Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2000-02-04
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
invited paper, to be published in "Astrophysical Plasmas: Codes, Models, and Observations," eds. S. J. Arthur, N. Brickhouse,
Scientific paper
The first sources of ionizing radiation to condense out of the dark and neutral IGM sent ionization fronts sweeping outward through their surroundings, overtaking other condensed objects and photoevaporating them. This feedback effect of universal reionization on cosmic structure formation is demonstrated here for the case of a cosmological minihalo of dark matter and baryons exposed to an external source of ionizing radiation with a quasar-like spectrum, just after the passage of the global ionization front created by the source. We model the pre-ionization minihalo as a truncated, nonsingular isothermal sphere in hydrostatic equilibrium following its collapse out of the expanding background universe and virialization. Results are presented of the first gas dynamical simulations of this process, including radiative transfer. A sample of observational diagnostics is also presented, including the spatially-varying ionization levels of C, N, and O in the flow if a trace of heavy elements is present and the integrated column densities of H I, He I and II, and C IV thru the photoevaporating gas at different velocities which would be measured in absorption against a background source like that responsible for the ionization.
Raga Alejandro C.
Shapiro Paul R.
No associations
LandOfFree
Reionization of the Universe and the Photoevaporation of Cosmological Minihalos does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Reionization of the Universe and the Photoevaporation of Cosmological Minihalos, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Reionization of the Universe and the Photoevaporation of Cosmological Minihalos will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-666379