2000/02/11 by Joop Schaye, Tom Theuns, Schaye, Joop +9
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Superconducting and THz Device Technology #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0002247
4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in "Cosmic evolution and galaxy formation: Structure, interactions, and feedback", eds. J. Franco et al
arxiv created 2000/02/11 · openalex publication_date 2000/02/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The thermal evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) depends on the reionization history of the universe. Numerical simulations indicate that the low density IGM, which is responsible for the low column density Ly-alpha forest, follows a well defined temperature-density relation. This results in a cut-off in the distribution of line widths as a function of column density. We use hydrodynamic simulations to calibrate the relation between the cut-off and the temperature-density relation and apply this relation to Keck spectra spanning a redshift range z=2-4.5. We find that the temperature peaks at z~3 and interpret this as evidence for reheating due to the reionization of helium.