Open AccessOn the small‐scale clustering of the Ly α forest clouds
Author(s) -
Ćirković Milan M.,
Lanzetta Kenneth M.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03417.x
Subject(s) - physics , autocorrelation , amplitude , cluster analysis , scale (ratio) , statistical physics , correlation function (quantum field theory) , astrophysics , function (biology) , statistics , optics , quantum mechanics , mathematics , evolutionary biology , dielectric , biology
Recent measurements of the autocorrelation function of the Ly α clouds are analysed from the point of view of a simple model with strong clustering on the small scales. It is shown that this toy model reproduces fairly well the important linear relation between amplitude of the absorber autocorrelation function and neutral hydrogen column density. In addition, it predicts a correct evolutionary trend of correlation amplitudes. Some possible ramifications of these results are discussed.