Models of this process are constrained by an optical depth derived from the large-scale E-mode polarization power spectra of the CMB. Studying this process is the chief goal of the HERA instrument, which is a precursor to the Square Kilometer Array. One approach to studying the sources of energy for this process relies on high-redshift analogs of Haro 11 and Tololo-1247-232, which emit photons in the LyC (“lye-C”) region. The main evidence that this process was completed around a redshift of (*) six is that quasar (“KWAY-zar”) spectra at greater redshifts display Gunn–Peterson troughs. This process began at the end of the cosmic dark ages as small HII (“H-two”) regions formed, and eventually grew to permeate the entire universe. For 10 points, name this cosmological process that occurred approximately a billion years after the Big Bang as UV light caused neutral hydrogen to lose electrons. ■END■
ANSWER: reionization [accept Epoch of Reionization; accept the reionization of neutral hydrogen or the reionizing of HI (“H-one”); prompt on the ionization of hydrogen or the ionizing of hydrogen by asking “what is the name of the cosmological process?”] (The first sentence refers to the Thomson scattering optical depth. HERA, or Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array, is a radio telescope. LyC galaxies is an abbreviation of Lyman continuum galaxies.)
<Jonathen Settle, Astronomy>
= Average correct buzz position