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Did cosmic rays reionize the intergalactic medium?

dc.contributor.authorNath, Biman B
dc.contributor.authorBiermann, P L
dc.date.accessioned2012-05-07T08:36:37Z
dc.date.available2012-05-07T08:36:37Z
dc.date.issued1993
dc.descriptionRestricted Access. An open-access version is available at arXiv.org (one of the alternative locations)en
dc.description.abstractWe investigate the role of cosmic rays from young galaxies in heating and ionizing the intergalactic medium (IGM) at high redshift. Using the IRAS observations at 60 microns, we estimate the cosmic ray luminosity density at the present epoch. We consider various forms of luminosity evolution in redshift, and calculate (i) the thresholds corresponding to the upper limits of Gunn-Peterson optical depth, (ii) the Compton γ-parameter for an IGM heated by cosmic rays (and compare it with the upper limits from COBE measurements), and (iii) an estimated limit from the integral of metal enrichment. We show that certain models, with rather strong evolution and early formation of galaxies, allow reionization of the IGM, consistent with all known constraints.en
dc.identifier.citationMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1993, Vol.2651, p241en
dc.identifier.issn0035-8711
dc.identifier.issn1365-2966 (Online)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2289/4439
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherRoyal Astronomical Societyen
dc.relation.urihttp://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993MNRAS.265..241Nen
dc.relation.urihttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9306001en
dc.rights1993 Royal Astronomical Societyen
dc.titleDid cosmic rays reionize the intergalactic medium?en
dc.typeArticleen

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