Related papers: Radiative Transfer Effects on the Lya Forest
Here we investigate how LyC-opaque systems present in the intergalactic medium at $z\approx3$ can distort the spectral shape of a uniform UV background (UVB) through radiative transfer (RT) effects. With this aim in mind, we perform a…
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…
Spatial inhomogeneities in the spectral shape of the ultra-violet background (UVB) at the tail-end of HeII reionisation are thought to be the primary cause of the large fluctuations observed in the HeII to HI Ly-a forest optical depth…
The amplitude of the metagalactic ultraviolet background (UVB) at large-scales is impacted by two factors. First, it naturally attenuates at scales larger than mean-free-path of UVB photons due to the absorption by neutral intergalactic…
The low density hydrogen and helium in the IGM probed by QSO absorption lines is sensitive to the amplitude and spectral shape of the metagalactic UV background. We use realistic HI and HeII Ly-alpha forest spectra, constructed from…
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…
Interpretation of He II Ly{\alpha} absorption spectra after the epoch of He II reionization requires knowledge of the He II ionizing background. While past work has modelled the evolution of the average background, the standard cosmological…
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…
When modelling the ionisation of gas in the intergalactic medium after reionisation, it is standard practice to assume a uniform radiation background. This assumption is not always appropriate; models with radiative transfer show that…
We explore the impact of spatial fluctuations in the intergalactic medium temperature on the Lyman-alpha forest flux power spectrum near z ~ 3. We develop a semianalytic model to examine temperature fluctuations resulting from inhomogeneous…
We investigate the implications of the intergalactic opacity for the evolution of the cosmic UV luminosity density and its sources. Our main constraint is our measurement of the Lya forest opacity at redshifts 2<z<4.2 from 86…
Large variations in the effective optical depth of the He II Ly$\alpha$ forest have been observed at $z\gtrsim2.7$, but the physical nature of these variations is uncertain: either the Universe is still undergoing the process of He II…
We provide an in-depth analysis of the He II and H I absorption in the intergalactic medium (IGM) at redshifts z = 2.3-2.9 toward HE 2347-4342, using spectra from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) and the Ultraviolet-Visual…
Absorption due to HeII Ly-alpha has been detected at low resolution in the spectra of four quasars between redshifts z = 2.74-3.29. We assess these observations, giving particular attention to the radiative transfer of the ionizing…
The variations in Ly$\alpha$ forest opacity observed at $z>5.3$ between lines of sight to different background quasars are too strong to be caused by fluctuations in the density field alone. The leading hypothesis for the cause of this…
We have measured the distribution function of the flux decrement caused by Lyman alpha forest absorption in a new sample of high resolution QSO spectra. The observations are compared to the results from two simulations of the Lya forest: an…
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…
We examine large-scale fluctuations in the HeII Lyman-alpha forest transmission during and after HeII reionization. We use a simple Monte Carlo model to distribute quasars throughout a large volume and compute the resulting radiation field…
The shape of the UV ionizing background is reconstructed from optically thin metal absorption-line systems identified in spectra of HE2347-4342, Q1157+3143, and HS1700+6416 in the redshift interval 1.8 < z < 2.9. The systems are analyzed by…
The observed scatter in intergalactic Lyman-$\alpha$ opacity at $z \lesssim 6$ requires large-scale fluctuations in the neutral fraction of the intergalactic medium (IGM) after the expected end of reionization. Post-reionization models that…