Baryon acoustic oscillations in the Lyα forest of BOSS quasars

Journal Article · Thu Apr 04 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astronomy and Astrophysics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201220724· OSTI ID:1407184

Busca, N. G.; Delubac, T.; Rich, J.; Bailey, S.; Font-Ribera, A.; Kirkby, D.; Le Goff, J. -M.; Pieri, M. M.; Slosar, A.; Aubourg, É.; Bautista, J. E.; Bizyaev, D.; Blomqvist, M.; Bolton, A. S.; Bovy, J.; Brewington, H.; Borde, A.; Brinkmann, J.; Carithers, B.; Croft, R. A. C. ; Dawson, K. S.; Ebelke, G.; Eisenstein, D. J.; Hamilton, J. -C.; Ho, S.; Hogg, D. W.; Honscheid, K.; Lee, K. -G.; Lundgren, B.; Malanushenko, E.; Malanushenko, V.; Margala, D.; Maraston, C.; Mehta, K.; Miralda-Escudé, J.; Myers, A. D.; Nichol, R. C.; Noterdaeme, P.; Olmstead, M. D.; Oravetz, D.; Palanque-Delabrouille, N.; Pan, K.; Pâris, I.; Percival, W. J.; Petitjean, P.; Roe, N. A.; Rollinde, E.; Ross, N. P.; Rossi, G.; Schlegel, D. J.; Schneider, D. P.; Shelden, A.; Sheldon, E. S.; Simmons, A.; Snedden, S.; Tinker, J. L.; Viel, M.; Weaver, B. A.; Weinberg, D. H.; White, M.; Yèche, C.; York, D. G.

In this paper, we report a detection of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in the three-dimensional correlation function of the transmitted flux fraction in the Lyα forest of high-redshift quasars. The study uses 48,640 quasars in the redshift range $$2.1\le z \le 3.5$$ from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III). At a mean redshift $z=2.3$, we measure the monopole and quadrupole components of the correlation function for separations in the range 20 h^-1 Mpc < r < 200 h^-1. A peak in the correlation function is seen at a separation equal to $$(1.01\pm0.03)$$ times the distance expected for the BAO peak within a concordance $$\Lambda$$CDM cosmology. This first detection of the BAO peak at high redshift, when the universe was strongly matter dominated, results in constraints on the angular diameter distance D_A and the expansion rate $$H$$ at $z=2.3$ that, combined with priors on $$H_0$$ and the baryon density, require the existence of dark energy. Combined with constraints derived from Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations, this result implies $$H(z=2.3)=(224\pm8){\rm km\,s^{-1}Mpc^{-1}}$$, indicating that the time derivative of the cosmological scale parameter $$\dot{a}=H(z=2.3)/(1+z)$$ is significantly greater than that measured with BAO at $$z\sim0.5$$. This demonstrates that the expansion was decelerating in the range 0.7 < z < 2.3 , as expected from the matter domination during this epoch. Finally, combined with measurements of H₀, one sees the pattern of deceleration followed by acceleration characteristic of a dark-energy dominated universe.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Contributing Organization: BOSS Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 1407184
• Journal Information: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 552; ISSN 0004-6361
• Publisher: EDP Sciences
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
cosmology: observations
dark energy
large-scale structure of Universe
cosmological parameters