Abstract
We present a new analysis of the Ly α forest for the high-redshift QSOs 1442 + 101 (z = 3.544) and 0000 − 263 (z = 4.111). We have performed detailed profile fitting to spectra of moderate resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio. The results are compared to a more conventionally derived line list. As a result, we provide a high-redshift extension to the previously reported Ly α forest samples of Bajtlik, Duncan & Ostriker, Lu, Wolfe & Turnshek and Rauch et al. If the evolution of the number of lines per unit redshift has the functional form (1 + z) γ then we find a best-fitting value of γ = 2.59 ± 0.49 for an equivalent width completeness limit of W thr = 0.21 A. If the equivalent widths are distributed as exp(−W/W*), we determine a characteristic equivalent width W* = 0.084 ± 0.008 for the new data
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