TY - JOUR A1 - Worseck, Gabor A1 - Davies, Frederick B. A1 - Hennawi, Joseph F. A1 - Prochaska, J. Xavier T1 - The Evolution of the He II-ionizing Background at Redshifts 2.3 < z < 3.8 Inferred from a Statistical Sample of 24 HST/COS He II Lyα Absorption Spectra JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We present measurements of the large-scale (≈40 comoving Mpc) effective optical depth of He ii Lyα absorption, ${\tau }_{\mathrm{eff}}$, at 2.54 < z < 3.86 toward 16 He ii-transparent quasars observed with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, to characterize the ionization state of helium in the intergalactic medium (IGM). We provide the first statistical sample of ${\tau }_{\mathrm{eff}}$ measurements in six signal-to-noise ratio gsim3 He ii sightlines at z > 3.5, and study the redshift evolution and sightline-to-sightline variance of ${\tau }_{\mathrm{eff}}$ in 24 He ii sightlines. We confirm an increase of the median ${\tau }_{\mathrm{eff}}$ from sime2 at z = 2.7 to ${\tau }_{\mathrm{eff}}\gtrsim 5$ at z > 3, and a scatter in ${\tau }_{\mathrm{eff}}$ that increases with redshift. The z > 3.5 He ii absorption is predominantly saturated, but isolated narrow (Δv < 650 km s−1) transmission spikes indicate patches of reionized helium. We compare our measurements to predictions for a range of UV background models applied to outputs of a large-volume (146 comoving Mpc)3 hydrodynamical simulation by forward-modeling our sample's quality and size. At z > 2.74, the variance in ${\tau }_{\mathrm{eff}}$ significantly exceeds expectations for a spatially uniform UV background, but is consistent with a fluctuating radiation field sourced by variations in the quasar number density and the mean free path in the post-reionization IGM. We develop a method to infer the approximate median He ii photoionization rate ${{\rm{\Gamma }}}_{\mathrm{He}{\rm{II}}}$ of a fluctuating UV background from the median ${\tau }_{\mathrm{eff}}$, finding a factor sime5 decrease in ${{\rm{\Gamma }}}_{\mathrm{He}{\rm{II}}}$ between z sime 2.6 and z sime 3.1. At z sime 3.1, ${{\rm{\Gamma }}}_{\mathrm{He}{\rm{II}}}=\left[{9.1}_{-1.2}^{+1.1}\,(\mathrm{stat}.){\,}_{-3.4}^{+2.4}\,(\mathrm{sys}.)\right]\times {10}^{-16}$ s−1 corresponds to a median He ii fraction of sime2.5%, indicating that our data probe the tail end of He ii reionization. KW - dark ages, reionization, first stars KW - diffuse radiation KW - intergalactic medium KW - quasars: absorption lines Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab0fa1 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 875 IS - 2 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Worseck, Gabor A1 - Prochaska, J. Xavier A1 - McQuinn, Matthew A1 - Dall'Aglio, Aldo A1 - Fechner, Cora A1 - Hennawi, Joseph F. A1 - Reimers, Dieter A1 - Richter, Philipp A1 - Wisotzki, Lutz T1 - The end of Helium Reionization at z similar or equal to 2.7 Inferred from cosmic variance in HST/COS He II Ly alpha Absorption spectra JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters N2 - We report on the detection of strongly varying intergalactic He II absorption in HST/COS spectra of two z(em) similar or equal to 3 quasars. From our homogeneous analysis of the He II absorption in these and three archival sightlines, we find a marked increase in the mean He II effective optical depth from similar or equal to 1 at z similar or equal to 2.3 to greater than or similar to 5 at z similar or equal to 3.2, but with a large scatter of 2 less than or similar to tau(eff, He II) less than or similar to 5 at 2.7 < z < 3 on scales of similar to 10 proper Mpc. This scatter is primarily due to fluctuations in the He II fraction and the He II-ionizing background, rather than density variations that are probed by the coeval Hi forest. Semianalytic models of He II absorption require a strong decrease in the He II-ionizing background to explain the strong increase of the absorption at z greater than or similar to 2.7, probably indicating He II reionization was incomplete at z(reion) greater than or similar to 2.7. Likewise, recent three-dimensional numerical simulations of He II reionization qualitatively agree with the observed trend only if He II reionization completes at z(reion) similar or equal to 2.7 or even below, as suggested by a large tau(eff, He II) greater than or similar to 3 in two of our five sightlines at z < 2.8. By doubling the sample size at 2.7 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 3, our newly discovered He II sightlines for the first time probe the diversity of the second epoch of reionization when helium became fully ionized. KW - dark ages, reionization, first stars KW - diffuse radiation KW - intergalactic medium KW - quasars: absorption lines KW - quasars: individual (SDSS J092447.36+485242.8, SDSS J110155.74+105302.3) Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/733/2/L24 SN - 2041-8205 VL - 733 IS - 2 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER -