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Register a new userNeutrino masses and cosmology with Lyman-alpha forest power spectrum
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Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille
Publication date
2015
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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We present constraints on neutrino masses, the primordial fluctuation spectrum from inflation, and other parameters of the $Lambda$CDM model, using the one-dimensional Ly$alpha$-forest power spectrum measured by Palanque-Delabrouille et al. (2013) from SDSS-III/BOSS, complemented by Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and other cosmological probes. This paper improves on the previous analysis by Palanque-Delabrouille et al. (2015) by using a more powerful set of calibrating hydrodynamical simulations that reduces uncertainties associated with resolution and box size, by adopting a more flexible set of nuisance parameters for describing the evolution of the intergalactic medium, by including additional freedom to account for systematic uncertainties, and by using Planck 2015 constraints in place of Planck 2013. Fitting Ly$alpha$ data alone leads to cosmological parameters in excellent agreement with the values derived independently from CMB data, except for a weak tension on the scalar index $n_s$. Combining BOSS Ly$alpha$ with Planck CMB constrains the sum of neutrino masses to $sum m_ u < 0.12$ eV (95% C.L.) including all identified systematic uncertainties, tighter than our previous limit (0.15 eV) and more robust. Adding Ly$alpha$ data to CMB data reduces the uncertainties on the optical depth to reionization $tau$, through the correlation of $tau$ with $sigma_8$. Similarly, correlations between cosmological parameters help in constraining the tensor-to-scalar ratio of primordial fluctuations $r$. The tension on $n_s$ can be accommodated by allowing for a running ${mathrm d}n_s/{mathrm d}ln k$. Allowing running as a free parameter in the fits does not change the limit on $sum m_ u$. We discuss possible interpretations of these results in the context of slow-roll inflation.
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We present constraints on masses of active and sterile neutrinos. We use the one-dimensional Ly$alpha$-forest power spectrum from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) and from the VLT/XSHOOTER legacy survey (XQ-100). In this paper, we present our own measurement of the power spectrum with the publicly released XQ-100 quasar spectra. Fitting Ly$alpha$ data alone leads to cosmological parameters in excellent agreement with the values derived independently from Planck 2015 Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data. Combining BOSS and XQ-100 Ly$alpha$ power spectra, we constrain the sum of neutrino masses to $sum m_ u < 0.8$ eV (95% C.L). With the addition of CMB data, this bound is tightened to $sum m_ u < 0.14$ eV (95% C.L.). With their sensitivity to small scales, Ly$alpha$ data are ideal to constrain $Lambda$WDM models. Using XQ-100 alone, we issue lower bounds on pure dark matter particles: $m_X gtrsim 2.08 : rm{keV}$ (95% C.L.) for early decoupled thermal relics, and $m_s gtrsim 10.2 : rm{keV}$ (95% C.L.) for non-resonantly produced right-handed neutrinos. Combining the 1D Ly$alpha$ forest power spectrum measured by BOSS and XQ-100, we improve the two bounds to $m_X gtrsim 4.17 : rm{keV}$ and $m_s gtrsim 25.0 : rm{keV}$ (95% C.L.). The $3~sigma$ bound shows a more significant improvement, increasing from $m_X gtrsim 2.74 : rm{keV}$ for BOSS alone to $m_X gtrsim 3.10 : rm{keV}$ for the combined BOSS+XQ-100 data set. Finally, we include in our analysis the first two redshift bins ($z=4.2$ and $z=4.6$) of the power spectrum measured with the high-resolution HIRES/MIKE spectrographs. The addition of HIRES/MIKE power spectrum allows us to further improve the two limits to $m_X gtrsim 4.65 : rm{keV}$ and $m_s gtrsim 28.8 : rm{keV}$ (95% C.L.).
The Lyman-alpha forest is the large-scale structure probe for which we appear to have modeling control to the highest wavenumbers, which makes it of great interest for constraining the warmness/fuzziness of the dark matter and the timing of reionization processes. However, the standard statistic, the Lyman-alpha forest power spectrum, is unable to strongly constrain the IGM temperature-density relation, and this inability further limits how well other high wavenumber-sensitive parameters can be constrained. With the aim of breaking these degeneracies, we measure the power spectrum of the Lyman-beta forest and its cross correlation with the coeveal Lyman-alpha forest using the one hundred spectra of z=3.5-4.5 quasars in the VLT/X-Shooter XQ-100 Legacy Survey, motivated by the Lyman-beta transitions smaller absorption cross section that makes it sensitive to somewhat higher densities relative to the Lyman-alpha transition. Our inferences from this measurement for the IGM temperature-density relation appear to latch consistently onto the recent tight lower-redshift Lyman-alpha forest constraints of arXiv:2009.00016v1 [astro-ph.CO]. The z=3.4-4.7 trends we find using the Lyman-alpha--Lyman-beta cross correlation show a flattening of the slope of the temperature-density relation with decreasing redshift. This is the trend anticipated from ongoing HeII reionization and there being sufficient time to reach the asymptotic temperature-density slope after hydrogen reionization completes. Furthermore, our measurements provide a consistency check on IGM models that explain the Lyman-alpha forest, with the cross correlation being immune to systematics that are uncorrelated between the two forests, such as metal line contamination.
