16,539 research outputs found
Low Redshift QSO Lyman alpha Absorption Line Systems Associated with Galaxies
In this paper we present Monte-Carlo simulations of Lyman alpha absorption
systems which originate in galactic haloes, galaxy discs and dark matter (DM)
satellites around big central haloes. It is found that for strong Lyman alpha
absorption lines galactic haloes and satellites can explain ~20% and 40% of the
line number density of QSO absorption line key project respectively. If big
galaxies indeed possess such large numbers of DM satellites and they possess
gas, these satellites may play an important role for strong Lyman alpha lines.
However the predicted number density of Lyman-limit systems by satellites is
\~0.1 (per unit redshift), which is four times smaller than that by halo
clouds. Including galactic haloes, satellites and HI discs of spirals, the
predicted number density of strong lines can be as much as 60% of the HST
result. The models can also predict all of the observed Lyman-limit systems.
The average covering factor within 250 kpc/h is estimated to be ~0.36. And the
effective absorption radius of a galaxy is estimated to be ~150 kpc/h. The
models predict W_r propto rho^{-0.5} L_B^{0.15} (1+z)^{-0.5}. We study the
selection effects of selection criteria similar to the imaging and
spectroscopic surveys. We simulate mock observations through known QSO
lines-of-sight and find that selection effects can statistically tighten the
dependence of line width on projected distance. (abridged)Comment: 23 pages, 9 postscript figures; references updated, minor change in
section
Formation time distribution of dark matter haloes: theories versus N-body simulations
This paper uses numerical simulations to test the formation time distribution
of dark matter haloes predicted by the analytic excursion set approaches. The
formation time distribution is closely linked to the conditional mass function
and this test is therefore an indirect probe of this distribution. The
excursion set models tested are the extended Press-Schechter (EPS) model, the
ellipsoidal collapse (EC) model, and the non-spherical collapse boundary (NCB)
model. Three sets of simulations (6 realizations) have been used to investigate
the halo formation time distribution for halo masses ranging from dwarf-galaxy
like haloes (, where is the characteristic non-linear mass
scale) to massive haloes of . None of the models can match the
simulation results at both high and low redshift. In particular, dark matter
haloes formed generally earlier in our simulations than predicted by the EPS
model. This discrepancy might help explain why semi-analytic models of galaxy
formation, based on EPS merger trees, under-predict the number of high redshift
galaxies compared with recent observations.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Power Spectrum Analysis of the 2dF QSO Sample Revisited
We revisit the power spectrum analysis of the complete sample of the two
degree field (2dF) QSO redshift (2QZ) survey, as a complementary test of the
work by Outram et al. (2003). A power spectrum consistent with that of the 2QZ
group is obtained. Differently from their approach, fitting of the power
spectrum is investigated incorporating the nonlinear effects, the geometric
distortion and the light-cone effect. It is shown that the QSO power spectrum
is consistent with the cold dark matter (CDM) model with the matter
density parameter . Our constraint on the density
parameter is rather weaker than that of the 2QZ group. We also show that the
constraint slightly depends on the equation of state parameter of the dark
energy. The constraint on from the QSO power spectrum is demonstrated,
though it is not very tight.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Nearby Gas-Rich Low Surface Brightness Galaxies
We examine the Fisher-Tully cz<1000 km/s galaxy sample to determine whether
it is a complete and representative sample of all galaxy types, including low
surface brightness populations, as has been recently claimed. We find that the
sample is progressively more incomplete for galaxies with (1) smaller physical
diameters at a fixed isophote and (2) lower HI masses. This is likely to lead
to a significant undercounting of nearby gas-rich low surface brightness
galaxies. However, through comparisons to other samples we can understand how
the nearby galaxy counts need to be corrected, and we see some indications of
environmental effects that probably result from the local high density of
galaxies.Comment: 12 page, 2 figures, to appear in Ap
Testing the Warm Dark Matter paradigm with large-scale structures
We explore the impact of a LWDM cosmological scenario on the clustering
properties of large-scale structure in the Universe. We do this by extending
the halo model. The new development is that we consider two components to the
mass density: one arising from mass in collapsed haloes, and the second from a
smooth component of uncollapsed mass. Assuming that the nonlinear clustering of
dark matter haloes can be understood, then from conservation arguments one can
precisely calculate the clustering properties of the smooth component and its
cross-correlation with haloes. We then explore how the three main ingredients
of the halo calculations, the mass function, bias and density profiles are
affected by WDM. We show that, relative to CDM: the mass function is suppressed
by ~50%, for masses ~100 times the free-streaming mass-scale; the bias of low
mass haloes can be boosted by up to 20%; core densities of haloes can be
suppressed. We also examine the impact of relic thermal velocities on the
density profiles, and find that these effects are constrained to scales r<1
kpc/h, and hence of little importance for dark matter tests, owing to
uncertainties in the baryonic physics. We use our modified halo model to
calculate the non-linear matter power spectrum, and find significant
small-scale power in the model. However, relative to the CDM case, the power is
suppressed. We then calculate the expected signal and noise that our set of
