arXiv subjects

David H. Weinberg

Publications and source records attributed to David H. Weinberg.

322 records · Page 18Linked to original sources

arXiv1997

A Lower Bound on the Cosmic Baryon Density

We derive analytic lower bounds on the cosmic baryon density by requiring that the high-redshift IGM contain enough neutral hydrogen to produce the observed \lya absorption in quasar spectra. The key theoretical assumption is that absorbing structures are no more extended in redshift space than in real space. This assumption might not hold if \lya clouds are highly overdense and thermally broadened, but it is likely to hold in the gravitational instability picture for the \lya forest suggested by cosmological simulations, independently of the details of the cosmological model. The other ingredients in these bounds are an estimate of the UV background from quasars, a temperature $T~10^4K$ for the "warm" photoionized IGM that produces most of the \lya absorption, a value of the Hubble constant, and observational estimates of the mean \lya flux decrement $\Dbar$ or, for a more restrictive bound, the distribution function $P(τ)$ of \lya optical depths. With plausible parameter values, the mean decrement bound implies a baryon density parameter $\Omb \ga 0.0125/h^2$. With conservative values, the bound weakens to $\Omb \ga 0.005/h^2$, but the required clustering of the IGM is then incompatible with other properties of quasar spectra. A recent observational determination of $P(τ)$ implies $\Omb \ga 0.0125/h^2$ even for a conservative estimate of the UV background, and $\Omb \ga 0.018/h^2$ for a more reasonable estimate. These bounds are consistent with recent low estimates of the primordial deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio $\dtoh$, which imply $\Omb \approx 0.025/h^2$, but the $P(τ)$ bound can only be reconciled with high $\dtoh$ estimates by abandoning standard big bang nucleosynthesis or the gravitational instability picture for the origin of the \lya forest. (Shortened abstract.)

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arXiv1996

Galaxy Structure, Dark Matter, and Galaxy Formation

The structure of galaxies, the nature of dark matter, and the physics of galaxy formation were the interlocking themes of DM 1996: Dark and Visible Matter in Galaxies and Cosmological Implications. In this conference summary report, I review recent observational and theoretical advances in these areas, then describe highlights of the meeting and discuss their implications. I include as an appendix the lyrics of The Dark Matter Rap: A Cosmological History for the MTV Generation.

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arXiv1996

The Population of Damped Lyman-alpha and Lyman Limit Systems in the Cold Dark Matter Model

Lyman limit and damped Lyman-alpha absorption systems probe the distribution of collapsed, cold gas at high redshift. Numerical simulations that incorporate gravity and gas dynamics can predict the abundance of such absorbers in cosmological models. We develop a semi-analytical method to correct the numerical predictions for the contribution of unresolved low mass halos, and we apply this method to the Katz et al. (1996) simulation of the standard cold dark matter model ($Ω=1$, $h=0.5$, $Ω_b=0.05$, $σ_8=0.7$). Using this simulation and higher resolution simulations of individual low mass systems, we determine the relation between a halo's circular velocity $v_c$ and its cross section for producing Lyman limit or damped absorption. We combine this relation with the Press-Schechter formula for the abundance of halos to compute the number of absorbers per unit redshift. The resolution correction increases the predicted abundances by about a factor of two at z=2, 3, and 4, bringing the predicted number of damped absorbers into quite good agreement with observations. Roughly half of the systems reside in halos with circular velocities $v_c>100\kms$ and half in halos with $35\kms 150\kms$ typically harbor two or more systems capable of producing damped absorption. Even with the resolution correction, the predicted abundance of Lyman limit systems is a factor of three below observational estimates, signifying either a failure of standard CDM or a failure of these simulations to resolve the systems responsible for most Lyman limit absorption. By comparing simulations with and without star formation, we find that depletion of the gas supply by star formation affects absorption line statistics at $z>=2$ only for column densities exceeding $N_{HI}=10^{22} cm^{-2}$.

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arXiv1996

Analysis of the Lyman-alpha Forest in Cosmological Simulations Using Voigt-Profile Decomposition

We use an automated Voigt-profile fitting procedure to extract statistical properties of the Ly$α$ forest in a numerical simulation of an $Ω=1$, cold dark matter (CDM) universe. Our analysis method is similar to that used in most observational studies of the forest, and we compare the simulations to recently published results derived from Keck HIRES spectra. With the Voigt-profile decomposition analysis, the simulation reproduces the large number of weak lines ($N_{\rm HI}\la 10^{14} cm^{-2}$) found in the HIRES spectra. At $z=3$, the $b$-parameter distribution has a median of $35\kms$ and a dispersion of $20\kms$, in reasonable agreement with the observed values. The comparison between our new analysis and recent data strengthens earlier claims that the Ly$alpha$ forest arises naturally in hierarchical structure formation as photoionized gas falls into dark matter potential wells.

