Power spectrum of the flux in the Lyman-alpha forest from high-resolution spectra of 87 QSOs

Abstract

Abstract We measure and calibrate the power spectrum of the flux in the Ly α forest at 1.8 < z < 4.6 for wavenumbers 0.003 ≤ k ≤ 0.1 s km−1 from the spectra of 87 QSOs obtained with HIRES on the Keck-I telescope. This is the largest sample using high-resolution spectra, yielding the smallest statistical errors, and we have applied calibrations to reduce new systematic errors. We fit Voigt profiles to the damped Ly α absorbers and we remove them. We subtract metal lines statistically based on metal absorption on the red side of the Ly α emission peak. We find that when performing a statistical subtraction of metal lines, a systematic offset due to the blending of metal and hydrogen lines must be taken into account. This offset was not accounted for in previous analyses, and requires up to a $3 {{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ reduction in the BOSS Ly α forest flux power spectrum, increasing the allowed neutrino mass. For the first time in a Ly α forest power spectrum measurement from high-resolution spectra, we correct for spectral leakage by applying Welch’s window function. Our treatment of metal line removal as well as our elimination of errors due to spectral leakage leads to a more accurate measurement of the Ly α forest power spectrum at the smallest scales. We find evidence that previously published values of the power are systematically too high at scales log k ≥ −1.3 (k ≥ 0.05) s km−1, which implies that the intergalactic medium is hotter than previously deduced from the Ly α forest flux power spectrum.