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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
First measurement of the Mg ii forest correlation function in the Epoch of Reionization
Contributor:
Tie, Suk Sien;
Hennawi, Joseph F;
Wang, Feige;
Onorato, Silvia;
Yang, Jinyi;
Bañados, Eduardo;
Davies, Frederick B;
Oñorbe, Jose
Published:
Oxford University Press (OUP), 2024
Published in:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 535 (2024) 1, Seite 223-246
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1093/mnras/stae2193
ISSN:
0035-8711;
1365-2966
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
ABSTRACT Strong low-ionization transitions like the Mg ii$\lambda 2796,2804$ Å doublet are believed to produce a detectable ‘metal-line forest’, if metals pollute the neutral intergalatic medium (IGM). We measure the autocorrelation of the Mg ii forest transmission using 10 ground-based $z \ge 6.80$ quasar spectra probing the redshift range $5.96 \lt z_{\rm Mg\, {\small II}} \lt 7.42$ ($z_{\rm Mg\, {\small II}, median} = 6.47$). The correlation function exhibits strong small-scale clustering and a pronounced peak at the doublet velocity ($\Delta v = 768~{\rm km\, s^{-1}}$) arising from discrete absorbers in the circumgalactic medium of galaxies. After these strong absorbers are identified and masked the signal is consistent with noise. Our measurements are compared to a suite of models generated by combining a large hydrodynamical simulation with a seminumerical reionization topology, assuming a simple uniform enrichment model. We obtain a 95 per cent credibility upper limit of $[{\rm Mg/H}] \lt -3.73$ at $z_{\rm Mg\, {\small II},median} = 6.47$, assuming uninformative priors on [Mg/H] and the IGM neutral fraction $x_{\rm {H\, {\small I}}}$. Splitting the data into low-z ($5.96 \lt z_{\rm Mg\, {\small II}} \lt 6.47$; $z_{\rm Mg\, {\small II},median} = 6.235$) and high-z ($6.47 \lt z_{\rm Mg\, {\small II}} \lt 7.42$; $z_{\rm Mg\, {\small II},median} = 6.72$) subsamples again yields null detections and 95 per cent upper limits of $[{\rm Mg/H}] \lt -3.75$ and $\lt -3.45$, respectively. These first measurements set the stage for making the Mg ii forest an emerging tool to precisely constrain the Universe reionization and enrichment history.