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arXiv1996

Photoionization, Numerical Resolution, and Galaxy Formation

Using cosmological simulations that incorporate gas dynamics and gravitational forces, we investigate the influence of photoionization by a UV radiation background on the formation of galaxies. In our highest resolution simulations, we find that photoionization has essentially no effect on the baryonic mass function of galaxies at $z=2$, down to our resolution limit of $5e9 M_\sun$. We do, however, find a strong interplay between the mass resolution of a simulation and the microphysics included in the computation of heating and cooling rates. At low resolution, a photoionizing background can appear to suppress the formation of even relatively massive galaxies. However, when the same initial conditions are evolved with a factor of eight better mass resolution, this effect disappears. Our results demonstrate the need for care in interpreting the results of cosmological simulations that incorporate hydrodynamics and radiation physics. For example, we conclude that a simulation with limited resolution may yield more realistic results if it ignores some relevant physical processes, such as photoionization. At higher resolution, the simulated population of massive galaxies is insensitive to the treatment of photoionization and star formation, but it does depend significantly on the amplitude of the initial density fluctuations. By $z=2$, an $Ω=1$ cold dark matter model normalized to produce the observed masses of present-day clusters has already formed galaxies with baryon masses exceeding $1e11 M_\sun$.

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arXiv1995

Imaging the Lyman-alpha Forest

We show that it is now possible to image optically thick $\lya$ clouds in fluorescent $\lya$ emission with a relatively long ($\sim 20 $hr) integration on a large ($\sim 10 $m) telescope. For a broad range of column densities ($N\gsim 10^{18.5} \cm^{-2}$), the flux of $\lya$ photons from recombination cascades is equal to $\sim 0.6$ times the flux of ionizing photons, independent of the geometry of the cloud. Additional $\lya$ photons are produced by collisional excitations when these are the cloud's primary cooling mechanism. For typical physical conditions expected in optically thick clouds, these mechanisms together lead to a $\lya$ emission flux that is $\sim (2/3) \VEVν/ν_0$ times the flux of ionizing photons, where $\VEVν$ is the mean frequency of ionizing background photons and $ν_0$ is the Lyman limit frequency. Hence, measurement of the surface brightness from an optically thick cloud (known to exist, e.g., from a quasar absorption line) gives a direct measure of the energy in the ionizing radiation background. Moreover, in the same long slit spectrum one could hope to detect emission from $\sim 200$ other $\lya$ systems. Such detections would allow one to make a 2-dimensional map of the $\lya$ forest. By taking a series of such spectra, one could map the forest in three dimensions, revealing structure in the high-redshift universe.

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arXiv1995

Small Scale Structure and High Redshift HI

Cosmological simulations with gas dynamics suggest that the Lyman-alpha forest is produced mainly by "small scale structure" --- filaments and sheets that are the high redshift analog of today's galaxy superclusters. There is no sharp distinction between Lyman-alpha clouds and "Gunn-Peterson" absorption produced by the fluctuating IGM -- the Lyman-alpha forest {\it is} the Gunn-Peterson effect. Lyman limit and damped Lyman-alpha absorption arises in the radiatively cooled gas of forming galaxies. At $z~2-3$, most of the gas is in the photoionized, diffuse medium associated with the Lyman-alpha forest, but most of the {\it neutral} gas is in damped Lyman-alpha systems. We discuss generic evolution of cosmic gas in a hierarchical scenario of structure formation, with particular attention to the prospects for detecting 21cm emission from high redshift HI. A scaling argument based on the present-day cluster mass function suggests that objects with $M_{HI} >~ 5e11 h^{-1} \msun$ should be extremely rare at $z~3$, so detections with existing instruments will be difficult. An instrument like the proposed Square Kilometer Array could detect individual damped Lyman-alpha systems at high redshift, making it possible to map structure in the high redshift universe in much the same way that today's galaxy redshift surveys map the local large scale structure.

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arXiv1995

Hydrodynamic Simulations of Galaxy Formation. II. Photoionization and the Formation of Low Mass Galaxies

Photoionization by the high-redshift ultraviolet radiation background heats low density gas before it falls into dark matter potential wells, and it eliminates the neutral hydrogen and singly ionized helium that dominate cooling of primordial gas at temperatures of $10^4-10^5$K. We investigate the influence of photoionization on galaxy formation using high-resolution simulations with a 1-dimensional, spherically symmetric, Lagrangian hydrodynamics/gravity code. We find that the presence of a photoionizing background suppresses the formation of galaxies with circular velocities $v_{circ} \simlt 30\,$\kms\ and substantially reduces the mass of cooled baryons in systems with circular velocities up to $v_{circ} \sim 50\,$\kms. Above $v_{circ} \sim 75\,$\kms, photoionization has no significant effect. Photoionization exerts its influence primarily by heating gas before collapse; the elimination of line cooling processes is less important. We discuss the implications of these results for hierarchical theories of galaxy formation.

