1204.1345 (Matthew McQuinn et al.)

The impact of the supersonic baryon-dark matter velocity difference on the z~20 21cm background    [PDF]

Matthew McQuinn, Ryan M. O'Leary

Recently, Tseliakhovich and Hirata (2010) showed that during the cosmic Dark Ages the baryons were typically moving supersonically with respect to the dark matter with a spatially variable Mach number. Such supersonic motion may source shocks that heat the Universe. This motion may also suppress star formation in the first halos. Even a small amount of coupling of the 21cm signal to this motion has the potential to vastly enhance the 21cm brightness temperature fluctuations at 15View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.1345