Related papers: Measuring Omega Baryon from the Helium Lyman-Alpha…
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…
A new method is proposed to measure the Hubble constant H0 through the mean transmitted flux observed from high redshift quasars. A semi-analytical model for the cosmological-independent volume density distribution function is adopted which…
We reassess constraints on the cosmological baryon density from observations of the mean decrement and power spectrum of the Lyman-alpha forest, taking into account uncertainties in all free parameters in the simplest gravitational…
Estimates of Omega_baryon from primordial nucleosynthesis together with standard assumptions about the ionization state of low column density Lyman alpha forest clouds can be used to determine an upper limit for the cloud thickness along…
We present a new HST/STIS spectrum of the z=3.18 quasar PKS 1935-692 and summarize the spectral features shortwards of 304A in the rest frame likely to be caused by foreground HeII Lyman-alpha absorption. In accord with previous results on…
The low-redshift Ly-alpha forest of absorption lines provides a probe of large-scale baryonic structures in the intergalactic medium, some of which may be remnants of physical conditions set up during the epoch of galaxy formation. We…
We analyze high-redshift structure in three hydrodynamic simulations that have identical initial conditions and cosmological parameters and differ only in the value of the baryon density parameter, Omega_b=0.02, 0.05, 0.125. Increasing…
We present a new, high resolution HST/GHRS spectrum of quasar Q0302-003, and use the HeII Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption, together with a high resolution Keck spectrum of the HI Lyman-$\alpha$ forest, to probe the distribution and ionization…
We directly measure the evolution of the intergalactic Lyman-alpha effective optical depth, tau_eff, over the redshift range 2<z<4.2 from a sample of 86 high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise quasar spectra obtained with Keck/ESI,…
Based on the empirical formulas governing the distribution of Ly-a forest absorption, we use a Monte-Carlo technique to calculate the average HeII optical depth produced by these forest lines. A substantial contribution to HeII absorption…
We have performed high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of the Lyman-alpha forest in a variety of popular cold dark matter dominated cosmologies, including a low density and a vacuum-dominated model. The fluctuation amplitude of these…
We have conducted pointed redshift surveys for galaxies in the direction of bright AGN whose HST far-UV spectra contain nearby (cz <~ 30,000 kms), low column density (12.5 <= log N_{HI} (cm s^{-2}) <= 14.5) Ly-alpha forest absorption…
We measure the effective optical depth in the Lyman-alpha (Ly$\alpha$) forest using 40,035 quasar spectra from the Twelfth Data Release (DR12) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of SDSS-IV. A rigorous selection based on…
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…
Intergalactic absorbers along lines of sight to distant quasars are a powerful diagnostic for the evolution and content of the IGM. In this study, we search known low-z Ly-alpha absorption systems for equivalent absorption in higher Lyman…
Understanding the sources responsible for reionizing the Universe is a key goal of observational cosmology. A discrepancy has existed between the metagalactic hydrogen ionization rate, Gamma_HI, predicted by early hydrodynamical simulations…
We present constraints on the baryonic matter density parameter, $\Omega_b$, within the framework of the $\Lambda$CDM model. Our analysis utilizes observational data on the effective optical depth from high-redshift quasars. To parameterize…
I discuss recent HST observations and interpretation of low-z Ly-alpha clouds toward nearby Seyferts and QSOs, including their frequency, space density, estimated mass, association with galaxies, and contribution to Omega_b. Our HST/GHRS…
We identify a concordant model for the intergalactic medium (IGM) at redshift z=1.9 that uses popular values for cosmological and astrophysical parameters and accounts for all baryons with an uncertainty of 6%. We have measured the amount…
We examine the Ly-alpha absorber population at z<0.3 detected in spectra of the QSOs PG0953+415 and H1821+643 taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. We compare their statistical properties to…