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arXiv1995

Cosmological Simulations with TreeSPH

We describe numerical methods for incorporating gas dynamics into cosmological simulations and present illustrative applications to the cold dark matter (CDM) scenario. Our evolution code, a version of TreeSPH (Hernquist \& Katz 1989) generalized to handle comoving coordinates and periodic boundary conditions, combines smoothed--particle hydrodynamics (SPH) with the hierarchical tree method for computing gravitational forces. The Lagrangian hydrodynamics approach and individual time steps for gas particles give the algorithm a large dynamic range, which is essential for studies of galaxy formation in a cosmological context. The code incorporates radiative cooling for an optically thin, primordial composition gas in ionization equilibrium with a user-specified ultraviolet background. We adopt a phenomenological prescription for star formation that gradually turns cold, dense, Jeans-unstable gas into collisionless stars, returning supernova feedback energy to the surrounding medium. In CDM simulations, some of the baryons that fall into dark matter potential wells dissipate their acquired thermal energy and condense into clumps with roughly galactic masses. The resulting galaxy population is insensitive to assumptions about star formation; we obtain similar baryonic mass functions and galaxy correlation functions from simulations with star formation and from simulations without star formation in which we identify galaxies directly from the cold, dense gas.

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arXiv1995

The Lyman-alpha Forest in the Cold Dark Matter Model

Cosmological simulations with gas provide a detailed description of the intergalactic medium, making possible predictions of neutral hydrogen absorption in the spectra of background QSOs. We present results from a high-resolution calculation of an $Ω=1$ cold dark matter model. Our simulation reproduces many of the observed properties of the \lya forest surprisingly well. The distribution of HI column densities agrees with existing data to within a factor of $\sim$ two over most of the range from $10^{14}\cm^{-2}$ to $10^{22}\cm^{-2}$; i.e., from unsaturated \lya forest lines to damped \lya systems. The equivalent width distribution matches the observed exponential form with a characteristic width $W_* \approx 0.3$ angstroms. The distribution of b-parameters appears consistent with that derived from QSO spectra. Most of the low column density absorption arises in large, flattened structures of moderate or even relatively low overdensity, so there is no sharp distinction between the \lya forest and the ``Gunn-Peterson'' absorption produced by the smooth intergalactic medium. Our results demonstrate that a \lya forest like that observed develops naturally in a hierarchical clustering scenario with a photoionizing background. Comparison between simulations and high-resolution QSO spectra should open a new regime for testing theories of cosmic structure formation.

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arXiv1995

Damped Lyman-alpha and Lyman Limit Absorbers in the Cold Dark Matter Model

We study the formation of damped \lya and Lyman limit absorbers in a hierarchical clustering scenario using a gas dynamical simulation of an $Ω= 1$, cold dark matter universe. In the simulation, these high column density systems are associated with forming galaxies. Damped \lya absorption, $N_{HI} \simgt 10^{20.2}\cm^{-2}$, arises along lines of sight that pass near the centers of relatively massive, dense protogalaxies. Lyman limit absorption, $10^{17}\cm^{-2} \simlt N_{HI} \simlt 10^{20.2}\cm^{-2}$, develops on lines of sight that pass through the outer parts of such objects or near the centers of smaller protogalaxies. The number of Lyman limit systems is less than observed, while the number of damped \lya systems is quite close to the observed abundance. Damped absorbers are typically $\sim 10$ kpc in radius, but the population has a large total cross section because the systems are much more numerous than present day $L_*$ galaxies. Our results demonstrate that high column density systems like those observed arise naturally in a hierarchical theory of galaxy formation and that it is now possible to study these absorbers directly from numerical simulations.

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arXiv1994

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We summarize the plans for and the current status of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a digital imaging and spectroscopic survey of $π$ steradians in the northern Galactic cap. The CCD photometric survey will produce images in five bands to limiting magnitudes of order 23. The spectroscopic survey will obtain redshifts of $10^6$ galaxies (a complete sample to a limiting magnitude $r' \sim 18$) and $10^5$ quasars ($g' \sim 19$). Repeated imaging of a 200 deg$^2$ strip in the southern Galactic cap will yield information about variable objects and a co-added photometric catalog roughly two magnitudes deeper than the northern survey. A dedicated 2.5-meter telescope, a large multi-CCD camera, and two fiber-fed double spectrographs are under construction and should be operational by fall of 1995. The main galaxy redshift sample will have a median redshift $\langle z \rangle \approx 0.1$.