We present the Lyman-$alpha$ flux power spectrum measurements of the XQ-100 sample of quasar spectra obtained in the context of the European Southern Observatory Large Programme Quasars and their absorption lines: a legacy survey of the high redshift universe with VLT/XSHOOTER. Using $100$ quasar spectra with medium resolution and signal-to-noise ratio we measure the power spectrum over a range of redshifts $z = 3 - 4.2$ and over a range of scales $k = 0.003 - 0.06,mathrm{s,km^{-1}}$. The results agree well with the measurements of the one-dimensional power spectrum found in the literature. The data analysis used in this paper is based on the Fourier transform and has been tested on synthetic data. Systematic and statistical uncertainties of our measurements are estimated, with a total error (statistical and systematic) comparable to the one of the BOSS data in the overlapping range of scales, and smaller by more than $50%$ for higher redshift bins ($z>3.6$) and small scales ($k > 0.01,mathrm{s,km^{-1}}$). The XQ-100 data set has the unique feature of having signal-to-noise ratios and resolution intermediate between the two data sets that are typically used to perform cosmological studies, i.e. BOSS and high-resolution spectra (e.g. UVES/VLT or HIRES). More importantly, the measured flux power spectra span the high redshift regime which is usually more constraining for structure formation models.
The latest measurements of CMB electron scattering optical depth reported by Planck significantly reduces the allowed space of HI reionization models, pointing toward a later ending and/or less extended phase transition than previously believed. Reionization impulsively heats the intergalactic medium (IGM) to $sim10^4$ K, and owing to long cooling and dynamical times in the diffuse gas, comparable to the Hubble time, memory of reionization heating is retained. Therefore, a late ending reionization has significant implications for the structure of the $zsim5-6$ Lyman-$alpha$ (ly$alpha$) forest. Using state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations that allow us to vary the timing of reionization and its associated heat injection, we argue that extant thermal signatures from reionization can be detected via the Ly$alpha$ forest power spectrum at $5< z<6$. This arises because the small-scale cutoff in the power depends not only the the IGM temperature at these epochs, but is also particularly sensitive to the pressure smoothing scale set by the IGM full thermal history. Comparing our different reionization models with existing measurements of the Ly$alpha$ forest flux power spectrum at $z=5.0-5.4$, we find that models satisfying Plancks $tau_e$, constraint favor a moderate amount of heat injection consistent with galaxies driving reionization, but disfavoring quasar-driven scenarios. We explore the impact of different reionization histories and heating models on the shape of the power spectrum, and find that they can produce similar effects, but argue that this degeneracy can be broken with high enough quality data. We study the feasibility of measuring the flux power spectrum at $zsimeq 6$ using mock quasar spectra and conclude that a sample of $sim10$ high-resolution spectra with an attainable signal-to-noise ratio will allow distinguishing between different reionization scenarios.
We investigate the large-scale structure of Lyman-alpha emission intensity in the Universe at redshifts z=2-3.5 using cross-correlation techniques. Our Lya emission samples are spectra of BOSS Luminous Red Galaxies from Data Release 12 with the best fit model galaxies subtracted. We cross-correlate the residual flux in these spectra with BOSS quasars, and detect a positive signal on scales 1-15 Mpc/h. We identify and remove a source of contamination not previously accounted for, due to the effects of quasar clustering on cross-fibre light. Corrected, our quasar-Lya emission cross-correlation is 50 % lower than that seen by Croft et al. for DR10, but still significant. Because only 3% of space is within 15 Mpc/h of a quasar, the result does not fully explore the global large-scale structure of Lya emission. To do this, we cross-correlate with the Lya forest. We find no signal in this case. The 95% upper limit on the global Lya mean surface brightness from Lya emission-Lya forest cross-correlation is mu < 1.2x10^-22 erg/s/cm^2/A/arcsec^2 This null result rules out the scenario where the observed quasar-Lya emission cross-correlation is primarily due to the large scale structure of star forming galaxies, Taken in combination, our results suggest that Lya emitting galaxies contribute, but quasars dominate within 15 Mpc/h. A simple model for Lya emission from quasars based on hydrodynamic simulations reproduces both the observed forest-Lya emission and quasar-Lya emission signals. The latter is also consistent with extrapolation of observations of fluorescent emission from smaller scales r < 1 Mpc.
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