Related papers: Cosmology with the Ly-a forest
In recent years, a remarkably simple physical picture of the Lyman-alpha forest has emerged, which allows detailed predictions to be made and turns the forest into a powerful probe of cosmology. We point out ways in which such a picture can…
The hydrogen Ly$\alpha$ forest is an important probe of the $z>2$ Universe that is otherwise challenging to observe with galaxy redshift surveys, but this technique has traditionally been limited to 1D studies in front of bright quasars.…
We review recent developments in the theory of the Lyman-alpha forest and their implications for the role of the forest as a test of cosmological models. Simulations predict a relatively tight correlation between the local Lya optical depth…
A convincing physical picture for the Lyman-alpha forest has emerged from simulations and related semi-analytic studies of structure formation models. Observations can be be used in the context of this picture to study cosmology using the…
In this paper we review the importance of the Lyman alpha forest as a probe of structure formation in the universe. We first discuss the statistics used to describe the Lyman alpha forest and the numerical techniques used to produce…
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…
Cosmology has come a long way from being based on a small number of observations to being a data-driven precision science. We discuss the questions "What is observable?", "What in the Universe is knowable?" and "What are the fundamental…
The dramatic confrontation between new observations and theories of the early and recent universe makes cosmology one of the most rapidly advancing fields in the physical sciences. The universe is a unique laboratory in which to probe…
Evidence for a positive cosmological constant $\Lambda$, derived from the Ly$\alpha$-forest in high-resolution spectra of quasars, leads to a closed, low-density, $\Lambda$-dominated universe. The analysis is based on the assumption of a…
Cosmological models in Lyra's geometry are constructed and investigated with the assumption of a minimal interaction of matter with the displacement vector field and the dynamical $\Lambda$ - term. Exact solutions of the model equations are…
While purely philosophical in the early times, and still very speculative at the beginning of the twentieth century, Cosmology has gradually entered into the realm of experimental science over the past eighty years. It has raised some…
Cosmological observations offer unique and robust avenues for probing the fundamental nature of dark matter particles-they broadly test a range of compelling theoretical scenarios, often surpassing or complementing the reach of terrestrial…
Complex systems throughout Nature display structures and functions that are built and maintained, at least in part, by optimal energies flowing through them--not specific, ideal values, rather ranges in energy rate density below which…
How is the universe organized on large scales? How did this structure evolve from the unknown initial conditions to the present time? The answers to these questions will shed light on the cosmology we live in, the amount, composition and…
The Ly-alpha forest provides important constraints on the smoothness of the universe on large scales. We calculate the flux distribution along line-of-sight to quasars in a universe made of randomly distributed clumps, each of them with a…
We note that in general there exist two basic aspects in any branch of physics, including cosmology - one dealing with the attributes of basic constituents and forces of nature, the other dealing with how structures arise from them and how…
The notion that microparsec-scale black holes can be used to probe gigaparsec-scale physics may seem counterintuitive, at first. Yet, the gravitational observatory LISA will detect cosmologically-distant coalescing pairs of massive black…
We critically assess the twin prospects of describing the observed universe in string theory, and using cosmological experiments to probe string theory. For the purposes of this short review, we focus on the limitations imposed by our…
Observational cosmology is on the verge of new discoveries that will change the essence of our world-view. The matter concerns origin of initial conditions and physics of dark matter.
The network of cosmological tests is tight enough now to show that the relativistic Big Bang cosmology is a good approximation to what happened as the universe expanded and cooled through light element production and evolved to the present.…