DR11 Quasar-Lyman-alpha mock catalogs

This page describes the mock catalogs for the BAO detection using the lyman-alpha forest of high redshift (z>2) quasars.

Overview

One of the key science goals of BOSS is the measurement of the BAO scale from the Lyman-alpha forest in the high-redshift quasar (z > 2) sightlines. Details of the last measurements can be found in Busca et al. 2013, Slosar et al. 2013 and Delubac et al. 2015. Mock catalogs were produced in order to help these analyses through tests for possible systematic errors. A detailed description of the mock catalogs can be found in Bautista et al. 2015.

Specifics

There are available 100 realizations of DR11 high-redshift (2.15 < z < 3.5) quasars with correlated Lyman-alpha forests. The large-scale correlation function of the Lyman-alpha forest transmission follows a Lambda CDM cosmological model based on measurements of WMAP7 given by the following parameters

Omega_m = 0.27, Omega_k = 0, Omega_b = 0.045, h = 0.7, n_s = 0.96, sigma_8 = 0.8, m_nu = 0.

The input power spectrum contains redshift-space distortions and a non-linear damping term based on cosmological simulations from McDonald 2003. The Lyman-alpha forest bias term and the redshift-space distortion parameter are based on Slosar et al. 2011 and are respectively given by

b = 0.14, beta = 1.4.

The absorption fields are then transformed into realistic spectra with the addition of a quasar continuum emission, metal absorption, high column density systems. BOSS instrumental characteristics are also added to these spectra, such as pixel noise, resolution, binning, and calibration errors.

Further details on the transformation process of mock catalogs can be found in Bautista et al. 2015.

Access 

Mock catalogs are provided through a two step process (click on the links to more information):