Publication
Title
Through thick and thin-H i absorption in cosmological simulations
Author
Abstract
We investigate the column density distribution function of neutral hydrogen at redshift z = 3 using a cosmological simulation of galaxy formation from the OverWhelmingly Large Simulations project. The base simulation includes gravity, hydrodynamics, star formation, supernovae feedback, stellar winds, chemodynamics, and element-by-element cooling in the presence of a uniform UV background. Self-shielding and formation of molecular hydrogen are treated in post-processing, without introducing any free parameters, using an accurate reverse ray-tracing algorithm and an empirical relation between gas pressure and molecular mass fraction. The simulation reproduces the observed z = 3 abundance of Ly alpha forest, Lyman limit, and damped Ly alpha H I absorption systems probed by quasar sight lines over 10 orders of magnitude in column density. Self-shielding flattens the column density distribution for N-HI > 1018 cm(-2), while the transition to fully neutral gas and conversion of H I to H-2 steepen it around column densities of N-H (I) = 10(20.3) cm(-2) and N-H (I) = 10(21.5) cm(-2), respectively.
Language
English
Source (journal)
The astrophysical journal : letters. - Bristol, 1988, currens
Publication
Bristol : 2011
ISSN
2041-8205 [print]
2041-8213 [online]
DOI
10.1088/2041-8205/737/2/L37
Volume/pages
737 :2 (2011) , 6 p.
Article Reference
L37
ISI
000294837500012
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 19.02.2013
Last edited 22.11.2024
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