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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Self-consistent simulations of the high-redshift 21-cm signal with star formation calibrated to hydrodynamic simulations

  • Colton R Feathers1,2
  • Eli Visbal2
  • Steven G Murray1
  • Ryan Hazlett2
  • Yin-Zhe Ma1
  1. 1Department of Physics, Stellenbosch University , 111 Merriman Ave, Stellenbosch, Western Cape 7600 ,
  2. 2Ritter Astrophysical Research Center, University of Toledo , 2855 W. Bancroft St, Toledo, OH 43606 ,
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Abstract

We present a novel, self-consistent, seminumeric Cosmic Dawn (CD) simulation in which small-scale star formation (SF) is calibrated to the AEOS and Renaissance hydrodynamic simulations. SF proceeds within dark matter (DM) haloes via neural network emulation while considering large-scale fluctuations in density and feedback. We translate the resulting 3D distribution of galaxies into predictions for the 21-cm brightness temperature, δ Tb, and power spectrum, Δ 2(k). We simulate several unique realizations to study the impact of varying astrophysics on δ Tb, finding that more efficient Population II (PopII) SF largely yields stronger Lyman-α coupling, resulting in a shallower and wider absorption trough. However, we find that PopII SF dominates Δ 2(k) at z ≲ 20 and on smaller scales at intermediate redshifts (k ≳ 0.2 Mpc−1 at z ≃ 34small −20) while Population III (PopIII) SF dominates Δ 2(k) at z≳ 34 and on larger scales at intermediate redshifts. Compared with previous works, we find that the combination of hydrodynamic SF calibration, a critical halo mass for SF considering H2 self-shielding, and stochastic DM halo merger histories results in both earlier SF and higher SF rates across CD. Further, we find that the delay period separating PopIII and PopII SF (tdelay) significantly impacts δ Tb, and that one must include DM halo merger histories to properly account for this transition. Finally, we find our fiducial δ Tb to be detectable at z≲ 25 with 1080 h of HERA observations under moderate foreground assumptions, and the lack of such a detection at z ≳ 20 would suggest tdelay ≳ 30 Myr.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{feathers2026selfconsistent,
  title = {{Self-consistent simulations of the high-redshift 21-cm signal with star formation calibrated to hydrodynamic simulations}},
  author = {Colton R Feathers and Eli Visbal and Steven G Murray and Ryan Hazlett and Yin-Zhe Ma},
  journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag1833},
  url = {https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag1833/8916623},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Self-consistent simulations of the high-redshift 21-cm signal with star formation calibrated to hydrodynamic simulations
AU  - Colton R Feathers
AU  - Eli Visbal
AU  - Steven G Murray
AU  - Ryan Hazlett
AU  - Yin-Zhe Ma
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/14
JO  - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO  - 10.1093/mnras/stag1833
UR  - https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag1833/8916623
AB  - We present a novel, self-consistent, seminumeric Cosmic Dawn (CD) simulation in which small-scale star formation (SF) is calibrated to the AEOS and Renaissance hydrodynamic simulations. SF proceeds within dark matter (DM) haloes via neural network emulation while considering large-scale fluctuations in density and feedback. We translate the resulting 3D distribution of galaxies into predictions for the 21-cm brightness temperature, δ T_b, and power spectrum, Δ ^2(k). We simulate several unique realizations to study the impact of varying astrophysics on δ T_b, finding that more efficient Population II (PopII) SF largely yields stronger Lyman-α coupling, resulting in a shallower and wider absorption trough. However, we find that PopII SF dominates Δ ^2(k) at z ≲ 20 and on smaller scales at intermediate redshifts (k ≳ 0.2 Mpc^−1 at z ≃ 34small −20) while Population III (PopIII) SF dominates Δ ^2(k) at z≳ 34 and on larger scales at intermediate redshifts. Compared with previous works, we find that the combination of hydrodynamic SF calibration, a critical halo mass for SF considering H_2 self-shielding, and stochastic DM halo merger histories results in both earlier SF and higher SF rates across CD. Further, we find that the delay period separating PopIII and PopII SF (t_delay) significantly impacts δ T_b, and that one must include DM halo merger histories to properly account for this transition. Finally, we find our fiducial δ T_b to be detectable at z≲ 25 with 1080 h of HERA observations under moderate foreground assumptions, and the lack of such a detection at z ≳ 20 would suggest t_delay ≳ 30 Myr.
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
ER  -