Intergalactic Lyman continuum photon budget in the past 5 billion years

Abstract

We constrain the H I photoionization rate $({\Gamma }_{\mathrm{HI}})$ at $z\lesssim 0.45$ by comparing the flux probability distribution function and power spectrum of the Ly-$\alpha$ forest data along 82 QSO sightlines obtained using Cosmic Origins Spectrograph with models generated from smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations. We have developed a module named "Code for Ionization and Temperature Evolution (CITE)" for calculating the intergalactic medium (IGM) temperature evolution from high to low redshifts by post-processing the GADGET-2 simulation outputs. Our method, that produces results consistent with other simulations, is computationally less expensive thus allowing us to explore a large parameter space. It also allows rigorous estimation of the error covariance matrix for various statistical quantities of interest. We find that the best-fit ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{HI}}(z)$ increases with $z$ and follows $(4\pm 0.1)\times 10^{-14}(1+z{)}^{4.99\pm 0.12}$ s${}^{-1}$. At any given $z$ the typical uncertainties $\Delta {\Gamma }_{\mathrm{HI}}/{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{HI}}$ are $\sim 25$ per cent which contains not only the statistical errors but also those arising from possible degeneracy with the thermal history of the IGM and cosmological parameters and uncertainties in fitting the QSO continuum. These values of ${\Gamma }_{\mathrm{HI}}$ favour the scenario where only QSOs contribute to the ionizing background at $z<2$. Our derived $3\sigma$ upper limit on average escape fraction is $0.008$, consistent with measurements of low-$z$ galaxies.

25 pages, 17 figures, 11 tables, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (27)

• An Observational Determination of the Bolometric Quasar Luminosity Function
• The effect of photo-ionization on the cooling rates of enriched, astrophysical plasmas
• A New Calculation of the Ionizing Background Spectrum and the Effects of HeII Reionization
• The observed ionization rate of the intergalactic medium and the ionizing emissivity at z >5: Evidence for a photon starved and extended epoch of reionization
• The Low-z Intergalactic Medium. III. HI and Metal Absorbers at z<0.4
• A Local Clue to the Reionization of the Universe
• Possible evidence for an inverted temperature-density relation in the intergalactic medium from the flux distribution of the Lyman-alpha forest
• Direct Detection of Lyman Continuum Escape from Local Starburst Galaxies with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph
• An improved measurement of the flux distribution of the Ly-alpha forest in QSO absorption spectra: the effect of continuum fitting, metal contamination and noise properties
• Physical Properties, Baryon Content, and Evolution of the LyαForest: New Insights from High Resolution Observations at z < 0.4
• HST-COS Observations of AGN. II. Extended Survey of Ultraviolet Composite Spectra from 159 Active Galactic Nuclei
• Quasar Proximity Zones and Patchy Reionization
• The thermal history of the intergalactic medium down to redshift z=1.5: a new curvature measurement
• The Photon Underproduction Crisis
• Luminosity Function from dedicated SDSS-III and MMT data of quasars in 0.7<z<4.0 selected with a new approach
• A Flat Photoionization Rate at 2<z<4.2: Evidence for a Stellar-Dominated UV Background and Against a Decline of Cosmic Star Formation Beyond z~3
• Tracing the Cosmic Metal Evolution in the Low-Redshift Intergalactic Medium
• The transverse proximity effect in the z ~ 2 Lyman-alpha forest suggests QSO episodic lifetimes of ~1 Myr
• Quantifying Distributions of Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction
• The Effect of Galactic Properties on the Escape Fraction of Ionizing Photons
• Lyman continuum galaxies and the escape fraction of Lyman break galaxies
• Diagnosing galactic feedback with the line broadening in the low redshift Lyman-alpha forest
• The Line-of-Sight Proximity Effect and the Mass of Quasar Host Halos
• The Probability Distribution of the Lya transmitted flux from a sample of SDSS quasars
• Numerical Simulations Unravel the Cosmic Web
• On the connection between the metal-enriched intergalactic medium and galaxies: an OVI-galaxy cross-correlation study at $z<1$
• The UV background photoionization rate at 2.3 < z < 4.6 as measured from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Cited by in corpus (48)

