Stellar black holes at the dawn of the universe

Mirabel, I. F.; Dijkstra, Mark; Laurent, Philippe; Loeb, Abraham; Pritchard, Jonathan R.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201016357

Cited by 248 publications

(301 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(88 reference statements)

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“…The candidates for these sources are varied and include X-ray binaries, mini-quasars, and hot gas in the first galaxies, plus more exotic possibilities such as decaying dark matter. The spectral energy distribution (SED) of X-ray photons emitted in each case can be very different, ranging from a soft power-law spectrum [8] to a hard spectrum that peaks at energies of several keV as in the case of X-ray binaries [9,10]. Because the heating is inhomogeneous, the character of the SED is imprinted in the 21-cm power spectrum, which can be used to constrain the average energy of the X-ray photons which heat the IGM [11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing the Nature of the First Cosmic Sources from the Anisotropic 21-cm Signal

2015

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The redshifted 21-cm background is expected to be a powerful probe of the early Universe, carrying both cosmological and astrophysical information from a wide range of redshifts. In particular, the power spectrum of fluctuations in the 21-cm brightness temperature is anisotropic due to the lineof-sight velocity gradient, which in principle allows for a simple extraction of this information in the limit of linear fluctuations. However, recent numerical studies suggest that the 21-cm signal is actually rather complex, and its analysis likely depends on detailed model fitting. We present the first realistic simulation of the anisotropic 21-cm power spectrum over a wide period of early cosmic history. We show that on observable scales, the anisotropy is large and thus measurable at most redshifts, and its form tracks the evolution of 21-cm fluctuations as they are produced early on by Lyman-α radiation from stars, then switch to X-ray radiation from early heating sources, and finally to ionizing radiation from stars. In particular, we predict a redshift window during cosmic heating (at z ∼ 15), when the anisotropy is small, during which the shape of the 21-cm power spectrum on large scales is determined directly by the average radial distribution of the flux from X-ray sources. This makes possible a model-independent reconstruction of the X-ray spectrum of the earliest sources of cosmic heating.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing the Nature of the First Cosmic Sources from the Anisotropic 21-cm Signal

2015

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“…At redshifts z > 6, it is expected that the emission from high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) in young stellar populations may dominate over the fading AGN population (Fragos et al 2013a), and that, because of metallicity effects, the X-ray luminosity from binaries per unit star formation rate (SFR) may be enhanced compared to present-day galaxies (e.g., Linden et al 2010;Basu-Zych et al 2013a;Brorby et al 2014;Douna et al 2015;BasuZych et al 2016;Lehmer et al 2016). A number of authors have addressed the possible feedback from HMXBs during galaxy formation and evolution (e.g., Cantalupo 2010; Mirabel et al 2011;Justham & Schawinski 2012;Power et al 2013;Fragos et al 2013a,b;Fialkov et al 2014;Jeon et al 2014;Pacucci et al 2014). Fragos et al (2013b) were the first to go beyond simple order-ofmagnitude estimates: they used state-of-the-art binary population synthesis models in combination with the global star-formation history and metallicity evolution predicted by the semi-analytic galaxy formation model of Guo et al (2011), to calculate the energy input from binaries at z ∼ > 6-8.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiation Backgrounds at Cosmic Dawn: X-Rays from Compact Binaries

Madau

Fragos

2017

ApJ

323

389

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We compute the expected X-ray diffuse background and radiative feedback on the intergalactic medium (IGM) from X-ray binaries prior and during the epoch of reionization. The cosmic evolution of compact binaries is followed using a population synthesis technique that treats separately neutron stars and black hole binaries in different spectral states and is calibrated to reproduce the observed X-ray properties of galaxies at z ∼ < 4. Together with an updated empirical determination of the cosmic history of star formation, recent modeling of the stellar mass-metallicity relation, and a scheme for absorption by the IGM that accounts for the presence of ionized H II bubbles during the epoch of reionization, our detailed calculations provide refined predictions of the X-ray volume emissivity and filtered radiation background from "normal" galaxies at z ∼ > 6. Radiative transfer effects modulate the background spectrum, which shows a characteristic peak between 1 and 2 keV. Because of the energy dependence of photoabsorption, soft X-ray photons are produced by local sources, while more energetic radiation arrives unattenuated from larger cosmological volumes. While the filtering of Xray radiation through the IGM slightly increases the mean excess energy per photoionization, it also weakens the radiation intensity below 1 keV, lowering the mean photoionization and heating rates. Numerical integration of the rate and energy equations shows that the contribution of X-ray binaries to the ionization of the bulk IGM is negligible, with the electron fraction never exceeding 1%. Direct He I photoionizations are the main source of IGM heating, and the temperature of the largely neutral medium in between H II cavities increases above the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) only at z ∼ < 10, when the volume filling factor of H II bubbles is already ∼ > 0.1. Therefore, in this scenario, it is only at relatively late epochs that neutral intergalactic hydrogen may be observable in 21-cm emission against the CMB.

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“…Mirabel et al (2015) discussed jet-induced star formation by a microquasar. Although star formation induced by microquasar jets may not be statistically significant in the Milky Way, jets from stellar black holes may have been important to trigger star formation during the re-ionization epoch of the universe (Mirabel et al 2011).…”

Section: Jets In Astrophysicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frontier Research in Astrophysics

Giovannelli¹,

Sabau-Graziati²

2016

Proceedings of Frontier Research in Astrophysics — PoS(FRAPWS2014)

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In this paper -a short updated version of our review paper about "The impact of space experiments on our knowledge of the physics of the Universe (Giovannelli & Sabau-Graziati (2004) (GSG2004) -we will briefly discuss old and new results obtained in astrophysics, that marked substantially the research in this field. Thanks to the results, chosen by us following our knowledge and feelings, we can describe the main pillars that support the "Bridge between the Big Bang and Biology". We will remark the importance of the joint venture of 'active physics experiments' and 'passive physics experiments' ground-and space-based that, with their results, are directed towards the knowledge of the physics of our universe. New generation experiments open up new prospects for improving our knowledge of the aforementioned main pillars. We will discuss about the • Big Bang Theory,

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Stellar black holes at the dawn of the universe

Cited by 248 publications

References 50 publications

Reconstructing the Nature of the First Cosmic Sources from the Anisotropic 21-cm Signal

Reconstructing the Nature of the First Cosmic Sources from the Anisotropic 21-cm Signal

Radiation Backgrounds at Cosmic Dawn: X-Rays from Compact Binaries

Frontier Research in Astrophysics

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