Quasar-Lyman α forest cross-correlation from BOSS DR11: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations

Journal Article · Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2014/05/027· OSTI ID:22373569

Font-Ribera, Andreu ^[1]; Kirkby, David; Blomqvist, Michael ^[2]; Busca, Nicolas; Aubourg, Éric; Bautista, Julian ^[3]; Miralda-Escudé, Jordi ^[4]; Ross, Nicholas P.; Bailey, Stephen; Beutler, Florian; Carithers, Bill ^[5]; Slosar, Anže ^[6]; Rich, James; Delubac, Timothée ^[7]; Bhardwaj, Vaishali; Bizyaev, Dmitry ^[8]; Brewington, Howard; Brinkmann, Jon ^[9]; Brownstein, Joel R.; others, and

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1. Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich (Switzerland)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, Irvine, CA, 92697 (United States)
3. APC, Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA, Observatoire de Paris, 10, rue A. Domon and L. Duquet, Paris (France)
4. Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (IEEC/UB), Martí i Franquès 1, Barcelona, 08028 Catalonia (Spain)
5. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA (United States)
6. Brookhaven National Laboratory, Blgd 510, Upton, NY, 11375 (United States)
7. CEA, Centre de Saclay, IRFU, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 France (France)
8. Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA, 98195 (United States)
9. Apache Point Observatory and New Mexico State University, P.O. Box 59, Sunspot, NM, 88349-0059 (United States)

We measure the large-scale cross-correlation of quasars with the Lyα forest absorption, using over 164,000 quasars from Data Release 11 of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We extend the previous study of roughly 60,000 quasars from Data Release 9 to larger separations, allowing a measurement of the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) scale along the line of sight c/(H(z = 2.36)r{sub s}) = 9.0±0.3 and across the line of sight D{sub A}(z = 2.36)/r{sub s} = 10.8±0.4, consistent with CMB and other BAO data. Using the best fit value of the sound horizon from Planck data (r{sub s} = 147.49 Mpc), we can translate these results to a measurement of the Hubble parameter of H(z = 2.36) = 226±8 km s{sup −1} Mpc{sup −1} and of the angular diameter distance of D{sub A}(z = 2.36) = 1590±60 Mpc. The measured cross-correlation function and an update of the code to fit the BAO scale (baofit) are made publicly available.

• OSTI ID: 22373569
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2014, Issue 05; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ABSORPTION
BARYONS
CORRELATION FUNCTIONS
CORRELATIONS
DATA
DISTANCE
OSCILLATIONS
QUASARS