• The Bolometric Quasar Luminosity Function at z = 0-7
• Evolution of the AGN UV luminosity function from redshift 7.5
• A Cosmic UV/X-ray Background Model Update
• Consistent modelling of the meta-galactic UV background and the thermal/ionization history of the intergalactic medium
• New synthesis models of consistent extragalactic background light over cosmic time
• Probing the thermal state of the intergalactic medium at $z>5$ with the transmission spikes in high-resolution Ly$\alpha$ forest spectra
• A consistent and robust measurement of the thermal state of the IGM at $2\le z\le 4$ from a large sample of Ly$\alpha$ forest spectra: Evidence for late and rapid HeII reionization
• Implications of the large OVI columns around low-redshift $L_{\ast }$ galaxies
• EDGE: From quiescent to gas-rich to star-forming low-mass dwarf galaxies
• A New Precision Measurement of the Small-Scale Line-of-Sight Power Spectrum of the Ly$\alpha$ Forest
• VoIgt profile Parameter Estimation Routine (VIPER): H I photoionization rate at z<0.5
• Does circumgalactic OVI trace low-pressure gas beyond the accretion shock? Clues from HI and low-ion absorption, line kinematics, and dust extinction
• The Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (CUBS) -- III. Physical properties and elemental abundances of Lyman limit systems at $z<1$
• The Dispersion of Fast Radio Bursts from a Structured Intergalactic Medium at Redshifts z < 1.5
• Diagnosing galactic feedback with the line broadening in the low redshift Lyman-alpha forest
• The Power Spectrum of the Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest at z < 0.5
• Jet Feedback and the Photon Underproduction Crisis in Simba
• Inferring the Thermal History of the Intergalactic Medium from the Properties of the Hydrogen and Helium Lyman-alpha Forest
• Radio wave scattering by circumgalactic cool gas clumps
• COS-Weak: Probing the CGM using analogs of weak Mg II absorbers at z < 0.3
• The Effect Of AGN Heating On The Low-Redshift Lyα Forest
• PRIYA: A New Suite of Lyman-alpha Forest Simulations for Cosmology
• Implications of an updated ultraviolet background for the ionization mechanisms of intervening Ne VIII absorbers
• Effect of non-equilibrium ionization on derived physical conditions of the high-$z$ intergalactic medium
• The effect of stellar and AGN feedback on the low redshift Lyman-$\alpha$ forest in the Sherwood simulation suite
• Clumpiness of Observed and Simulated Cold Circumgalactic Gas
• Detection of Two Intervening Ne VIII Absorbers Probing Warm Gas at z~0.6
• Efficient long-range AGN feedback affects the low redshift Lyman-$\alpha$ forest
• Limits on non-canonical heating and turbulence in the intergalactic medium from the low redshift Lyman-alpha forest
• Efficient adiabatic hydrodynamical simulations of the high-redshift intergalactic medium
• The low redshift Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest as a constraint for models of AGN feedback
• The COS-legacy survey of C IV absorbers: properties and origins of the intervening systems
• Constraining the cosmic UV background at z>3 with MUSE Lyman-α emission observations
• Probing the Dependence of the Intergalactic Medium on Large Scale Environment Using the Low Redshift Lyman Alpha Forest
• How Robust are the Inferred Density and Metallicity of the Circumgalactic Medium?
• Three- and two-point spatial correlations of intergalactic medium at $z\sim 2$ using projected quasar triplets
• Role of ionizing background on the statistics of metal absorbers in hydrodynamical simulations
• C IV absorbers tracing cool gas in dense galaxy group/cluster environments
• Flux sensitivity requirements for the detection of Lyman continuum radiation drop-ins from star-forming galaxies below redshifts of 3
• Detection of Low Metallicity Warm Plasma in a Galaxy Overdensity Environment at z ~ 0.2
• Can the Low Redshift Lyman Alpha Forest Constrain AGN Feedback Models?
• Three- and two-point spatial correlations of IGM at $z\sim 2$: Cloud based analysis using simulations
• Lognormal semi-numerical simulations of the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest: comparison with full hydrodynamic simulations
• Measurement of redshift-space two- and three-point correlation of Ly$\alpha$ absorbers at $1.7<z<3.5$: Implications on evolution of the physical properties of IGM
• On the Physical Nature of Ly$\alpha$ Transmission Spikes in High Redshift Quasar Spectra
• Physical conditions in high$-$z optically thin C III absorbers: Origin of cloud sizes and associated correlations
• Physical conditions and redshift evolution of optically thin C III absorbers: Low-z sample
• Lyman continuum observations across cosmic time: recent developments, future requirements