This is the second paper in a series whose aim is to predict the power spectrum of intensity and polarized intensity from cosmic reionization fronts. After building the analytic models for intensity and polarized intensity calculations in paper I, here we apply these models to simulations of reionization. We construct a geometric model for identifying front boundaries, calculate the intensity and polarized intensity for each front, and compute a power spectrum of these results. This method was applied to different simulation sizes and resolutions, so we ensure that our results are convergent.
We find that the power spectrum of fluctuations at z = 8 in a bin of width Δz = 0.5 (λ/Δλ = 18) is Δℓ ≡ [ℓ(ℓ + 1)C
ℓ/2π]1/2 is 3.2 × 10-11 erg s-1 cm-2 sr-1 for the intensity I, 7.6 × 10-13 erg s-1 cm-2 sr-1 for the E-mode polarization, and 5.8 × 10-13 erg s-1 cm-2 sr-1 for the B-mode polarization at ℓ = 1.5 × 104.
After computing the power spectrum, we compare results to detectable scales and discuss implications for observing this signal based on a proposed experiment. We find that, while fundamental physics does not exclude this kind of mapping from being attainable, an experiment would need to be highly ambitious and require significant advances to make mapping Lyman-α polarization from cosmic reionization fronts a feasible goal.
In this paper, we present the formalism of simulating Lyman-α emission and polarization around reionization (z = 8) from a plane-parallel ionization front. We accomplish this by using a Monte Carlo method to simulate the production of a Lyman-α photon, its propagation through an ionization front, and the eventual escape of this photon. This paper focuses on the relation of the input parameters of ionization front speed U, blackbody temperature T
bb, and neutral hydrogen density n
HI, on intensity I and polarized intensity P as seen by a distant observer. The resulting values of intensity range from 3.18 × 10-14 erg/cm2/s/sr to 1.96 × 10-9 erg/cm2/s/sr , and the polarized intensity ranges from 5.73 × 10-17 erg/cm2/s/sr to 5.31 × 10-12 erg/cm2/s/sr. We found that higher T
bb, higher U, and higher n
HI contribute to higher intensity, as well as polarized intensity, though the strongest dependence was on the hydrogen density. The dependence of viewing angle of the front is also explored. We present tests to support the validity model, which makes the model suitable for further use in a following paper where we will calculate the intensity and polarized intensity power spectrum on a full reionization simulation.
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