Helium reionization from empirical quasar luminosity functions before and after JWST

Recently, models of the quasar luminosity function (QLF) rooted on large observational compilations have been produced that, unlike their predecessors, feature a smooth evolution with time. This bypasses the need to assume an ionizing emissivity evolution when simulating helium reionization with observations-based QLF, thus yielding more robust constraints. We combine one such QLF with a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation and 3D multifrequency radiative transfer. The simulated reionization history is consistently delayed in comparison to most other models in the literature. The predicted intergalactic medium temperature is larger than the observed one at z less than or similar to 3. Through forward modelling of the He II Lyman alpha forest, we show that our model produces an extended helium reionization and successfully matches the bulk of the observed effective optical depth distribution, although it overionizes the Universe at z less than or similar to 2.8 as the effect of small-scale Lyman Limit Systems not being resolved. We thoroughly characterize transmission regions and dark gaps in He II Lyman alpha forest sightlines. We quantify their sensitivity to the helium reionization, opening a new avenue for further observational studies of this epoch. Finally, we explore the implications for helium reionization of the large number of active galactic nuclei revealed at z greater than or similar to 5 by JWST. We find that such modifications do not affect any observable at z <= 4, except in our most extreme model, indicating that the observed abundance of high-z AGNs does not bear consequences for helium reionization.