LWDM models would give for a future weak lensing mission. We show that the
models should in principle be separable at high significance. Finally, using
the Fisher matrix formalism we forecast the limit on the WDM particle mass for
a future full-sky weak lensing mission like Euclid or LSST. With Planck priors
and using multipoles l<5000, we find that a lower limit of 2.6 keV should be
easily achievable.Comment: Replaced with version accepted for publication in PRD. Inclusion of:
new figure showing dependence of predictions on cut-off mass; new discussion
of mass function; updated refs. 18 pages, 10 Figure
Temperature and Kinematics of CIV Absorption Systems
We use Keck HIRES spectra of three intermediate redshift QSOs to study the
physical state and kinematics of the individual components of CIV selected
heavy element absorption systems. Fewer than 8 % of all CIV lines with column
densities greater than 10^{12.5} cm^{-2} have Doppler parameters b < 6 km/s. A
formal decomposition into thermal and non-thermal motion using the simultaneous
presence of SiIV gives a mean thermal Doppler parameter b_{therm}(CIV) = 7.2
km/s, corresponding to a temperature of 38,000 K although temperatures possibly
in excess of 300,000 K occur occasionally. We also find tentative evidence for
a mild increase of temperature with HI column density. Non-thermal motions
within components are typically small (< 10 km/s) for most systems, indicative
of a quiescent environment. The two-point correlation function (TPCF) of CIV
systems on scales up to 500 km/s suggests that there is more than one source of
velocity dispersion. The shape of the TPCF can be understood if the CIV systems
are caused by ensembles of objects with the kinematics of dwarf galaxies on a
small scale, while following the Hubble flow on a larger scale. Individual high
redshift CIV components may be the building blocks of future normal galaxies in
a hierarchical structure formation scenario.Comment: submitted to the ApJ Letters, March 16, 1996 (in press); (13 Latex
pages, 4 Postscript figures, and psfig.sty included
Scaling properties of the redshift power spectrum: theoretical models
We report the results of an analysis of the redshift power spectrum
in three typical Cold Dark Matter (CDM) cosmological models, where
is the cosine of the angle between the wave vector and the line-of-sight.
Two distinct biased tracers derived from the primordial density peaks of
Bardeen et al. and the cluster-underweight model of Jing, Mo, & B\"orner are
considered in addition to the pure dark matter models. Based on a large set of
high resolution simulations, we have measured the redshift power spectrum for
the three tracers from the linear to the nonlinear regime. We investigate the
validity of the relation - guessed from linear theory - in the nonlinear regime
where
is the real space power spectrum, and equals . The
damping function which should generally depend on , , and
, is found to be a function of only one variable
. This scaling behavior extends into the nonlinear regime,
while can be accurately expressed as a Lorentz function - well known from
linear theory - for values . The difference between
and the pairwise velocity dispersion defined by the 3-D peculiar velocity of
the simulations (taking ) is about 15%. Therefore is a
good indicator of the pairwise velocity dispersion. The exact functional form
of depends on the cosmological model and on the bias scheme. We have given
an accurate fitting formula for the functional form of for the models
studied.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ;24 pages with 7 figures include
Can Geometric Test Probe the Cosmic Equation of State ?
Feasibility of the geometric test as a probe of the cosmic equation of state
of the dark energy is discussed assuming the future 2dF QSO sample. We examine
sensitivity of the QSO two-point correlation functions, which are theoretically
computed incorporating the light-cone effect and the redshift distortions, as
well as the nonlinear effect, to a bias model whose evolution is
phenomenologically parameterized. It is shown that the correlation functions
are sensitive on a mean amplitude of the bias and not to the speed of the
redshift evolution. We will also demonstrate that an optimistic geometric test
could suffer from confusion that a signal from the cosmological model can be
confused with that from a stochastic character of the bias.Comment: 11 pages, including 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Optimal Weighting Scheme in Redshift-space Power Spectrum Analysis and a Prospect for Measuring the Cosmic Equation of State
We develop a useful formula for power spectrum analysis for high and
intermediate redshift galaxy samples, as an extension of the work by Feldman,
Kaiser & Peacock (1994). An optimal weight factor, which minimizes the errors
of the power spectrum estimator, is obtained so that the light-cone effect and
redshift-space distortions are incorporated. Using this formula, we assess the
feasibility of the power spectrum analysis with the luminous red galaxy (LRG)
sample in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey as a probe of the equation of state of
the dark energy. Fisher matrix analysis shows that the LRG sample can be
sensitive to the equation of state around redshift z=0.13. It is also
demonstrated that the LRG sample can constrain the equation of state with
(1-sigma) error of 10% level, if other fundamental cosmological parameters are
well determined independently. For the useful constraint, we point out the
importance of modeling the bias taking the luminosity dependence into account.
We also discuss the optimized strategy to constrain the equation of state using
power spectrum analysis. For a sample with fixed total number of objects, it is
most advantageous to have the sample with the mean number density in the range of the redshift 0.4 \simlt z\simlt 1.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, Final version accepted for publication in
Astrophysical Journa
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