Recovering Density Fields inside Quasar Proximity Zones at $z\sim 6$

Abstract

The matter density field at $z\sim 6$ is very challenging to probe. One of the traditional probes of the low density IGM that works successfully at lower redshifts is the Lyman-alpha forest in quasar spectra. However, at the end of reionization, the residual neutral hydrogen usually creates saturated absorption, thus much of the information about the gas density is lost. Luckily, in a quasar proximity zone, the ionizing radiation is exceptionally intense, thus creating a large region with non-zero transmitted flux. In this study we use the synthetic spectra from simulations to investigate how to recover the density fluctuations inside the quasar proximity zones. We show that, under ideal conditions, the density can be recovered accurately with a small scatter. We also discuss how systematics such as the quasar continuum fitting and reionization models affect the results. This study shows that by analyzing the absorption features inside quasar proximity zones we can potentially constrain quasar properties and the environments they reside in.

arXiv comment12 pages, 12 figures, comments welcome

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• XQR-30: the ultimate XSHOOTER quasar sample at the reionization epoch
• Measuring the Density Fields around Bright Quasars at $z\sim 6$ with XQR-30 Spectra
• Galaxy Formation and Symbiotic Evolution with the Inter-Galactic Medium in the Age of ELT-ANDES
• Approximating Density Probability Distribution Functions Across Cosmologies
• Reconstructing Large-scale Temperature Profiles around $z\sim 6$ Quasars
• Reconstruction of the Density Power Spectrum from Quasar Spectra using Machine Learning