Rogers, KK;
Bird, S;
Peiris, HV;
Pontzen, A;
Font-Ribera, A;
Leistedt, B;
(2018)
Simulating the effect of high column density absorbers on the one-dimensional Lyman α forest flux power spectrum.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
, 474
(3)
pp. 3032-3042.
10.1093/mnras/stx2942.
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Abstract
We measure the effect of high column density absorbing systems of neutral hydrogen (H I) on the one-dimensional (1D) Lyman α forest flux power spectrum using cosmological hydrodynamical simulations from the Illustris project. High column density absorbers (which we define to be those with HI column densities N(H I) > 1.6 × 10 17 atoms cm -2 ) cause broadened absorption lines with characteristic damping wings. These damping wings bias the 1D Lyman α forest flux power spectrum by causing absorption in quasar spectra away from the location of the absorber itself. We investigate the effect of high column density absorbers on the Lyman α forest using hydrodynamical simulations for the first time. We provide templates as a function of column density and redshift, allowing the flexibility to accurately model residual contamination, i.e. if an analysis selectively clips out the largest damping wings. This flexibility will improve cosmological parameter estimation, for example, allowing more accurate measurement of the shape of the power spectrum, with implications for cosmological models containing massive neutrinos or a running of the spectral index. We provide fitting functions to reproduce these results so that they can be incorporated straightforwardly into a data analysis pipeline.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Simulating the effect of high column density absorbers on the one-dimensional Lyman α forest flux power spectrum |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/stx2942 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2942 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is the published version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | large-scale structure of universe, cosmology: theory |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1561980 |
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