Gigapixel Lyman-alpha Forest Cosmology

对类星体的大型调查正在进行中，例如SDSS-3 BOSS，这将提供大量的类星体光谱。即使是这样的一个类星体光谱也包含一组信息，例如莱曼-阿尔法森林，它提供了宇宙密度场的地图，并提供了数百个像素的独立信息。该项目提出了一个连贯的计划，将建立一幅星际介质在高红移时的状态及其关系和宇宙学探测的图景。大型宇宙流体动力学模拟将用于对观测测量进行预测，并设计和测试应用于数据的分析技术。该项目将涵盖星际物质场的五个方面：中性介质、电离氢场、质量密度场、辐射场和温度场。该项目将深入了解星际介质的物理及其与恒星和星系形成的关系，以及宇宙学。这项拟议的工作在较小的数据集下是不可能的，它代表了一些新的东西，而且未来可能会继续使用来自更大调查的数据。此外，数据集的巨大规模将对人们看待光谱学的方式产生广泛影响，将星系间介质的研究和测绘带入大规模数据挖掘领域。这项工作将推动以前当类星体光谱分析只涉及一小部分对象时不需要的软件工具的开发。在教育方面，这个项目将帮助本科生和研究生的教育，其结果将被纳入一个正在进行的推广计划中，该计划工作的对象是科学界代表性较低的少数民族中学生。

Large surveys of quasars are underway, such as SDSS-3 BOSS, that will provide a large set of quasar spectra. Even one such quasar spectrum contains an array of information, such as the Lyman-alpha forest that offers a map of the cosmological density field and provides hundreds of pixels of independent information. The project presents a coherent program that will build up a picture of the state of the intergalactic medium at high redshifts and its relationship and probe of cosmology. Large cosmological hydrodynamic simulations will be used to make predictions for observational measurements and to devise and test analysis techniques to be applied to data. Five aspects of the intergalactic matter field will be covered: the neutral medium, the ionized hydrogen field, the mass density field, the radiation field, and the temperature field.This project will provide insight into the physics of the intergalactic medium, with its relationship to star and galaxy formation, as well as cosmology. The proposed work is not possible with smaller data sets and represents something new, and the potential future continuation with data from even larger surveys is clear. In addition, the sheer size of the data set will have a broad impact on the way spectroscopy is viewed, moving the study and mapping of the intergalactic medium into the realm of large-scale data mining. This work will push the development of software tools there were not previously necessary when analysis of quasar spectra involved only a small number of objectsEducationally, this project will assist the education of undergraduate and graduate students, and the results will be incorporated into an ongoing outreach program working with middle school students from minorities underrepresented in science.