Related papers: Lyman alpha Absorption Systems and the Intergalact…
The reionization of hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) is a crucial landmark in the history of the universe, but the processes through which it occurs remain mysterious. In particular, recent numerical and analytic work suggest that…
Galaxies are surrounded by large reservoirs of gas, mostly hydrogen, fed by inflows from the intergalactic medium and by outflows due to galactic winds. Absorption-line measurements along the sightlines to bright and rare background quasars…
Some Lyman continuum photons are likely to escape from most galaxies, and these can play an important role in ionizing gas around and between galaxies, including gas that gives rise to Lyman alpha absorption. Thus the gas surrounding…
I present a review by epoch of baryons in the intergalactic medium (IGM), from the first star until today. Recent observations indicate a protracted period of reionization, suggesting multiple populations of reionizers; detection of these…
Lyman-alpha absorption is a prominent cosmological tool for probing both galactic halos and the intergalactic medium at high redshift. We consider a variety of sources that can be used as the Lyman-alpha emitters for this purpose. Among…
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…
The large cross-section of the Lyman alpha (Lya) line makes it a sensitive probe of the ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM). Here we present the most complete study to date of the IGM Lya opacity, and its application to the…
We investigate the properties of the Lyman alpha forest as predicted by numerical simulations for a range of currently viable cosmological models. This is done in order to understand the dependencies of the forest on cosmological…
We discuss the origin and physical nature of the Lya forest absorption systems as found in hydrodynamical simulations of the Intergalactic Medium in a standard Cold Dark Matter cosmology (Omega=1, H0=50 km/s/Mpc, sigma_8=0.7). The…
We present a model for the Lyman-alpha absorbers that treats all objects (from the low-density forest clouds to the dense damped systems) in a unified description. This approach is consistent with an earlier model of galaxies (luminosity…
The nature of the interaction between galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) is one of the most fundamental problems in astrophysics. The accretion of gas onto galaxies provides fuel for star formation, while galactic winds transform…
We present an analytical model for cosmological Lyman-limit systems (LLSs) that successfully reproduces the observed evolution of the mean free path (L) of ionizing photons. The evolution of the co-moving mean free path is predominantly a…
We combine predictions for several hierarchical cosmogonies with observational evidence on damped Lyman alpha systems to establish a correspondence between the high redshift galaxy population and the properties of damped Lyman alpha…
We report a quantitative study of the escape of Lyman-alpha photons from an inhomogeneous optically thick medium that mimics the structure of damped Lyman-alpha absorbers. Modeling the optically thick disk with 3 components (massive stars…
We propose to infer ionising continuum leaking properties of galaxies by looking at their Lyman-alpha line profiles. We carry out Lyman-alpha radiation transfer calculations in two models of HII regions which are porous to ionising…
The origin and evolution of structure in the Universe is one of the major questions occupying astronomers today. An understanding of the Lyalpha absorbers seen in QSO spectra is an important part of this program since such absorbers can be…
Absorption signatures in the spectra of QSOs are one of our most powerful tools for studying galactic and intergalactic environments at high redshifts. With the discovery of QSOs out to z > 7, QSO absorption lines are now tracing the end…
We provide an analytical description of the line broadening of HI absorbers in the Lyman-alpha forest resulting from Doppler broadening and Jeans smoothing. We demonstrate that our relation captures the dependence of the line-width on…
The significance of the Ly$\alpha$ emission line as a probe of the high-redshift Universe has long been established. Originating mainly in the vicinity of young, massive stars and in association with accretion of large bulks of matter, it…
We calibrate here cosmological radiative transfer simulation with ATON/RAMSES with a range of measurements of the Lyman alpha opacity from QSO absorption spectra. We find the Lyman alpha opacity to be very sensitive to the exact timing of…