Journal
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 474, Issue 3, Pages 3032-3042Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx2942
Keywords
large-scale structure of universe; cosmology: theory
Categories
Funding
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) [PF5-160133]
- European Research Council (ERC) under the European Community/ERC [306478-CosmicDawn]
- Royal Society
- STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship [ST/N003853/1]
- NASA [PF6-170154]
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We measure the effect of high column density absorbing systems of neutral hydrogen (H I) on the one-dimensional (1D) Lyman alpha forest flux power spectrum using cosmological hydrodynamical simulations from the Illustris project. High column density absorbers (which we define to be those with HI column densities N(H I) > 1.6 x 10(17) atoms cm(-2)) cause broadened absorption lines with characteristic damping wings. These damping wings bias the 1D Lyman alpha forest flux power spectrum by causing absorption in quasar spectra away from the location of the absorber itself. We investigate the effect of high column density absorbers on the Lyman alpha forest using hydrodynamical simulations for the first time. We provide templates as a function of column density and redshift, allowing the flexibility to accurately model residual contamination, i.e. if an analysis selectively clips out the largest damping wings. This flexibility will improve cosmological parameter estimation, for example, allowing more accurate measurement of the shape of the power spectrum, with implications for cosmological models containing massive neutrinos or a running of the spectral index. We provide fitting functions to reproduce these results so that they can be incorporated straightforwardly into a data analysis pipeline.
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