Related papers: Reconstructing Quasar Spectra and Measuring the Ly…
The distribution of absorption lines in the spectra of distant quasars, called the Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly-$\alpha$) forest, is a unique probe of cosmology and the intergalactic medium at high redshifts and small scales. The statistical power of…
In the standard picture, episodes of luminous quasar activity are directly related to supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth. The ionising radiation emitted over a quasar's lifetime alters the ionisation state of the surrounding…
We measure the 1D Ly$\,\alpha$ power spectrum $P_\mathrm{1D}$ from Keck Observatory Database of Ionized Absorption toward Quasars (KODIAQ), The Spectral Quasar Absorption Database (SQUAD) and XQ-100 quasars using the optimal quadratic…
We have obtained spectroscopy of Q 1343+266 AB, a pair of quasars at redshift z = 2.03 with a projected separation of 9.5 arcseconds. This system is well-suited for probing the Ly-alpha forest, since the two component spectra show several…
Absorption between the rest-frame wavelengths of 973 and 1026 Angstroms in quasar spectra arises from two sources (apart from occasional metals): one is due to Lyman-alpha (Lya) absorption by materials at a low redshift, and the other from…
We present a method to recover the shape and amplitude of the power spectrum of mass fluctuations, P(k), from observations of the high redshift \lya forest. The method is motivated by the physical picture of the \lya forest that has emerged…
The apparent angular positions of quasars are deflected on the sky by the gravitational field sourced by foreground matter. This weak lensing effect is measurable through the distortions it introduces in the lensed quasar spectra.…
We present a theoretical framework for linking quasar properties, such as quasar age, to the surrounding Ly$\alpha$ emission intensity. In particular, we focus on a method for mapping the large-scale structure of Ly$\alpha$ emission…
We present a new method for probing the physical conditions and metal enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium: the composite spectrum of Ly-alpha forest absorbers. We apply this technique to a sample of 9480 Ly-alpha absorbers with redshift…
The Lyman-$\alpha$ forest refers to the series of absorption features observed in the spectra of distant quasars that are produced by neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium. Observed over a wide range of redshifts with both ground-…
Recently, NIRSpec PRISM/CLEAR observations by JWST have begun providing rest-frame UV continuum measurements of galaxies at $z\gtrsim7$, revealing signatures of Ly$\alpha$ damping-wing (DW) absorption by the intergalactic medium (IGM). We…
The absorption system at $z=3.572$ towards Q1937--1009 provides the best extragalactic measurement of the atomic deuterium to hydrogen ratio, D/H. We have obtained a new low-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) Keck spectrum to…
The correlation between Lyman-alpha absorption in the spectra of quasar pairs can be used to measure the transverse distance scale at z~2, which is sensitive to the cosmological constant (Omega_Lambda) or other forms of vacuum energy. Using…
We describe techniques for comparing spectra extracted from cosmological simulations and observational data, using the same methodology to link Lyman-alpha properties derived from the simulations with properties derived from observational…
A method for measuring the spectrum of a density field by a discrete wavelet space-scale decomposition (SSD) has been studied. We show how the power spectrum can effectively be described by the father function coefficients (FFC) of the…
We have constructed a sample of 29 close projected quasar pairs where the background quasar spectrum reveals absorption from optically thick HI gas associated with the foreground quasar. These unique sightlines allow us to study the quasar…
The intense radiation emitted by luminous quasars dramatically alters the ionization state of their surrounding IGM. This so-called proximity effect extends out to tens of Mpc, and manifests as large coherent regions of enhanced…
Techniques for the statistical analysis of the \Lya\ forest in high redshift quasars are developed, and applied to the low resolution (25 \AA) spectra of 29 of the 33 quasars in the Schneider-Schmidt-Gunn (SSG) sample.We find that the mean…
Very recently a new inversion method has been developped to analyze the intergalactic medium seen in absorption in quasar spectra (the so-called Lyman-alpha forest). This method is applied to recover the temperature of the gas and the…
We measure the power spectrum, P_F(k,z), of the transmitted flux in the Ly-alpha forest using 3035 high redshift quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This sample is almost two orders of magnitude larger than any previously…