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Measurements of the z > 5 Lyman-α forest flux autocorrelation functions from the extended XQR-30 data set

We present the first observational measurements of the Lyman-α (Ly α) forest flux autocorrelation functions in ten redshift bins from 5.1 ≤ z ≤ 6.0. We use a sample of 35 quasar sightlines at z > 5.7 from the extended XQR-30 data set; these data have signal-to-noise ratios of >20 per spectral...

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Main Authors: Wolfson, Molly (Author) , Hennawi, Joseph F. (Author) , Bosman, Sarah (Author) , Davies, Frederick B. (Author) , Lukić, Zarija (Author) , Becker, George D. (Author) , Chen, Huanqing (Author) , Cupani, Guido (Author) , D’Odorico, Valentina (Author) , Eilers, Anna-Christina (Author) , Haehnelt, Martin G. (Author) , Keating, Laura C. (Author) , Kulkarni, Girish (Author) , Lai, Samuel (Author) , Mesinger, Andrei (Author) , Walter, Fabian (Author) , Zhu, Yongda (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 30 May 2024
In: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Year: 2024, Volume: 531, Issue: 3, Pages: 3069-3087
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stae1293
Online Access:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae1293
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Author Notes:Molly Wolfson, Joseph F. Hennawi, Sarah E.I. Bosman, Frederick B. Davies, Zarija Lukić, George D. Becker, Huanqing Chen, Guido Cupani, Valentina D’Odorico, Anna-Christina Eilers, Martin G. Haehnelt, Laura C. Keating, Girish Kulkarni, Samuel Lai, Andrei Mesinger, Fabian Walter and Yongda Zhu
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Summary:We present the first observational measurements of the Lyman-α (Ly α) forest flux autocorrelation functions in ten redshift bins from 5.1 ≤ z ≤ 6.0. We use a sample of 35 quasar sightlines at z > 5.7 from the extended XQR-30 data set; these data have signal-to-noise ratios of >20 per spectral pixel. We carefully account for systematic errors in continuum reconstruction, instrumentation, and contamination by damped Ly α systems. With these measurements, we introduce software tools to generate autocorrelation function measurements from any simulation. Our measurements of the smallest bin of the autocorrelation function increase with redshift when normalizing by the mean flux, 〈F〉. This increase may come from decreasing 〈F〉 or increasing mean free path of hydrogen-ionizing photons, λmfp. Recent work has shown that the autocorrelation function from simulations at z > 5 is sensitive to λmfp, a quantity that contains vital information on the ending of reionization. For an initial comparison, we show our autocorrelation measurements with simulation models for recently measured λmfp values and find good agreements. Further work in modelling and understanding the covariance matrices of the data is necessary to get robust measurements of λmfp from this data.
Item Description:Gesehen am 15.08.2025
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stae1293

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