Speaker
Ms
Laura Keating
(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge)
Description
Observations of absorption lines in the spectra of QSOs out to redshift 7 provide an important probe of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at the tail end of reionization. In this talk I will discuss my work using high-resolution cosmological simulations to model the enrichment and ionization state of the high-redshift IGM. I will present results from cosmological simulations run with different hydrodynamic solvers and different feedback models. I will show results from a large boxes and zoom-in runs, some of which also include radiative transfer. I will demonstrate how some common observational probes of the neutral fraction of the IGM, such as the extent of the highly ionized regions around quasars, are affected by the environment of the host halo. I will further show that observations of metal-line absorbers allow us to test the effect of galactic feedback on the IGM and to place constraints on commonly used wind prescriptions. Finally, I will discuss how these absorption lines may also help us understand the nature of the sources responsible for reionization.
Primary author
Ms
Laura Keating
(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge)
