PARTICLE MESH SIMULATIONS OF THE Lyα FOREST AND THE SIGNATURE OF BARYON ACOUSTIC OSCILLATIONS IN THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM

We present a set of ultra-large particle-mesh simulations of the Ly alpha forest targeted at understanding the imprint of baryon acoustic oscillations in the inter-galactic medium. We use nine dark matter only simulations which can, for the first time, simultaneously resolve the Jeans scale of the intergalactic gas while covering the large volumes required to adequately sample the acoustic feature. Mock absorption spectra are generated using the fluctuating Gunn-Peterson approximation which have approximately correct flux probability density functions and small-scale power spectra. On larger scales, there is clear evidence in the redshift-space correlation function for an acoustic feature, which matches a linear theory template with constant bias. These spectra, which we make publicly available, can be used to test pipelines, plan future experiments, and model various physical effects. As an illustration, we discuss the basic properties of the acoustic signal in the forest, the scaling of errors with noise and source number density, modified statistics to treat mean flux evolution and mis-estimation, and non-gravitational sources such as fluctuations in the photoionizing background and temperature fluctuations due to He II reionization.