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Title: Measurement of the small-scale structure of the intergalactic medium using close quasar pairs

Abstract

Using quasar pairs to measure smoothness Space between galaxies is filled with a tenuous gas known as the intergalactic medium (IGM). The presence of hydrogen atoms in the IGM at different redshifts imprints a series of absorption lines in the spectra of background quasars. Rorai et al. studied pairs of closely spaced quasars and quantified how similar their absorption lines are as a function of transverse separation and redshift. They thus assessed the smoothness of the IGM on relatively small scales—several times the size of a galaxy. The results constrain interactions between galaxies and the IGM, such as heating by ultraviolet photons. Science , this issue p. 418

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [3];  [6]; ORCiD logo [6]
  1. Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK., Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl, Germany.
  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl, Germany., Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
  3. Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl, Germany.
  4. Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
  5. University of California Observatories–Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
  6. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1441051
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1393226
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; AST-1010004
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Science Journal Volume: 356 Journal Issue: 6336; Journal ID: ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

Citation Formats

Rorai, Alberto, Hennawi, Joseph F., Oñorbe, Jose, White, Martin, Prochaska, J. Xavier, Kulkarni, Girish, Walther, Michael, Lukić, Zarija, and Lee, Khee-Gan. Measurement of the small-scale structure of the intergalactic medium using close quasar pairs. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1126/science.aaf9346.
Rorai, Alberto, Hennawi, Joseph F., Oñorbe, Jose, White, Martin, Prochaska, J. Xavier, Kulkarni, Girish, Walther, Michael, Lukić, Zarija, & Lee, Khee-Gan. Measurement of the small-scale structure of the intergalactic medium using close quasar pairs. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf9346
Rorai, Alberto, Hennawi, Joseph F., Oñorbe, Jose, White, Martin, Prochaska, J. Xavier, Kulkarni, Girish, Walther, Michael, Lukić, Zarija, and Lee, Khee-Gan. Fri . "Measurement of the small-scale structure of the intergalactic medium using close quasar pairs". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf9346.
@article{osti_1441051,
title = {Measurement of the small-scale structure of the intergalactic medium using close quasar pairs},
author = {Rorai, Alberto and Hennawi, Joseph F. and Oñorbe, Jose and White, Martin and Prochaska, J. Xavier and Kulkarni, Girish and Walther, Michael and Lukić, Zarija and Lee, Khee-Gan},
abstractNote = {Using quasar pairs to measure smoothness Space between galaxies is filled with a tenuous gas known as the intergalactic medium (IGM). The presence of hydrogen atoms in the IGM at different redshifts imprints a series of absorption lines in the spectra of background quasars. Rorai et al. studied pairs of closely spaced quasars and quantified how similar their absorption lines are as a function of transverse separation and redshift. They thus assessed the smoothness of the IGM on relatively small scales—several times the size of a galaxy. The results constrain interactions between galaxies and the IGM, such as heating by ultraviolet photons. Science , this issue p. 418},
doi = {10.1126/science.aaf9346},
journal = {Science},
number = 6336,
volume = 356,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Fri Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
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https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf9346

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Cited by: 32 works
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