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Statistical Properties of the Lyman α Forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2017

Jill Bechtold
Affiliation:
The Mount Wilson-Las Campanas Observatories, The Carnegie Institute of Washington, Pasadena, California 91101
Stephen A. Shectman
Affiliation:
The Mount Wilson-Las Campanas Observatories, The Carnegie Institute of Washington, Pasadena, California 91101

Abstract

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We have observed two high-redshift quasars with the echelle spectrograph and 2D-Frutti Photon Counter at Las Campanas, in order to investigate the statistical properties of the Lyman-α forest. The two-point correlation function for the Lyman-α forest lines at z ≈ 3 is consistent with zero, for all velocity splittings Δv > 50 km/sec. When Lyman-α lines and other metal lines from known metal-line systems are included, the correlation function shows a weak non-zero signal at small Δv. We suggest that the weak clustering of the Lyman-α forest detected by other workers may be the result of contamination by a small number of metal-line systems and their associated Lyman-α lines.

Type
Part 11: Miscellaneous
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1989 

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