Robert H. Becker et al. 2001 The Astronomical Journal 122 2850 doi:10.1086/324231
Robert H. Becker1,2, Xiaohui Fan3, Richard L. White4, Michael A. Strauss5, Vijay K. Narayanan5, Robert H. Lupton5, James E. Gunn5, James Annis6, Neta A. Bahcall5, J. Brinkmann7, A. J. Connolly8, István Csabai9,10, Paul C. Czarapata6, Mamoru Doi11, Timothy M. Heckman9, G. S. Hennessy12, Željko Ivezić5, G. R. Knapp5, Don Q. Lamb13, Timothy A. McKay14, Jeffrey A. Munn15, Thomas Nash6, Robert Nichol16, Jeffrey R. Pier15, Gordon T. Richards17, Donald P. Schneider17, Chris Stoughton6, Alexander S. Szalay9, Aniruddha R. Thakar9 and D. G. York13,18
Show affiliationsWe present moderate-resolution Keck spectroscopy of quasars at z = 5.82, 5.99, and 6.28, discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We find that the Lyα absorption in the spectra of these quasars evolves strongly with redshift. To z ~ 5.7, the Lyα absorption evolves as expected from an extrapolation from lower redshifts. However, in the highest-redshift object, SDSSp J103027.10+052455.0 (z = 6.28), the average transmitted flux is 0.0038 ± 0.0026 times that of the continuum level over 8450 Å < λ < 8710 Å (5.95 < zabs < 6.16), consistent with zero flux. Thus the flux level drops by a factor of greater than 150 and is consistent with zero flux in the Lyα forest region immediately blueward of the Lyα emission line, compared with a drop by a factor of ~10 at zabs ~ 5.3. A similar break is seen at Lyβ; because of the decreased oscillator strength of this transition, this allows us to put a considerably stronger limit, τeff > 20, on the optical depth to Lyα absorption at z = 6. This is a clear detection of a complete Gunn-Peterson trough, caused by neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium. Even a small neutral hydrogen fraction in the intergalactic medium would result in an undetectable flux in the Lyα forest region. Therefore, the existence of the Gunn-Peterson trough by itself does not indicate that the quasar is observed prior to the reionization epoch. However, the fast evolution of the mean absorption in these high-redshift quasars suggests that the mean ionizing background along the line of sight to this quasar has declined significantly from z ~ 5 to 6, and the universe is approaching the reionization epoch at z ~ 6.
cosmology: observations; galaxies: formation; quasars: absorption lines; quasars: general
Issue 6 (2001 December)
Received 2001 August 6, accepted for publication 2001 September 4
Robert H. Becker et al. 2001 The Astronomical Journal 122 2850
Donald P. Schneider et al. 2003 The Astronomical Journal 126 2579
Donald G. York et al. 2000 The Astronomical Journal 120 1579
Chris Stoughton et al. 2002 The Astronomical Journal 123 485
Kevork Abazajian et al. 2004 The Astronomical Journal 128 502
C. W. Yip et al. 2004 The Astronomical Journal 128 585
Donald P. Schneider et al. 2002 The Astronomical Journal 123 567
Donald P. Schneider et al. 2007 The Astronomical Journal 134 102
Jennifer K. Adelman-McCarthy et al. 2008 ApJS 175 297
Donald P. Schneider et al. 2005 The Astronomical Journal 130 367