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Intergalactic Interactions: A Higgs Centre Workshop on the Intergalactic Medium

Event description

The Cold Dark Matter (CDM) theory of cosmological structure formation has been a spectacular success. Its predictions for large-scale fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have matched satellite measurements (most recently WMAP) to exquisite precision for a flat Universe. It has provided a broadly accurate description of the formation of structures from the largest scales to galactic, showing the structures form in a cosmic web resulting from gaussian fluctuations in the CDM primordial density field. When coupled with CMB constraints, best agreement is found for a Universe with a non-negligible contribution of vacuum energy to the total cosmological mass budget (a cosmological constant, or “Dark Energy”), in agreement with the acceleration of the universe discovered through supernova measurements.

It thus appears we have the correct broad framework for how cosmological structures were formed. The next simplest structure to the CMB is the large scale cosmic web, diffuse gaseous and dark matter fila- mentary structures between the galaxies, known as the Intergalactic Medium. The web contains most of the mass of the Universe. It is revealed through hydrogen and helium absorption lines in the spectra of distant Quasi-Stellar Sources (QSOs), which act as background lightbulbs against which the absorption is measured. The purpose of the workshop is to bring together world-leading experts in the study of the IGM as a test of the CDM model of structure formation on scales smaller than CMB measurements. It is here that additional physics may be discovered, such as required modifications to the nature of the CDM particles, or additional particles like massive neutrinos, or evolution in the vacuum energy equation of state.

The topics to be covered include the hydrogen and helium distributions in the IGM, cosmological constraints from the Lyman-alpha forest, the metal content of the IGM and the interaction between galaxies and their circumgalactic gas.

Directions to the Royal Observatory are available on the ROE Visitor Centre website: Directions

The banquet Wednesday, 26 June, starts at 19.30 (doors open 19.15). It is located in Rainy Hall, New College (on the Mound): Directions

To Register, click on the (red) registration button below. Registration must include payment to the University of Edinburgh through ePay: Payment Page

Registration is £125 which includes lunches and the workshop dinner at Pollock Halls on the Wednesday evening. Limited partial support is available to students.

We now invite contributed talks and poster contributions - please submit abstracts via the registration form by *Tuesday 30th April*. Please note that space restrictions limit the number of additional attendees to 70.

LOC Members

Avery Meiksin (Chair), Pratika Dayal, Lyndsey Miller, Eric Tittley.

Contact

For general enquiries about the workshop please contact hc-igm13 [at] ph.ed.ac.uk

![](https://higgs.ph.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/higgs-workshop-poster-ifa- roe-supa.pdf)![](https://higgs.ph.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/intergalactic- interactions-workshop.jpg)

Timetable

See the full timetable on Indico

Sessions

24 Jun 2013 08:15
Introductory Remarks

24 Jun 2013
Hydrogen in the IGM

08:30—09:10
Lyman Limit Systems throughout cosmic history (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • O'Meara, John (Saint Michael's College)
09:10—09:40
The fundamental plane of DLAs (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Neeleman, Marcel (UCSD)
09:40—10:10
The cosmic neutral hydrogen distribution and its connection to galactic ecosystems (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Rahmati, Ali (Leiden Observatory)

24 Jun 2013
Hydrogen in the IGM

10:40—11:20
Lyman limit systems and the circumgalactic medium at z~2-3 (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Fumagalli, Michele (Carnegie Observatories/Princeton University)
11:20—11:50
The Lyα forest flux PDF from BOSS (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Lee, Khee-Gan (MPIA)

24 Jun 2013
Galaxies, Feedback and the IGM

13:20—14:00
News on the very local CGM and IGM (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Richter, Philipp (University of Potsdam)
14:00—14:40
Are metals in the IGM out of equilibrium? (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Oppenheimer, Benjamin (Leiden University)
14:40—15:10
Probing gas infall and outflow in the vicinity of high redshift galaxies (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Bielby, Richard (Durham University)

24 Jun 2013
Galaxies, Feedback and the IGM

15:40—16:10
Stacking Lyα forest absorbers in the SDSS-III/ BOSS DR9 quasar survey (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Pieri, Matthew (ICG, Portsmouth)
16:10—16:40
The distribution of metals in the circumgalactic medium around z ~ 2.4 galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Turner, Monica (Leiden Observatory)

