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arXiv 2602.00301astro-ph.CO
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利用大再电离模拟研究Ly-α森林传输中的暗隙

Studying dark gaps in Ly-$α$ forest transmission with large reionization simulations

Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie(马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所);Institute for Theoretical Physics, Heidelberg University(海德堡大学理论物理研究所)

Barun Maity, Frederick B. Davies, Benedetta Spina, Sarah E. I. Bosman

AI总结:

通过大体积模拟研究Ly-α森林暗隙分布,探讨再电离末期宇宙介质的物理条件,发现稍晚的再电离结束情景与观测数据最吻合。

摘要:

宇宙再电离末期(z≈5.0-6.0)星际介质的物理条件尚不明确。利用扩展XQR-30类星体光谱,发现Ly-α传输通量在大尺度(≥150h^{-1}cMpc)上的异常相关性提出了挑战。本文通过高效的大体积(≈1Gpc)模拟框架,研究Ly-α森林暗隙分布(定义为传输通量低于0.05的区域)作为星际介质的敏感示踪剂。通过构建一系列物理动机的模型变体(即改变再电离红移、星际介质温度和电离光子平均自由程),生成合成视线并比较其预测的暗隙累积分布与观测光谱(红移区间Δz=0.2)。发现大多数模型在定性上与数据一致。稍晚的再电离结束情景(z≈5.4)最符合数据,而短恒定平均自由程模型在较低红移时被数据排除。这些发现支持再电离末期延伸至z≤5.7的新兴情景,但不能排除稍早的再电离伴有增强的后电离紫外线背景波动。从长暗隙(L≥30h^{-1}cMpc)分数的红移分布得出相似结论。然而,模型变体仍无法重现观测到的异常大尺度强通量相关性,这仍需进一步研究。

英文摘要:

The physical conditions of the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the final stages of cosmic reionization ($z\sim5.0-6.0$) are not yet fully understood. Recent reports of unexpectedly large-scale ($\ge 150 h^{-1}\mathrm{cMpc}$) correlation in Ly-$α$ transmission flux using extended XQR-30 quasar spectra pose interesting challenges on the reionization end stages. In this work, we investigate the Ly-$α$ forest dark-gap distribution (defined as regions with transmitted flux below 0.05) as another sensitive tracer of the IGM, using an efficient, large-volume ($\sim 1 ~\mathrm{Gpc}$) simulation framework. By constructing a suite of physically motivated model variants (i.e, varying the reionization redshift, IGM temperature, and ionizing-photon mean free path), we generate synthetic sightlines and compare their predicted cumulative distribution of dark gaps with that of observed spectra (at redshift intervals of $Δz=0.2$). We find that most of the models achieve qualitatively consistent agreement with the data. The scenario involving a slightly later reionization completion ($z\sim 5.4$) provides the closest match, while a short constant mean free path model is disfavored by the data at lower redshifts. These findings give qualitative support for the emerging scenario of reionization end extending to $z\le5.7$, although they can not rule out a slightly early reionization with enhanced post-ionization ultraviolet (UV) background fluctuations. A similar conclusion arises from the redshift distribution of long dark gap ($L\ge 30 ~h^{-1}\mathrm{cMpc}$) fraction. However, the model variants are still not able to reproduce the observed strong flux correlations at unusually large scales, which remains open for further investigations.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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