Dark matter in the epoch of reionisation

Описание: ARC Seminar: 14 May 2021 by Dr Geoff Beck from the University of Witwatersrand.

Abstract: The Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) is the period of cosmic history when the formation of the first stars turns a dull, neutral universe into a bright, ionised cosmos. The history of this process depends upon many complex factors relating to star formation rates and galaxy evolution. The neutral gas in this epoch is very sensitive to energy injected by such stellar processes. Intriguingly, it may also be sensitive to more exotic sources of energy injection as well. In this seminar we investigate whether it would be possible to see the consequences of new physics (e.g. dark matter annihilation/decay) in the EoR, despite all the uncertainties of the conventional physics. Our probe of interest is the global 21 cm background, produced by neutral hydrogen prior to the end of the EoR. We examine the effects of WIMP dark matter annihilation using the DarkHistory package to fully, and consistently, account for the detailed particle physics of annihilation products in the EoR. These results are discussed in the context of previous work that predicted prominent dark matter effects, but relied upon simplified treatments of the complex EoR physics. Finally, we examine the question of whether an interferometer can detect the global 21 cm background, and project some non-observation constraints for HERA and the SKA.

The Astrophysics Research Centre (ARC) is part of the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). We strive to be a world-class centre of excellence for research and postgraduate training in astrophysics and related data-intensive science.

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