pass by reference without the ref keyword

Your confusion is a very common one. The essential point is realising that "reference types" and "passing by refrence" (ref keyboard) are totally independent. In this specific case, since byte[] is a reference type (as are all arrays), it means the object is not copied when you pass it around, hence you are always referring to the same object.

I strongly recommend that you read Jon Skeet's excellent article on Parameter passing in C#, and all should become clear...

Because an array isn't a value type, it's a reference type. The reference to the location on the heap is passed by value.

I think some examples can show you differences between reference types and value types and between passing by reference and passing by value:

//Reference type
class Foo {
    public int I { get; set; }
}

//Value type
struct Boo {
    //I know, that mutable structures are evil, but it only an example
    public int I { get; set; }
}


class Program
{
    //Passing reference type by value
    //We can change reference object (Foo::I can changed), 
    //but not reference itself (f must be the same reference 
    //to the same object)
    static void ClassByValue1(Foo f) {
        //
        f.I++;
    }

    //Passing reference type by value
    //Here I try to change reference itself,
    //but it doesn't work!
    static void ClassByValue2(Foo f) {
        //But we can't change the reference itself
        f = new Foo { I = f.I + 1 };
    }

    //Passing reference typ by reference
    //Here we can change Foo object
    //and reference itself (f may reference to another object)
    static void ClassByReference(ref Foo f) {
        f = new Foo { I = -1 };
    }

    //Passing value type by value
    //We can't change Boo object
    static void StructByValue(Boo b) {
        b.I++;
    }

    //Passing value tye by reference
    //We can change Boo object
    static void StructByReference(ref Boo b) {
        b.I++;
    }

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Foo f = new Foo { I = 1 };

        //Reference object passed by value.
        //We can change reference object itself, but we can't change reference
        ClassByValue1(f);
        Debug.Assert(f.I == 2);

        ClassByValue2(f);
        //"f" still referenced to the same object!
        Debug.Assert(f.I == 2);

        ClassByReference(ref f);
        //Now "f" referenced to newly created object.
        //Passing by references allow change referenced itself, 
        //not only referenced object
        Debug.Assert(f.I == -1);

        Boo b = new Boo { I = 1 };

        StructByValue(b);
        //Value type passes by value "b" can't changed!
        Debug.Assert(b.I == 1);

        StructByReference(ref b);
        //Value type passed by referenced.
        //We can change value type object!
        Debug.Assert(b.I == 2);

        Console.ReadKey();
    }

}