The THESAN project: Lyman-alpha emitters as probes of ionized bubble sizes
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866908972255019008 |
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| author | Neyer, Meredith Smith, Aaron Vogelsberger, Mark García, Luz Ángela Kannan, Rahul Garaldi, Enrico Keating, Laura |
| author_facet | Neyer, Meredith Smith, Aaron Vogelsberger, Mark García, Luz Ángela Kannan, Rahul Garaldi, Enrico Keating, Laura |
| contents | We use the THESAN radiation-hydrodynamics simulations to investigate how Lyman-$α$ emitters (LAEs) trace ionized bubble sizes during the Epoch of Reionization. We generate realistic LAE catalogs by combining accurate intrinsic Ly$α$ production and intergalactic transmission with an empirical model for dust absorption and gas outflows. By calibrating to observationally-constrained Ly$α$ luminosity functions, we reproduce the rapid decline in Ly$α$ visibility toward higher redshifts while revealing mild tensions in LAE fractions near the end of reionization. Before the midpoint of reionization, galaxies within larger line-of-sight bubbles ($\gtrsim 10$ cMpc) have higher observed Ly$α$ luminosity and equivalent width (EW), demonstrating that the evolving LAE fraction provides a practical statistical tracer for bubble size. These correlations weaken as percolation progresses and the IGM becomes increasingly ionized. In LAE selected samples with $L_{\text{Ly}α} > 10^{41.5}\ \text{erg s}^{-1}$, Ly$α$ properties correlate with bubble size more strongly than UV magnitude, especially at $z \gtrsim 7$. This simulation-based framework maps LAE selections to bubble-size statistics, clarifies biases in more idealized models, and will supply public catalogs to interpret current and forthcoming JWST and narrow-band LAE surveys in terms of the evolving topology of reionization. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_18946 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The THESAN project: Lyman-alpha emitters as probes of ionized bubble sizes Neyer, Meredith Smith, Aaron Vogelsberger, Mark García, Luz Ángela Kannan, Rahul Garaldi, Enrico Keating, Laura Astrophysics of Galaxies Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics We use the THESAN radiation-hydrodynamics simulations to investigate how Lyman-$α$ emitters (LAEs) trace ionized bubble sizes during the Epoch of Reionization. We generate realistic LAE catalogs by combining accurate intrinsic Ly$α$ production and intergalactic transmission with an empirical model for dust absorption and gas outflows. By calibrating to observationally-constrained Ly$α$ luminosity functions, we reproduce the rapid decline in Ly$α$ visibility toward higher redshifts while revealing mild tensions in LAE fractions near the end of reionization. Before the midpoint of reionization, galaxies within larger line-of-sight bubbles ($\gtrsim 10$ cMpc) have higher observed Ly$α$ luminosity and equivalent width (EW), demonstrating that the evolving LAE fraction provides a practical statistical tracer for bubble size. These correlations weaken as percolation progresses and the IGM becomes increasingly ionized. In LAE selected samples with $L_{\text{Ly}α} > 10^{41.5}\ \text{erg s}^{-1}$, Ly$α$ properties correlate with bubble size more strongly than UV magnitude, especially at $z \gtrsim 7$. This simulation-based framework maps LAE selections to bubble-size statistics, clarifies biases in more idealized models, and will supply public catalogs to interpret current and forthcoming JWST and narrow-band LAE surveys in terms of the evolving topology of reionization. |
| title | The THESAN project: Lyman-alpha emitters as probes of ionized bubble sizes |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.18946 |