Journal article
Baryon acoustic oscillations in the Lya forest of BOSS DR11 quasars
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin), v 574
01 Feb 2015
Abstract
We report a detection of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature in the flux-correlation function of the Ly alpha forest of high-redshift quasars with a statistical significance of five standard deviations. The study uses 137 562 quasars in the redshift range 2.1 <= z <= 3.5 from the data release 11 (DR11) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of SDSS-III. This sample contains three times the number of quasars used in previous studies. The measured position of the BAO peak determines the angular distance, D-A(Z = 2.34) and expansion rate, H(z = 2.34), both on a scale set by the sound horizon at the drag epoch, r(d). We find D-A/r(d) = 11.28 +/- 0.65(1 sigma)(-1.2)(+2.8)(2 sigma) and D-H/r(d) = 9.18 +/- 0.28(1 sigma) +/- 0.6(2 sigma) where D-H = c/H. The optimal combination, similar to(DHDA0.3)-D-0.7/r(d) is determined with a precision of similar to 2%. For the value r(d) = 147.4 Mpc, consistent with the cosmic microwave background power spectrum measured by Planck, we find D-A(Z = 2.34) = 1662 +/- 96(1 sigma) Mpc and H(z = 2.34) = 222 +/- 7(1 sigma) km s(-1) Mpc(-1). Tests with mock catalogs and variations of our analysis procedure have revealed no systematic uncertainties comparable to our statistical errors. Our results agree with the previously reported BAO measurement at the same redshift using the quasar-Ly alpha forest cross-correlation. The autocorrelation and cross-correlation approaches are complementary because of the quite different impact of redshift-space distortion on the two measurements. The combined constraints from the two correlation functions imply values of D-A/r(d) that are 7% lower and 7% higher for D-H/r(d) than the predictions of a flat ACDM cosmological model with the best-fit Planck parameters. With our estimated statistical errors, the significance of this discrepancy is approximate to 2.5 sigma.
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Details
- Title
- Baryon acoustic oscillations in the Lya forest of BOSS DR11 quasars
- Creators
- Timothee Delubac - École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneJulian E. Bautista - Délégation Paris 7Nicola G. Busca - Univ Paris 07, APC, CNRS, IN2P3,CEA,Observ Paris, F-75205 Paris, FranceJames Rich - CEA, Centre de Saclay, IRFU, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceDavid Kirkby - University of California, IrvineStephen Bailey - Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryAndreu Font-Ribera - Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryAnze Slosar - Brookhaven National LaboratoryKhee-Gan Lee - Max Planck Institute for AstronomyMatthew M. Pieri - University of PortsmouthJean-Christophe Hamilton - Délégation Paris 7Eric Aubourg - Délégation Paris 7Michael Blomqvist - University of California, IrvineJo Bovy - EarthTech InternationalJon Brinkmann - New Mexico State UniversityWilliam Carithers - Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryKyle S. Dawson - University of UtahDaniel J. Eisenstein - Harvard University ,Satya Gontcho A. Gontcho - University of BarcelonaJean-Paul Kneib - Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de MarseilleJean Marc Le Goff - CEA, Centre de Saclay, IRFU, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceDaniel Margala - University of California, IrvineJordi Miralda-Escude - University of BarcelonaAdam D. Myers - University of WyomingRobert C. Nichol - University of PortsmouthPasquier Noterdaeme - Sorbonne UniversityRoss O'Connell - Carnegie Mellon UniversityMatthew D. Olmstead - University of UtahNathalie Palanque-Delabrouille - CEA, Centre de Saclay, IRFU, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceIsabelle Paris - Sorbonne UniversityPatrick Petitjean - Institut d'Astrophysique de ParisNicholas P. Ross - Drexel UniversityGraziano Rossi - Sejong UniversityDavid J. Schlegel - Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryDonald P. Schneider - Pennsylvania State UniversityDavid H. Weinberg - The Ohio State UniversityChristophe Yeche - CEA, Centre de Saclay, IRFU, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceDonald G. York - Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60615, USA
- Publication Details
- Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin), v 574
- Publisher
- Edp Sciences S A
- Number of pages
- 17
- Grant note
- University of Tokyo New York University Spanish Participation Group ICREA University of Utah University of Florida Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; United States Department of Energy (DOE) PHF-GA-2011-301665 / European Union Seventh Framework Programme; European Commission Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics Ohio State University Vanderbilt University ANR-12-BS05-0015-01; ANR-08-BLAN-0222 / Agence Nationale de la Recherche; French National Research Agency (ANR); European Commission Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Carnegie Mellon University University of Washington German Participation Group Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias Princeton University ERC; European Research Council (ERC); European Commission US Department of Energy Office of Science; United States Department of Energy (DOE) University of Arizona Yale University New Mexico State University Pennsylvania State University Brookhaven National Laboratory; United States Department of Energy (DOE) University of Portsmouth Brazilian Participation Group Harvard University French Participation Group Michigan State/Notre Dame/JINA Participation Group ERC advanced grant LIDA University of Virginia ST/K00090X/1 / STFC; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF) PHF-GA-2011-301665 / European Union; European Commission Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics ST/L005573/1 / Science and Technology Facilities Council; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Johns Hopkins University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000349467000059
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84921743859
- Other Identifier
- 991019167559004721
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- Domestic collaboration
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- Web of Science research areas
- Astronomy & Astrophysics