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arXiv1994

Constraints onOmega from the IRAS Redshift Surveys

We measure the anisotropy of the redshift-space power spectrum in the 1.2-Jy and QDOT redshift surveys of IRAS-selected galaxies. On large scales, this anisotropy is caused by coherent peculiar motions, and gravitational instability theory predicts a distortion of the power spectrum that depends only on the ratio $β\equiv f(Ω)/b \approx Ω^{0.6}/b$, where Omega is the cosmological density parameter and $b$ is the bias parameter. On small scales, the distortion is dominated by the random velocity dispersion in non-linear structures. We fit the observed anisotropy with an analytic model that incorporates two parameters, beta, and a small-scale velocity dispersion sigma_v. Tests on N-body simulations show that this model recovers beta quite accurately on the scales accessible to the existing IRAS redshift surveys. Applying our procedure to the 1.2-Jy and QDOT surveys, we find beta=0.52 +/- 0.13 and beta=0.54 +/- 0.3, respectively. These results imply Omega approximately 0.35 if galaxies trace mass, or a bias factor of about 2 if Omega=1.

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arXiv1994

Studying Structure Formation With Large Galaxy Redshift Surveys

I outline the connections between some of the most widely used statistical measures of galaxy clustering and the fundamental issues in the theory of structure formation. I devote particular attention to the problem of biasing, i.e. to a possible difference between the distribution of galaxies and the distribution of mass. Using numerical experiments, I show that a local morphology-density relation leads to different slopes and amplitudes for the correlation functions of different galaxy types on small scales, but that the correlation functions on large scales all have the same shape, differing only by constant factors. I also examine a variety of biasing models in which the efficiency of galaxy formation depends on local properties of the mass distribution. While these purely local influences do lead to a large-scale bias, in all cases the bias factor becomes constant on scales larger than the galaxy correlation length.

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arXiv1993

Fourier Analysis of Redshift Space Distortions and the Determination of Omega

The peculiar velocities of galaxies distort the pattern of galaxy clustering in redshift space, making the redshift space power spectrum anisotropic. In the linear regime, the strength of this distortion depends only on the ratio $β\equiv f(Ω)/b \approx Ω^{0.6}/b$, where $Ω$ is the cosmological density parameter and $b$ is the bias parameter. We derive a linear theory estimator for $β$ based on the harmonic moments of the redshift space power spectrum. Using N-body simulations, we examine the impact of non-linear gravitational clustering on the power spectrum anisotropy and on our $β$-estimator. Non-linear effects can be important out to wavelengths $λ\sim 50$Mpc/h or larger; in most cases, they lower the quadrupole moment of the power spectrum and thereby depress the estimate of $β$ below the true value. With a sufficiently large redshift survey, the scaling of non-linear effects may allow separate determinations of $Ω$ and $b$. We describe a practical technique for measuring the anisotropy of the power spectrum from galaxy redshift surveys, and we test the technique on mock catalogues drawn from the N-body simulations. Preliminary application of our methods to the 1.2 Jy IRAS galaxy survey yields $β_{est} \sim 0.3-0.4 $ at wavelengths $λ\sim 30-40$Mpc/h . Non-linear effects remain important at these scales, so this estimate of $β$ is probably lower than the true value.

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arXiv1993

Cosmic Voids and Biased Galaxy Formation

Using cosmological $N$-body simulations and the void probability function (VPF), we investigate the statistical properties of voids within a wide range of initially Gaussian models for the origin of large-scale structure. We pay particular attention to the ability of the VPF to diagnose `biased galaxy formation': the preferential formation of galaxies in regions of high background density and corresponding suppression of galaxy formation in regions of low background density. Biased models have systematically higher VPFs than unbiased models, but for a given biasing scheme the VPF is relatively insensitive to the value of the bias factor $b$. Thus, while the VPF can distinguish unbiased models from some biased models, it is probably not a useful way to constrain the bias factor; uncertainties in the appropriate choice of biasing prescription overwhelm the mild dependence on $b$. We compare the predictions of our models to the most extensive VPF observations published to date. These data do {\it not} require strong biasing; Gaussian models in which galaxies trace mass can reproduce the VPF data to within the errors expected from the current finite volume fluctuations. Models with the moderate biasing predicted by cosmological simulations with gas dynamics yield a slightly better match to the data. Models in which galaxy formation is strongly suppressed in low density regions produce an excess of large, empty voids.

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