Related papers: Large Fluctuations in the High-Redshift Metagalact…
The spectra of the first galaxies and quasars in the Universe should be strongly absorbed shortward of their rest-frame Lyman-alpha wavelength by neutral hydrogen (HI) in the intervening intergalactic medium. However, the Lyman-alpha line…
The transmission of Lyman-{\alpha} (Ly{\alpha}) in the spectra of distant quasars depends on the density, temperature, and ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Therefore, high-redshift (z > 5) Ly{\alpha} forests could be…
Previous studies of the 2.2 < z< 2.7 HeII Lyman-alpha forest measured much larger ionizing background fluctuations than are anticipated theoretically. We re-analyze recent Hubble Space Telescope data from the two HeII sightlines that have…
Observed scatter in the Lyman-alpha opacity of quasar sightlines at $z<6$ has motivated measurements of the correlation between Ly$\alpha$ opacity and galaxy density, as models that predict this scatter make strong and sometimes opposite…
The inhomogeneous cosmological reionization process leaves tangible imprints in the intergalactic medium down to z=4-5. The Lyman-alpha forest flux power spectrum provides a potentially powerful probe of the epoch of reionization. With the…
We study the spatial fluctuations in the hydrogen ionizing background in the epoch following reionization (z ~ 5--6). The rapid decrease with redshift in the photon mean free path (m.f.p.), combined with the clustering of increasingly rare…
The epoch of hydrogen reionization is complete by $z=5$, but its progression at higher redshifts is uncertain. Measurements of Ly$\alpha$ forest opacity show large scatter at $z<6$, suggestive of spatial fluctuations in neutral fraction…
The amplitude of the ionizing background that pervades the intergalactic medium (IGM) at the end of the epoch of reionization provides a valuable constraint on the emissivity of the sources which reionized the Universe. While measurements…
We combine high resolution hydrodynamical simulations with an intermediate resolution, dark matter only simulation and an analytical model for the growth of ionized regions to estimate the large scale distribution and redshift evolution of…
The larger-than-expected scatter in the opacity of the Ly$\alpha$ forest suggests that the metagalactic ionizing background is strongly fluctuating at $z > 5.5$. Models for ionizing background fluctuations predict a strong positive bias on…
We analyze the Ly alpha forest properties of a sample of 15 high redshift quasars lying between z = 4.42 and z = 5.75, using high signal-to-noise spectra obtained with ESI on the Keck II 10 m telescope. The distribution of transmissions in…
Using high resolution (R ~ 45000), high S/N (20-50) VLT/UVES observations covering the Lyman-alpha forest at 1.5 < z < 2.4 combined with similar observations at z > 2.4 from the literature, we have presented the redshift evolution of the…
In Paper III of our series "A Uniform Analysis of the Ly-alpha forest at z=0 - 5", we presented a set of 270 quasar spectra from the archives of the Faint Object Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. A total of 151 of these spectra,…
Recent evidence supporting reionisation ending at redshift z<6 includes the rapid redshift evolution of the mean free path for Lyman-limit photons through the intergalactic medium at 5<z<6. Here we investigate the mean free path predicted…
Numerical hydrodynamical simulations have proven a successful means of reproducing many of the statistical properties of the LyA forest as measured in high redshift (z > 4) quasar spectra. The source of ionization of the Intergalactic…
Measurements of the mean free path of Lyman-continuum photons in the intergalactic medium during the epoch of reionization can help constrain the nature of the sources as well as sinks of hydrogen-ionizing radiation. A recent approach to…
We present a new investigation of the intergalactic medium (IGM) near the end of reionization using "dark gaps" in the Lyman-alpha (Ly$\alpha$) forest. Using spectra of 55 QSOs at $z_{\rm em}>5.5$, including new data from the XQR-30 VLT…
We investigate the possible influence of fluctuations in the metagalactic photoionizing ultra-violet background (UVBG) on the clustering of Ly$\alpha$-emitting galaxies through the modulation of the ionization level of the gas surrounding…
Inhomogeneous reionization enhances the 1D Lyman-$\alpha$ forest power spectrum on large scales at redshifts $z\geq4$. This is due to coherent fluctuations in the ionized hydrogen fraction that arise from large-scale variations in the…
The mean free path of ionizing photons, $\lambda_{\rm mfp}$, is a critical parameter for modeling the intergalactic medium (IGM) both during and after reionization. We present direct measurements of $\lambda_{\rm mfp}$ from QSO spectra over…