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arXiv 0710.4522astro-ph
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宇宙学的一个世纪:2<z<4.2星系际莱曼α不透明度的直接精确测量

A Century of Cosmology: A Direct Precision Measurement of the Intergalactic Lyman-alpha Opacity at 2<z<4.2

C. -A. Faucher-Giguere, J. X. Prochaska, A. Lidz, L. Hernquist, M. Zaldarriaga

摘要:

利用Keck/ESI、Keck/HIRES和Magellan/MIKE获得的86个高分辨率、高信噪比的类星体光谱样本,直接测量了星系际Lyman α有效光学厚度τ_eff在红移范围2<z<4.2的演化。我们发现,我们的估计类星体连续水平的Ly-alpha森林样条拟合得到的系统偏低,但这种偏见可以使用模拟光谱。平均分数误差<Delta C/C_true>在z=2时<1%,在z=3时为4%,在z=4时为12%。我们根据文献中的直接和统计金属去除结果,估计了Ly-alpha森林中金属的吸收水平,发现在z=3时,这种贡献约为6-9%,并随红移单调下降。我们的测量的高精度表明显着偏离最佳拟合幂律红移演化,特别是在z=3.2附近。

英文摘要:

We directly measure the evolution of the intergalactic Lyman-alpha effective optical depth, tau_eff, over the redshift range 2<z<4.2 from a sample of 86 high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise quasar spectra obtained with Keck/ESI, Keck/HIRES, and Magellan/MIKE. We find that our estimates of the quasar continuum levels in the Ly-alpha forest obtained by spline fitting are systematically biased low, but that this bias can be accounted for using mock spectra. The mean fractional error <Delta C/C_true> is <1% at z=2, 4% at z=3, and 12% at z=4. We provide estimates of the level of absorption arising from metals in the Ly-alpha forest based on both direct and statistical metal removal results in the literature, finding that this contribution is ~6-9% at z=3 and decreases monotonically with redshift. The high precision of our measurement indicates significant departures from the best-fit power-law redshift evolution, particularly near z=3.2.

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