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arXiv · 1903.04580

Mapping Cosmic Dawn and Reionization: Challenges and Synergies

Abstract

Cosmic dawn and the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are among the least explored observational eras in cosmology: a time at which the first galaxies and supermassive black holes formed and reionized the cold, neutral Universe of the post-recombination era. With current instruments, only a handful of the brightest galaxies and quasars from that time are detectable as individual objects, due to their extreme distances. Fortunately, a multitude of multi-wavelength intensity mapping measurements, ranging from the redshifted 21 cm background in the radio to the unresolved X-ray background, contain a plethora of synergistic information about this elusive era. The coming decade will likely see direct detections of inhomogenous reionization with CMB and 21 cm observations, and a slew of other probes covering overlapping areas and complementary physical processes will provide crucial additional information and cross-validation. To maximize scientific discovery and return on investment, coordinated survey planning and joint data analysis should be a high priority, closely coupled to computational models and theoretical predictions.

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Marcelo A. Alvarez, Anastasia Fialkov, Paul La Plante, James Aguirre, Yacine Ali-Haïmoud, George Becker, Judd Bowman, Patrick Breysse, Volker Bromm, Philip Bull, Jack Burns, Nico Cappelluti, Isabella Carucci, Tzu-Ching Chang, Kieran Cleary, Asantha Cooray, Xuelei Chen, Hsin Chiang, Joanne Cohn, David DeBoer, Joshua Dillon, Olivier Doré, Cora Dvorkin, Simone Ferraro, Steven Furlanetto, Bryna Hazelton, J. Colin Hill, Daniel Jacobs, Kirit Karkare, Garrett K. Keating, Léon Koopmans, Ely Kovetz, Adam Lidz, Adrian Liu, Yin-Zhe Ma, Yi Mao, Kiyoshi Masui, Matthew McQuinn, Jordan Mirocha, Julian Muñoz, Steven Murray, Aaron Parsons, Jonathan Pober, Benjamin Saliwanchik, Jonathan Sievers, Nithyanandan Thyagarajan, Hy Trac, Alexey Vikhlinin, Eli Visbal, Matias Zaldarriaga. 2019-03-11. Mapping Cosmic Dawn and Reionization: Challenges and Synergies. https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.04580

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