Unveiling the High-Redshift Universe with Gamma-Ray Bursts
Open Access DepositedThe Epoch of Reionization (EoR) is a key era of cosmological history in which the Intergalactic Medium (IGM), or the gas and dust that resides within galaxies, became ionized by light from early stars and galaxies. It is an important piece of our cosmological history, but remains poorly understood. Directly measuring the state of the EoR can provide information about its progression, shedding light on the current uncertainties about the EoR and providing a better understanding of the history of the Universe. Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous explosions in the Universe, and can be seen out to the extreme redshifts required to probe the EoR. Examining absorption features present in high-redshift GRB spectra can help to track the ionization state of hydrogen in the Universe at different redshifts, and trace the progression of the EoR. In this thesis, we contribute to our current understanding of the EoR by obtaining neutral fraction estimates from high-quality high-redshift GRB sepctra, and explore the potential of future missions and instruments to contribute to future high-redshift GRB and EoR studies. We first investigate the capabilities of the Photo-z Infrared Telescope, an instrument concept for the Gamow Explorer mission proposal, to identify high-redshift GRBs and encourage ground-based follow-up for further study. We also perform an analysis of two high-redshift GRBs with high-quality optical-to-near-infrared spectra, GRB 210905A (z ∼ 6.3) and GRB 130606A (z ∼ 5.9), to obtain neutral fraction estimates and help trace the progression of the EoR. Finally, we simulate the performance for new and upcoming spectrographs on JWST and the Extremely Large Telescope for obtaining accurate neutral fraction estimates to ensure that the EoR-related scientific return is maximized whenever a high-redshift GRB is detected.
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