English

Constraints on the cosmic expansion rate at redshift 2.3 from the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2023-06-21 v2

Abstract

We determine the product of the expansion rate and angular-diameter distance at redshift z=2.3z=2.3 from the anisotropy of Lyman-α\alpha (Lyα\alpha) forest correlations measured by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our result is the most precise from large-scale structure at z>1z>1. In flat Λ\LambdaCDM we determine the matter density to be Ωm=0.360.04+0.03\Omega_\mathrm{m}=0.36^{+0.03}_{-0.04} from Lyα\alpha alone. This is a factor of two tighter than baryon acoustic oscillation results from the same data due to our use of a wide range of scales (25<r<18025<r<180 h1Mpch^{-1}\text{Mpc}). Using a nucleosynthesis prior, we measure the Hubble constant to be H0=63.2±2.5H_0=63.2\pm2.5 km/s/Mpc. In combination with other SDSS tracers, we find H0=67.2±0.9H_0=67.2\pm0.9 km/s/Mpc and measure the dark energy equation-of-state parameter to be w=0.90±0.12w=-0.90\pm0.12. Our work opens a new avenue for constraining cosmology at high redshift.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2209.13942,
  title  = {Constraints on the cosmic expansion rate at redshift 2.3 from the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest},
  author = {Andrei Cuceu and Andreu Font-Ribera and Seshadri Nadathur and Benjamin Joachimi and Paul Martini},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2209.13942},
  year   = {2023}
}