Explaining the Lyman-alpha forest

Details Explaining the Lyman-alpha forest Explaining the Lyman-alpha forest

2001-12-03

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0112022v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the XVIIth IAP Colloquium, Paris, June 2001

Scientific paper

It is shown that many properties of Ly-alpha forest absorbers can be derived using simple physical arguments. Analytical expressions are derived for the density and the size of an absorber as a function of its neutral hydrogen column density, which agree well with both observations and hydrodynamical simulations. An expression is presented to compute Omega_IGM from the observed column density distribution, independent of the overall shape of the absorbers. Application to the observed column density distribution shows that at high redshift most of the baryons are in the forest and suggests a simple interpretation for its shape and evolution.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Explaining the Lyman-alpha forest does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Explaining the Lyman-alpha forest, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Explaining the Lyman-alpha forest will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-234591