Intensity Mapping of the [CII] Fine Structure Line during the Epoch of Reionization

Understand

The atomic CII fine-structure line is one of the brightest lines in a typical star-forming galaxy spectrum with a luminosity ~ 0.1% to 1% of the bolometric luminosity.

• It is potentially a reliable tracer of the dense gas distribution at high redshifts and could provide an additional probe to the era of reionization.
• By taking into account of the spontaneous, stimulated and collisional emission of the CII line, we calculate the spin temperature and the mean intensity as a function of the redshift.
• When averaged over a cosmologically large volume, we find that the CII emission from ionized carbon in individual galaxies is larger than the signal generated by carbon in the intergalactic medium (IGM).