Anatomizing the Epoch of Reionization with Roman HLWAS
| Program ID | 19053 |
|---|---|
| Science Category | Intergalactic Medium |
| Program Type | Analysis |
| Category | Medium |
| Principal Investigator | Xiangyu Jin |
| PI Institution | University of Michigan |
| Co-Investigators |
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| Abstract | With extensive studies over the last twenty years, the second half of reionization timeline has been roughly established. However, many long-standing questions of reionization remain unanswered: What is the topology of reionization? How were ionized bubbles distributed in the IGM? What are the dominant sources of reionization? To answer these questions, we will analyze the deep tier of Roman High-Latitude Wide-Area Survey to map reionization at z~7-8. We will search luminous Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) and Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) from deep imaging and grism spectroscopy. We will: (1) infer the topology of reionization by measuring the Ly-alpha visibility as a function of galaxy over density; (2) constrain the average ionized bubble size by measuring the auto-correlation function of LBGs and LAEs; (3) reconstruct the morphology of reionization with a deep-learning framework. This will yield a comprehensive view of reionization on 100 cMpc near its midpoint, and reveal the connections between ionized bubbles and galaxy overdensities. We will establish the methodology for future reionization studies with Roman. This will pave the way for future reionization studies with deep Roman grism observations and 21cm observations from SKA to provide a coherent view on the morphology of reionization. |