The Lyman α forest and WMAP year three

  1. Matteo Viel1,2,*,
  2. Martin G. Haehnelt1,
  3. Antony Lewis1

Article first published online: 5 JUN 2006

DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2006.00187.x

Issue

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

Volume 370, Issue 1, pages L51–L55, July 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

Viel, M., Haehnelt, M. G. and Lewis, A. (2006), The Lyman α forest and WMAP year three. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 370: L51–L55. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2006.00187.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA

  2. 2

    INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G. B. Tiepolo 11, I-34131 Trieste, Italy

* E-mail: viel@ast.cam.ac.uk

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 5 JUN 2006
  2. Article first published online: 5 JUN 2006
  3. Accepted 2006 May 9. Received 2006 May 5; in original form 2006 April 18

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (98K)

Keywords:

  • cosmic microwave background;
  • cosmological parameters;
  • cosmology: observations;
  • cosmology: theory;
  • quasars: absorption lines

ABSTRACT

A combined analysis of cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Lyman α forest data can constrain the matter power spectrum from small scales of about 1 h−1 Mpc all the way to the horizon scale. The long lever arm and complementarity provided by such an analysis have previously led to a significant tightening of the constraints on the shape and the amplitude of the power spectrum of primordial density fluctuations. We present here a combined analysis of the WMAP three-year results with Lyman α forest data. The amplitude of the matter power spectrum σ8 and the spectral index ns inferred from the joint analysis of high- and low-resolution Lyman α forest data as analysed by Viel & Haehnelt are consistent with the new WMAP results to within 1σ. The joint analysis with the mainly low-resolution data as analysed by McDonald et al. suggests a value of σ8 that is ∼2σ higher than that inferred from the WMAP three-year data alone. The joint analysis of the three-year WMAP and the Lyman α forest data also does not favour a running of the spectral index. The best-fitting values for a combined analysis of the three-year WMAP data, other CMB data, 2-degree Field (2dF) data and the Lyman α forest data are (σ8, ns) = (0.78 ± 0.03, 0.96 ± 0.01).

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (98K)