The Lyman-α forest in three dimensions: measurements of large scale flux correlations from BOSS 1st-year data

By A. Slosar, A. Font-Ribera, M. Pieri, J. Rich, J. Goff, 'Eric Aubourg, J. Brinkmann, N. Busca, B. Carithers, R. Charlassier and 27 more. 2011

147 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Using a sample of approximately 14,000 z > 2.1 quasars observed in the first year of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), we measure the three-dimensional correlation function of absorption in the Lyman-α forest. The angle-averaged correlation function of transmitted flux (F = e−τ) is securely detected out to comoving separations of 60 h−1Mpc, the first detection of flux correlations across widely separated sightlines. A quadrupole distortion of the redshift-space correlation function by peculiar velocities, the signature of the gravitational instability origin of structure in the Lyman-α forest, is also detected at high significance. We obtain a good fit to the data assuming linear theory redshift-space distortion and linear bias of the transmitted flux, relative to the matter fluctuations of a standard ΛCDM cosmological model (inflationary cold dark matter with a cosmological constant). At 95% confidence, we find a linear bias parameter 0.16 < b < 0.24 and redshift-distortion parameter 0.44 < β < 1.20, at central redshift z = 2.25, with a well constrained combination b(1+β) = 0.336±0.012. The errors on β are asymmetric, with β = 0 excluded at over 5σ confidence level. The value of β is somewhat low compared to theoretical predictions, and our tests on synthetic data suggest that it is depressed (relative to expectations for the Lyman-α forest alone) by the presence of high column density systems and metal line absorption. These results set the stage for cosmological parameter determinations from three-dimensional structure in the Lyman-α forest, including anticipated constraints on dark energy from baryon acoustic oscillations.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Citations in the corpus

Measurement of BAO correlations at $z=2.3$ with SDSS DR12 \lya-Forests (2017, methodology): “As usual, we give the value of bLyα(1 + βLyα) because its error is smaller than the error for bLyα and less correlated with βLyα (see Slosar et al. (2011)).”
An updated analytic model for attenuation by the intergalactic medium (2014, background): “Nevertheless, we may suggest 1 In fact, the absorbers are correlated with each other and even with the observing distant object (e.g., Slosar et al. 2011; Rudie et al. 2013; Prochaska et al. 2014).”
THE BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY OF SDSS-III (2012, methodology): “The complete five year quasar sample should provide the means to extend the Slosar et al. (2011) analysis and observe the BAO feature at z > 2 for the first time.”
THE SDSS-IV EXTENDED BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY: QUASAR TARGET SELECTION (2015, methodology): “In addition, analyses of the Lyman-α Forest with BOSS have provided substantial new insights into cosmological constraints (e.g. Slosar et al. 2011, 2013; Noterdaeme et al. 2012; Busca et al. 2013; Kirkby et al. 2013; Palanque-Delabrouille et al. 2013b; Font-Ribera et al. 2014; Delubac et al.…”
Baryon acoustic oscillations in the Lyα forest of BOSS DR11 quasars (2014, methodology): “All three methods use data in the forest region to determine the continuum and therefore necessarily introduce distortions in the flux transmission field and its correlation function (Slosar et al., 2011).”
The DESI Experiment Part I: Science,Targeting, and Survey Design (2016, background): “2 (it is negative because a larger matter density implies a higher absorption and thus a lesser transmitted flux) [236], and is strongly enhanced along the line of sight by redshift-space distortions.”
The one-dimensional Lyα forest power spectrum from BOSS (2013, methodology): “This large number of quasars allowed for a detailed measurement of the Lyα power spectrum in 3D redshift space (as a function of the transverse and parallel directions) in Slosar et al. (2011), using the first 14 000 quasars of the BOSS survey.”
THE SDSS-III BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY: THE QUASAR LUMINOSITY FUNCTION FROM DATA RELEASE NINE (2012, background): “The main scientific motivation for the SDSS-III BOSS Quasar survey is to measure the baryon acoustic oscillation feature (BAO) in the Lyman-α forest (LyαF; Slosar et al. 2011).”
Observational probes of cosmic acceleration (2012, methodology): “For statistical analysis of a large sample, the continuum does not have to be accurate on a quasar-by-quasar basis, and there are strategies (such as measuring fluctuations relative to a running mean) for mitigating any bias caused by continuum errors (see, e.g., Slosar et al. 2011).”
THE MULTI-OBJECT, FIBER-FED SPECTROGRAPHS FOR THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY AND THE BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY (2012, methodology): “The potential for distance measurements at z > 2 using Lyman-α forest absorption from quasars is promising; the first detection of flux correlations across widely separated sightlines was obtained in the first year of BOSS data to comoving separations of 60 h−1Mpc (Slosar et al. 2011).”
THE SDSS-IV EXTENDED BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY: OVERVIEW AND EARLY DATA (2015, background): “The first measurement of clustering in the Lyα forest of BOSS quasars was reported in Slosar et al. (2011).”
THE NINTH DATA RELEASE OF THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY: FIRST SPECTROSCOPIC DATA FROM THE SDSS-III BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY (2012, background): “First baryon oscillation results from the DR9 galaxy sample may be found in Anderson et al. (2012) and references therein, and the first analysis of the clustering of the Lyman α forest from BOSS quasar spectra is found in Slosar et al. (2011).”
THE SDSS-III BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY: QUASAR TARGET SELECTION FOR DATA RELEASE NINE (2011, methodology): “Indeed, Slosar et al. (2011) have performed a first clustering analysis of Lyα forest flux from the BOSS Year One data.”
Measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations in the Lyman-α forest fluctuations in BOSS data release 9 (2013, methodology): “Note that while the central value of this prior is the same as the value measured in [34], the error is ten times larger, i.”
Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Ly-\alpha\ forest of BOSS quasars (2012, methodology): “In this study we used a set of mocks generated using the process described in Font-Ribera et al. (2012a), the same method used in the first publication of the Lyman-α correlation function from BOSS (Slosar et al., 2011).”