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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07374 |
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| _version_ | 1866908583330840576 |
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| author | Chen, Kai-Feng Neyer, Meredith Hewitt, Jacqueline N. Smith, Aaron Vogelsberger, Mark |
| author_facet | Chen, Kai-Feng Neyer, Meredith Hewitt, Jacqueline N. Smith, Aaron Vogelsberger, Mark |
| contents | Observations of the redshifted 21-cm line during the Epoch of Reionization will open a new window to probe the intergalactic medium during the formation of the first stars, galaxies, and black holes. A particularly promising route to an initial detection is to cross-correlate tomographic 21-cm maps with spectroscopically confirmed Lyman-$α$ emitters (LAEs). High-redshift LAEs preferentially reside in ionized bubbles that are strongly anticorrelated with the surrounding neutral regions traced by 21-cm observations. In this work, we study the prospect of detecting such a cross-correlation signal by stacking 21-cm image cubes around LAEs using a current-generation 21-cm instrument -- the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA). Our forecast adopts a realistic mapping pipeline to generate foreground-free 21-cm image cubes. The statistical properties of these images, arising from the complex instrumental response, are carefully accounted for. We further introduce a physically motivated signal template calibrated on the THESAN radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, which connects the cross-correlation amplitude to the global neutral fraction. Our results show that a sample of ~50 spectroscopically confirmed LAEs is sufficient to begin constraining the reionization history. These results represent an important preparatory step toward joint analyses of 21-cm experiments with upcoming wide-area, high-redshift galaxy surveys from Euclid and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_07374 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Stacking 21-cm Maps around Lyman-$α$ Emitters during Reionization: Prospects for a Cross-correlation Detection with the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array Chen, Kai-Feng Neyer, Meredith Hewitt, Jacqueline N. Smith, Aaron Vogelsberger, Mark Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies Observations of the redshifted 21-cm line during the Epoch of Reionization will open a new window to probe the intergalactic medium during the formation of the first stars, galaxies, and black holes. A particularly promising route to an initial detection is to cross-correlate tomographic 21-cm maps with spectroscopically confirmed Lyman-$α$ emitters (LAEs). High-redshift LAEs preferentially reside in ionized bubbles that are strongly anticorrelated with the surrounding neutral regions traced by 21-cm observations. In this work, we study the prospect of detecting such a cross-correlation signal by stacking 21-cm image cubes around LAEs using a current-generation 21-cm instrument -- the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA). Our forecast adopts a realistic mapping pipeline to generate foreground-free 21-cm image cubes. The statistical properties of these images, arising from the complex instrumental response, are carefully accounted for. We further introduce a physically motivated signal template calibrated on the THESAN radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, which connects the cross-correlation amplitude to the global neutral fraction. Our results show that a sample of ~50 spectroscopically confirmed LAEs is sufficient to begin constraining the reionization history. These results represent an important preparatory step toward joint analyses of 21-cm experiments with upcoming wide-area, high-redshift galaxy surveys from Euclid and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. |
| title | Stacking 21-cm Maps around Lyman-$α$ Emitters during Reionization: Prospects for a Cross-correlation Detection with the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array |
| topic | Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07374 |