The Lyman alpha forest flux probability distribution at z>3

Abstract

We present a measurement of the Lyman alpha flux probability distribution function (PDF) measured from a set of eight high resolution quasar spectra with emission redshifts at 3.3 < z < 3.8. We carefully study the effect of metal absorption lines on the shape of the PDF. Metals have a larger impact on the PDF measurements at lower redshift, where there are fewer Lyman alpha absorption lines. This may be explained by an increase in the number of metal lines which are blended with Lyman alpha absorption lines toward higher redshift, but may also be due to the presence of fewer metals in the intergalactic medium with increasing lookback time. We also provide a new measurement of the redshift evolution of the effective optical depth, tau_eff, at 2.8 < z < 3.6, and find no evidence for a deviation from a power law evolution in the log(tau_eff)-log(1+z) plane. The flux PDF measurements are furthermore of interest for studies of the thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z ~ 3 . By comparing the PDF to state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, we place constraints on the temperature of the IGM and compare our results with previous measurements of the PDF at lower redshift. At redshift z=3, our new PDF measurements are consistent with an isothermal temperature-density relation, T=T_0 Delta^{gamma-1}, with a temperature at the mean density of T_0 = 19250 +/- 4800 K and a slope gamma=0.90+/-0.21 (1 sigma uncertainties). In comparison, joint constraints with previous PDF measurements at z<3 favour an inverted (gamma<1) temperature-density relation with T_0=17900 +/- 3500 K and gamma=0.70 +/- 0.12, in broad agreement with previous analyses.

20 pages, 17 figures, MNRAS, accepted for publication, minor changes after referee report

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• Exploring the Thermal State of the Low-Density Intergalactic Medium at z=3 with an Ultra-High Signal-to-Noise QSO Spectrum
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• Modeling the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest with Eulerian and SPH hydrodynamical methods
• The evolution of the low-density HI intergalactic medium from z=3.6 to 0: Data, transmitted flux and HI column density
• Joint Bayesian Estimation of Quasar Continua and the Lyman-Alpha Forest Flux Probability Distribution Function
• Hunting Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter in Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest
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• Improving IGM temperature constraints using wavelet analysis on high-redshift quasars
• Probing helium reionization with kinetic Sunyaev Zel'dovich tomography
• A Novel Estimator for the Equation of State of the IGM by Ly$\alpha$ Forest Tomography
• Lognormal semi-numerical simulations of the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest: comparison with full hydrodynamic simulations
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• Constraining the Temperature-Density Relation of the Inter-Galactic Medium from Analytically Modeling Lyman-alpha Forest Absorbers
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