University
of California, Davis
Physics
Department
Cosmology
Seminar
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"The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe from the
Lyman Alpha Forest"
The Lyman alpha forest is a result of absorptions of quasar continuum by the diffusely distributed and photoionized intergalactic medium, which traces the underlying density field on scales larger than the Jeans length. As such, the Lyman alpha forest offers a unique way to study the large-scale structure of the universe at a wide range of redshift. I will briefly describe the techniques and results of previous works such as the recovery of the three-dimensional linear mass power spectrum. However, precision cosmology using the Lyman alpha forest remains a challenge because of statistical and systematic uncertainties that have not been addressed. We begin to investigate these uncertainties, which include the covariance of the one-dimensional mass/flux power spectrum and the effect of the warm-hot intergalactic medium at low redshift. The results will be useful for
planning future power-spectrum analysis using the Lyman alpha forest.
12:10 p.m., 416 PHY/GEO