in the intergalactic medium. In this paper, we extend the kSZ higher-order statistic introduced by Smith \& Ferraro (2017) to forecast the ability of upcoming CMB surveys to probe the morphology of both H and He reionization. Moreover, given that upcoming large-scale structure surveys will trace density fluctuations at redshifts overlapping with the epoch of He reionization, we propose a novel cross-correlation between the kSZ higher-order statistic and galaxy survey measurements. Using a joint information-matrix analysis of H and He reionization, we show that next-generation CMB and galaxy surveys will have sufficient statistical power to characterize the patchy morphology of H reionization and set constraints on the redshift evolution of its He counterpart. |
| title | Patchy Helium and Hydrogen Reionization from the Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect and Galaxies |
| topic | Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11188 |