Related papers: Constraining the Temperature-Density Relation of t…
At redshifts z >~ 2, most of the baryons reside in the smooth intergalactic medium which is responsible for the low column density Lyman-alpha forest. This photoheated gas follows a tight temperature-density relation which introduces a…
We examine the Ly-alpha absorber population at z<0.3 detected in spectra of the QSOs PG0953+415 and H1821+643 taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. We compare their statistical properties to…
The temperature of the low-density intergalactic medium is set by the balance between adiabatic cooling resulting from the expansion of the universe, and photo-heating by the UV-background. We have analysed the Lyman-alpha forest of eleven…
The thermal evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) depends on the reionization history of the universe. Numerical simulations indicate that the low density IGM, which is responsible for the low column density Ly-alpha forest, follows a…
We perform the first measurement of the thermal and ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) across 0.9 < z < 1.5 using 301 \lya absorption lines fitted from 12 HST STIS quasar spectra, with a total pathlength of \Delta z=2.1. We…
The filamentary network of intergalactic medium (IGM) gas that gives origin to the Lyman-alpha forest in the spectra of distant quasars encodes information on the physics of structure formation and the early thermodynamics of diffuse…
At low densities the standard ionisation history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) predicts a decreasing temperature of the IGM with decreasing density once hydrogen (and helium) reionisation is complete. Heating the high-redshift,…
The thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z < 6 constrains the nature and timing of cosmic reionization events, but its inference from the Ly-alpha forest is degenerate with the 3-D structure of the IGM on ~100 kpc scales,…
We estimate the He II to H I column density ratio, \eta = N(He II)/N(H I), in the intergalactic medium towards the high redshift (z_{em} = 2.885) bright quasar QSO HE 2347-4342 using Voigt-profile fitting of the H I transitions in the Lyman…
The distribution of the absorption line broadening observed in the Ly$\alpha$ forest carries information about the temperature and widths of the filaments in the intergalactic medium (IGM). In this work, we present and test a new method for…
We measure the intergalactic medium (IGM) opacity in the Ly$\alpha$ as well as in the Ly$\beta$ forest along $19$ quasar sightlines between $5.5\lesssim z_{\rm abs}\lesssim 6.1$, probing the end stages of the reionization epoch. Owing to…
The distribution of diffuse gas in the intergalactic medium (IGM) imprints a series of hydrogen absorption lines on the spectra of distant background quasars known as the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest. Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations…
We present an analysis of the Lyman alpha forests of five quasar spectra in the near UV. Properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at an intermediate redshift interval (0.9 < z < 1.9) are studied. The amount of baryons in the diffuse…
The reionization of helium is thought to occur at $2.5\lesssim z\lesssim4$, marking the last phase transition and final global heating event of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Since it is driven by rare quasars, helium reionization should…
The intergalactic medium (IGM) prior to the epoch of reionization consists mostly of neutral hydrogen gas. Ly-alpha photons produced by early stars resonantly scatter off hydrogen atoms, causing energy exchange between the radiation field…
Recent analyses of the intergalactic UV background by means of the HeII Lyman alpha forest assume that HeII and HI absorption features have the same line widths. We omit this assumption to investigate possible effects of thermal line…
Cosmic reionization was the last major phase transition of hydrogen from neutral to highly ionized in the intergalactic medium (IGM). Current observations show that the IGM is significantly neutral at $z>7$, and largely ionized by…
The post-reionization thermal state of the intergalactic medium is characterized by a power-law relationship between temperature and density, with a slope determined by the parameter $\gamma$. We describe a new method to measure $\gamma$…
We use an analytic model to study how inhomogeneous hydrogen reionization affects the temperature distribution of the intergalactic medium (IGM). During this process, the residual energy of each ionizing photon is deposited in the IGM as…
We present a new investigation of the thermal history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) during and after reionization using the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest flux power spectrum at $4.0\lesssim z\lesssim5.2$. Using a sample of 15 high-resolution…