Related papers: Scaling properties of the Lyman--$\alpha$ forest
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…
The spatial distribution of Ly-alpha forest absorption systems towards ten QSOs has been analysed to search for large-scale structure over the redshift range 2.2 < z < 3.4. The QSOs form a closely spaced group on the sky and are…
Ly$\alpha$ forests are usually associated with intergalactic gas clouds intercepting the quasar sight--line. Using as an example the Ly$\alpha$ forest of QSO 0055--26 ($z_{em} = 3.66$), we show that the probability of observing a line at…
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…
Cosmological simulations with gas provide a detailed description of the intergalactic medium, making possible predictions of neutral hydrogen absorption in the spectra of background QSOs. We present results from a high-resolution…
Observations of redshifted Lyman alpha forest absorption in the spectra of quasistellar objects (QSOs) provide a highly sensitive probe of the distribution of gaseous matter in the universe. Over the past two decades optical spectroscopy…
Higher order clustering statistics of Ly$\alpha$ forest provide a unique probe to study non-gaussianity in Intergalactic matter distribution up to high redshifts and from large to small scales. The author presents a brief review of his work…
We present an analysis of the non-Gaussianity in the distribution of Ly$\alpha$ forest lines in the QSO absorption spectra. Statistical tests performed on this data indicate that there may be large scale structure even though the power…
The properties of the Lyman-$\alpha$ absorptions observed in the spectra of QSOs are reviewed: the distribution of column densities and Doppler widths, the redshift evolution, the ``inverse effect'', the clustering. By interpreting the…
I review results obtained from studies of the high-redshift Lyman alpha forest, and present new results from HST/STIS spectra of low-redshift quasars in comparison with cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. The evolution of the Lyman alpha…
The spatial distribution of Ly-alpha forest absorption systems toward a group of 8, closely spaced QSOs has been analysed and evidence for large scale structure has been found at <z> = 2.8. Our technique is based on the first and second…
We present predictions of the correlation between the Lyman-alpha forest absorption in quasar spectra and the mass within \sim 5 Mpc/h (comoving) of the line of sight, using fully hydrodynamic and hydro-PM numerical simulations of the cold…
We present results from a survey of the Lyman alpha forest at 2.15<z<3.26 toward ten QSOs concentrated within a 1 degree field. We find correlations of the Lyman alpha absorption line wavelengths between different lines-of-sight over the…
Absorption lines in the Lyman-alpha forest can be thought of as peaks in neutral hydrogen density along lines of sight. The column density distribution (the number density of absorption lines as a function of column density) is then a…
We have measured the transmission of the Lyman alpha forest produced by neutral hydrogen scattering in the intergalactic medium between redshifts 2 and 6.3 using high signal to noise, high resolution (R > 5000) observations of 50 quasars…
The angular positions of quasars are deflected by the gravitational lensing effect of foreground matter. The Lyman-alpha forest seen in the spectra of these quasars is therefore also lensed. We propose that the signature of weak…
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 the first results of a survey designed to understand the origin of the Lyman alpha-forest absorption systems at low redshift. Using the WYFFOS and HYDRA multi-fibre spectrographs on the WHT and WIYN telescopes, we have identified…
We present a search for spatial and redshift correlations in a 2 A resolution spectroscopic survey of the Lyman alpha forest at 2.15 < z < 3.37 toward ten QSOs concentrated within a 1-degree diameter field. We find a signal at 2.7 sigma…
We examine the impact of gas pressure on the transverse coherence of high-redshift (2 <= z <= 4) Lyman-alpha forest absorption along neighboring lines of sight that probe the gas Jeans scale (projected separation Delta r <= 500 kpc/h…