The 21-cm forest

Abstract

We examine the prospects for studying the pre-reionization intergalactic medium (IGM) through the so-called 21-cm forest in spectra of bright high-redshift radio sources. We first compute the evolution of the mean optical depth τ for models that include X-ray heating of the IGM gas, Wouthuysen–Field coupling, and reionization. Under most circumstances, the spin temperature TS grows large well before reionization begins in earnest; this occurs so long as the X-ray luminosity of high-redshift starbursts (per unit star formation rate) is comparable to that in nearby galaxies. As a result, τ≲ 10−3 throughout most of reionization, and background sources must sit well beyond the reionization surface in order to experience absorption that is measurable by square-kilometre class telescopes. H ii regions produce relatively large ‘transmission gaps’ and may therefore still be observable during the early stages of reionization. Absorption from sheets and filaments in the cosmic web fades once TS becomes large and should be rare during reionization. Minihaloes can produce strong (albeit narrow) absorption features. Measuring their abundance would yield useful limits on the strength of feedback processes in the IGM as well as their effect on reionization.