The <scp>thesan</scp> project: tracking the expansion and merger histories of ionized bubbles during the Epoch of Reionization

ABSTRACT The growth of ionized hydrogen bubbles in the intergalactic medium around early luminous objects is a fundamental process during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). Observations using Ly $\alpha$ emission from high-redshift galaxies and forthcoming 21 cm maps are beginning to constrain the sizes of these ionized regions. In this study, we analyse bubble sizes and their evolution using the state-of-the-art thesan radiation-hydrodynamics simulation suite, which self-consistently models radiation transport and realistic galaxy formation throughout a large $(95.5\, \text{cMpc})^3$ volume of the universe. Analogous to the accretion and merger tree histories employed in galaxy formation simulations, we characterize the growth and merger rates of ionized bubbles by focusing on the spatially resolved redshift of reionization. By tracing the chronological expansion of bubbles, we partition the simulation volume and construct a natural ionization history. We identify three distinct stages of ionized growth: (1) initial slow expansion around the earliest ionizing sources, (2) accelerated growth through percolation, and (3) rapid expansion dominated by the largest bubble. Notably, we find that the largest bubble emerges by $z \approx 9\!-\!10$, well before the midpoint of reionization. This bubble becomes dominant during the second growth stage, and defines the third stage by rapidly expanding to encompass the remainder of the simulation volume. Additionally, we observe a sharp decline in the number of bubbles with radii around $\sim 10$ cMpc, indicating a characteristic scale in the final segmented size distribution. Overall, these chronologically sequenced spatial reconstructions offer crucial insights into the physical mechanisms driving ionized bubble growth during the EoR, providing a framework for interpreting reionization itself.