3D Spatial Distribution of the Intergalactic Medium: The ESO Blues?
Résumé
The numerous absorption lines seen in the spectra of distant quasars (the so-called Lyman-α forest) reveal the intergalactic medium (IGM) up to redshifts larger than 5. It is believed that the space distribution of the gas traces the potential wells of the dark matter. Indeed, recent numerical N-body simulations have been successful at reproducing the observed characteristics of the Lyman-α forest (e.g. [1][12][5]). The IGM is therefore seen as a smooth pervasive medium which can be used to study the spatial distribution of the mass on scales larger than the Jeans' length. This idea is reinforced by observations of multiple lines of sight. It is observed that the Lyman-α forest is fairly homogeneous on scale smaller than 100 kpc (e.g. [11]) and highly correlated on scale up to one megaparsec (e.g. [13][3]). The number of suitable multiple lines of sight is small however and the sample need to be significantly enlarged before any firm conclusion can be drawn (see Section 3.3).