"Stars in young galaxies must have been responsible for stripping most intergalactic gas of its electrons."
"A few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the matter between galaxies began gradually changing, from electrically neutral to ionized."
"An observational analysis has now settled a longstanding debate, suggesting that stars provided most of the photons that induced this 'reionization'."
Stars in young galaxies were responsible for stripping most intergalactic gas of its electrons. A few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the matter between galaxies transitioned from electrically neutral to ionized during the epoch of reionization. Observational analysis settled a longstanding debate by showing that starlight supplied the majority of ionizing photons driving this process. The result implies that early galaxies and their massive, short-lived stars dominated the photon budget necessary to reionize the intergalactic medium, reducing the need for powerful nonstellar sources such as quasars to account for the global ionization.
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