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Recent observations of the Lyman-alpha forest show large-scale spatialvariations in the intergalactic Lyman-alpha opacity that grow rapidly withredshift at z>5, far in excess of expectations from empirically motivatedmodels. Previous studies have attempted to explain this excess with spatialfluctuations in the ionizing background, but found that this required eitherextremely rare sources or problematically low values for the mean free path ofionizing photons. Here we report that much -- or potentially all -- of theobserved excess likely arises from residual spatial variations in temperaturethat are an inevitable byproduct of a patchy and extended reionization process.The amplitude of opacity fluctuations generated in this way depends on thetiming and duration of reionization. If the entire excess is due to temperaturevariations alone, the observed fluctuation amplitude favors a late-ending butextended reionization process that was roughly half complete by z~9 and thatended at z~6. In this scenario, the highest opacities occur in regions thatreionized earliest, since they have had the most time to cool, while the lowestopacities occur in the warmer regions that reionized most recently. Thiscorrespondence potentially opens a new observational window into patchyreionization.

Large Opacity Variations in the High-Redshift Lyman-alpha Forest: the Signature of Relic Temperature Fluctuations from Patchy Reionization