The one-dimensional Lyα forest power spectrum from BOSS

Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie; Yèche, Christophe; Borde, Arnaud; Le Goff, Jean-Marc; Rossi, Graziano; Viel, Matteo; Aubourg, Éric; Bailey, Stephen; Bautista, Julian; Blomqvist, Michael; Bolton, Adam; Bolton, James S.; Busca, Nicolás G.; Carithers, Bill; A. C. Croft, Rupert; Dawson, Kyle S.; Delubac, Timothée; Font-Ribera, Andreu; Ho, Shirley; Kirkby, David; Lee, Khee-Gan; Margala, Daniel; Miralda-Escudé, Jordi; Muna, Demitri; Myers, Adam D.; Noterdaeme, Pasquier; Pâris, Isabelle; Petitjean, Patrick; Pieri, Matthew M.; Rich, James; Rollinde, Emmanuel; Ross, Nicholas P.; Schlegel, David J.; Schneider, Donald P.; Slosar, Anže; Weinberg, David H.

Abstract

We have developed two independent methods for measuring the one-dimensional power spectrum of the transmitted flux in the Lyman-α forest. The first method is based on a Fourier transform and the second on a maximum-likelihood estimator. The two methods are independent and have different systematic uncertainties. Determination of the noise level in the data spectra was subject to a new treatment, because of its significant impact on the derived power spectrum. We applied the two methods to 13 821 quasar spectra from SDSS-III/BOSS DR9 selected from a larger sample of over 60 000 spectra on the basis of their high quality, high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N), and good spectral resolution. The power spectra measured using either approach are in good agreement over all twelve redshift bins from ⟨z⟩ = 2.2 to ⟨z⟩ = 4.4, and scales from 0.001 km s-1 to 0.02 km s-1. We determined the methodological andinstrumental systematic uncertainties of our measurements. We provide a preliminary cosmological interpretation of our measurements using available hydrodynamical simulations. The improvement in precision over previously published results from SDSS is a factor 2–3 for constraints on relevant cosmological parameters. For a ΛCDM model and using a constraint on H0 that encompasses measurements based on the local distance ladder and on CMB anisotropies, we infer σ8 = 0.83 ± 0.03 and ns = 0.97 ± 0.02 based on H I absorption in the range 2.1 < z < 3.7.

Citation

Palanque-Delabrouille, N., Yèche, C., Borde, A., Le Goff, J.-M., Rossi, G., Viel, M., Aubourg, É., Bailey, S., Bautista, J., Blomqvist, M., Bolton, A., Bolton, J. S., Busca, N. G., Carithers, B., A. C. Croft, R., Dawson, K. S., Delubac, T., Font-Ribera, A., Ho, S., Kirkby, D., …Weinberg, D. H. (2013). The one-dimensional Lyα forest power spectrum from BOSS. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 559, Article A85. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201322130

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 5, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Nov 19, 2013
• Publication Date: 2013-11
• Deposit Date: Jan 4, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 18, 2023
• Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Print ISSN: 2329-1273
• Electronic ISSN: 2329-1265
• Publisher: EDP Sciences
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 559
• Article Number: A85
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201322130
• Keywords: Space and Planetary Science; Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/15170246
• Publisher URL: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2013/11/aa22130-13/aa22130-13.html