Probing the reionization history using the spectra of high-redshift sources

We quantify and discuss the footprints of neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) on the spectra of high-redshift (z similar to 6) sources, using mock spectra generated from hydrodynamical simulations of the IGM. We show that it should be possible to extract relevant parameters, including the mean neutral fraction in the IGM and the radius of the local cosmological Stromgren region, from the flux distribution in the observed spectra of distant sources. We focus on quasars, but a similar analysis is applicable to galaxies and gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows. We explicitly include uncertainties in the spectral shape of the assumed source template near the Lyalpha line. Our results suggest that a mean neutral hydrogen fraction, x(H), of unity can be statistically distinguished from x(H) approximate to 10(-2) by combining the spectra of tens of bright (M approximate to -27) quasars. Alternatively, the same distinction can be achieved using the spectra of several hundred sources that are similar to100 times fainter. Furthermore, if the radius of the Stromgren sphere can be independently constrained to within similar to10%, this distinction can be achieved using a single source. The information derived from such spectra will help in settling the current debate as to what extent the universe was reionized at redshifts near z similar to 6.