The Enrichment History of the Intergalactic Medium: Measuring the CIV/HI Ratio in the Lyman Alpha Forest

Details The Enrichment History of the Intergalactic Medium: Measuring the CIV/HI Ratio in the Lyman Alpha Forest The Enrichment History of the Intergalactic Medium: Measuring the CIV/HI Ratio in the Lyman Alpha Forest

2000-05-23

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0005448v1

Astron.J.120:1175,2000

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Accepted for publication by AJ. 10 pages of text plus 11 figures and 2 tables

Scientific paper

10.1086/301511

We have obtained an exceptionally high S/N, high resolution spectrum of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q1422+231 in order to investigate the metal enrichment of the IGM. A column density distribution function (CDDF) is determined for CIV, which is well fit by a power law with index 1.44 +/- 0.05. Once a correction for incompleteness is applied, we find that the CDDF is consistent with a power law down to log N(CIV) = 11.75, a factor of 10 more sensitive than previously determined. In order to determine whether the CIV enrichment extends to even lower column density HI clouds, we find that an analysis of individual pixel optical depths is more robust than the stacking technique. The results obtained from this optical depth method are compared with analyses of simulated spectra enriched with varying CIV enrichment recipes. From these simulations, we conclude that more CIV than is currently directly detected in Q1422+231 is required to reproduce the optical depths determined from the data, consistent with the conclusions drawn from consideration of the power law distribution. (Abridged)

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Enrichment History of the Intergalactic Medium: Measuring the CIV/HI Ratio in 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 The Enrichment History of the Intergalactic Medium: Measuring the CIV/HI Ratio in the Lyman Alpha Forest, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Enrichment History of the Intergalactic Medium: Measuring the CIV/HI Ratio in the Lyman Alpha Forest will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-472993