Strong 21-cm fluctuations and anisotropy due to the line-of-sight effect of radio galaxies at cosmic dawn

Abstract

ABSTRACT The reported detection of the global 21-cm signal by the EDGES collaboration is significantly stronger than standard astrophysical predictions. One possible explanation is an early radio excess above the cosmic microwave background. Such a radio background could have been produced by high-redshift galaxies, if they were especially efficient in producing low-frequency synchrotron radiation. We have previously studied the effects of such an inhomogeneous radio background on the 21-cm signal; however, we made a simplifying assumption of isotropy of the background seen by each hydrogen cloud. Here, we perform a complete calculation that accounts for the fact that the 21-cm absorption occurs along the line of sight, and is therefore sensitive to radio sources lying behind each absorbing cloud. We find that the complete calculation strongly enhances the 21-cm power spectrum during cosmic dawn, by up to two orders of magnitude; on the other hand, the effect on the global 21-cm signal is only at the 5 per cent level. In addition to making the high-redshift 21-cm fluctuations potentially more easily observable, the line-of-sight radio effect induces a new anisotropy in the 21-cm power spectrum. While these effects are particularly large for the case of an extremely enhanced radio efficiency, they make it more feasible to detect even a moderately enhanced radio efficiency in early galaxies. This is especially relevant since the EDGES signal has been contested by the SARAS experiment.