IN THE BEGINNING: THE FIRST SOURCES OF LIGHT AND THE REIONIZATION OF THE UNIVERSE
Rennan Barkana 1
Institute for Advanced Study, Olden Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540
Abraham Loeb
Department of Astronomy, Harvard University, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138
Abstract.
The formation of the first stars and quasars marks the transformation
of the universe from its smooth initial state to its clumpy current
state. In popular cosmological models, the first sources of light
began to form at a redshift z = 30 and reionized most of the hydrogen
in the universe by z = 7. Current observations are at the threshold of
probing the hydrogen reionization epoch. The study of high-redshift
sources is likely to attract major attention in observational and
theoretical cosmology over the next decade.
1 Present address:
Canadian Institute
for Theoretical Astrophysics, 60 St. George Street #1201A, Toronto,
Ontario, M5S 3H8, CANADA. Back.
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PREFACE: THE FRONTIER OF SMALL-SCALE STRUCTURE
HIERARCHICAL FORMATION OF COLD DARK MATTER HALOS
The Expanding Universe
Linear Gravitational Growth
Formation of Nonlinear Objects
The Abundance of Dark Matter Halos
GAS INFALL AND COOLING IN DARK MATTER HALOS
Cosmological Jeans Mass
Response of Baryons to Nonlinear Dark Matter
Potentials
Molecular Chemistry, Photo-Dissociation, and Cooling
FRAGMENTATION OF THE FIRST GASEOUS OBJECTS
Star Formation
Fragmentation into Stars
Emission Spectrum of Metal-Free Stars
Emission of Recombination Lines from the First
Galaxies
Black Hole Formation
GALAXY PROPERTIES
RADIATIVE FEEDBACK FROM THE FIRST SOURCES OF LIGHT
Escape of Ionizing Radiation from Galaxies
Propagation of Ionization Fronts in the IGM
Reionization of the IGM
Photo-evaporation of Gaseous Halos After Reionization
Suppression of the Formation of Low Mass Galaxies
FEEDBACK FROM GALACTIC OUTFLOWS
PROPERTIES OF THE EXPECTED SOURCE POPULATION
OBSERVATIONAL PROBES OF THE EPOCH OF REIONIZATION
Spectral Methods of Inferring the Reionization
Redshift
Effect of Reionization on CMB Anisotropies
Remnants of High-Redshift Systems in the Local
Universe
CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE
REFERENCES
Photons