Simulations of the reionization of the clumpy intergalactic medium with a novel particle-based two-moment radiative transfer scheme

Keung Chan, Tsang; Benitez-Llambay, Alejandro; Theuns, Tom; Frenk, Carlos

doi:10.1017/s1743921322001235

Simulations of the reionization of the clumpy intergalactic medium with a novel particle-based two-moment radiative transfer scheme

Keung Chan, Tsang; Benitez-Llambay, Alejandro; Theuns, Tom; Frenk, Carlos

Authors

Tsang Keung Chan tsang.k.chan@durham.ac.uk
Academic Visitor

Alejandro Benitez-Llambay

Professor Tom Theuns tom.theuns@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Professor Carlos Frenk c.s.frenk@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

The progress of cosmic reionization depends on the presence of over-dense regions that act as photon sinks. Such sinks may slow down ionization fronts as compared to a uniform intergalactic medium (IGM) by increasing the clumping factor. We present simulations of reionization in a clumpy IGM resolving even the smallest sinks. The simulations use a novel, spatially adaptive and efficient radiative transfer implementation in the SWIFT SPH code, based on the two-moment method. We find that photon sinks can increase the clumping factor by a factor of ∼10 during the first ∼100 Myrs after the passage of an ionization front. After this time, the clumping factor decreases as the smaller sinks photoevaporate. Altogether, photon sinks increase the number of photons required to reionize the Universe by a factor of η ∼2, as compared to the homogeneous case. The value of η also depends on the emissivity of the ionizing sources.

Citation

Keung Chan, T., Benitez-Llambay, A., Theuns, T., & Frenk, C. (2023). Simulations of the reionization of the clumpy intergalactic medium with a novel particle-based two-moment radiative transfer scheme. Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 16(362), 15-20. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1743921322001235

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Jan 20, 2023
Publication Date	2023
Deposit Date	Jan 25, 2023
Publicly Available Date	Jan 25, 2023
Journal	Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Print ISSN	1743-9213
Electronic ISSN	1743-9221
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	16
Issue	362
Pages	15-20
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/s1743921322001235
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1180794

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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.