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The Lyman Alpha Forest 1D Power Spectrum from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

Posted on:2016-08-05Degree:Ph.DType:Thesis
University:University of WashingtonCandidate:Bhardwaj, VaishaliFull Text:PDF
GTID:2473390017977405Subject:Astronomy
Abstract/Summary:
We measure the one dimensional power spectrum of the transmitted flux in the Lyalpha forest using 16,331 quasar spectra from the twelfth Data Release (DR12) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). An analysis of this caliber requires a thorough understanding of the data, and the majority of this thesis is aimed at accurately determining the contribution of quasar continuum, sky, and throughput of the quasar spectra. We develop realistic mock spectra to test our code and our power spectrum measurement. A trustworthy measurement of the one dimensional power spectrum also requires removing the contamination from metal absorption in the forest. We account for this and subtract it from the total power measured. We compare our final results to previous results and check for consistency in our measurement.
Keywords/Search Tags:Power, Forest
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