25 Jun 2013
Helium in the IGM

08:30—09:10
Detailed observations of the He II reionization epoch (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Syphers, David (University of Colorado, Boulder)
09:10—09:40
Toward the beginning of the reionization of intergalactic helium (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Zheng, Wei (Johns Hopkins University)
09:40—10:20
Mapping the inside-out morphology of HeII reionization over 800 million years of cosmic time (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Worseck, Gabor (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie)

25 Jun 2013
Helium in the IGM

10:50—11:30
Intensity fluctuations in the HI and HeII Lyα forests (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • McQuinn, Matthew (UC Berkeley)
11:30—12:00
The effect of fluctuations on the helium-ionizing background (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Davies, Frederick (UCLA)

25 Jun 2013
Helium in the IGM

13:30—14:00
Cosmic UV background fluctuations traced by metal ions at the epoch of helium re-ionisation (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Graziani, Luca (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics - MPA Garching)

25 Jun 2013 14:00
Poster Session

25 Jun 2013
Hydrogen in the IGM

15:00—15:40
Illuminating the cosmic web with quasar-induced Lyα emission (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Cantalupo, Sebastiano (UCSC)
15:40—16:10
On the possible break in the metallicity evolution of DLAs at z ~ 5 (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Rafelski, Marc (IPAC (Caltech))

26 Jun 2013
Cosmological Constraints from the IGM

08:30—09:10
Cosmology with the Lyα forest (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Miralda-Escudé, Jordi (ICREA, Barcelona)
09:10—09:50
BAO results from BOSS and cosmological implications (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Busca, Nicolás (Laboratoire AstroParticules Cosmologie - CNRS)
09:50—10:30
Measurements of cross-correlations of the Lyα forest with DLAs and quasars from BOSS (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Font-Ribera, Andreu (University of Zurich)

26 Jun 2013
Cosmological Constraints from the IGM

11:00—11:40
Using the IGM to measure the coldness of cold dark matter (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Viel, Matteo (INAF)
11:40—12:20
Lyα forest statistics (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Theuns, Tom (Durham University)
12:20—12:50
Precision measures of the primordial deuterium abundance (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Cooke, Ryan (UC Santa Cruz)

27 Jun 2013
Galaxies, Feedback and the IGM

08:30—09:10
The unchanging circumgalactic medium over the past 11 billion years (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Chen, Hsiao-Wen (The University of Chicago)
09:10—09:45
HST COS and STIS observations of gaseous galaxy halos (0h35′)
Speaker(s):
  • Stocke, John (CASA, U. of Colorado)
09:45—10:15
Near-field cosmology results from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Danforth, Charles (University of Colorado)

27 Jun 2013
Galaxies, Feedback and the IGM

10:45—11:15
Mapping metals in the circumgalactic medium at z~2.5 (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Crighton, Neil (MPIA)
11:15—11:45
On the connection between the IGM and galaxies at z < 1 (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Tejos, Nicolas (Durham University)

27 Jun 2013
Hydrogen in the IGM

13:15—13:55
New measurements of the galaxy ionizing emissivity in the post-reionization epoch (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Becker, George (University of Cambridge)
13:55—14:25
The IGM thermal history down to z ~ 3.5: A new curvature measurement (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Boera, Elisa (Swinburne University)
14:25—14:55
Measuring the Jeans scale of the IGM with close quasar pairs (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Rorai, Alberto (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy - Heidelberg)

27 Jun 2013
Helium in the IGM

15:25—15:55
Inhomogeneous He II reionization and the implications for the intergalactic medium (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Dixon, Keri (University of Sussex)
15:55—16:25
The imprint of inhomogeneous HeII reionization on the HI and HeII Lyα forest (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Compostella, Michele (Argelander Institute for Astronomy, Bonn)

28 Jun 2013
Galaxies, Feedback and the IGM

08:30—09:10
Cold accretion, hot feedback and the bimodal metallicity distribution in the circumgalactic medium of galaxies at z < 1 (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Tripp, Todd (University of Massachusetts)
09:10—09:40
Metals and gas in the circumgalactic medium of distant galaxies (0h30′)
Speaker(s):
  • Kulkarni, Varsha (University of South Carolina)

28 Jun 2013
Galaxies, Feedback and the IGM

10:10—10:50
The circumgalactic medium in high resolution, zoom-in simulations: A test of stellar feedback, galactic outflows and cold streams (0h40′)
Speaker(s):
  • Shen, Sijing (University of California, Santa Cruz)
10:50—11:30
The First Billion Years simulations: galactic outflows and metal enrichment (0h40′)
Speaker(s):

28 Jun 2013 11:30
Concluding Remarks

-

Intergalactic Interactions: A Higgs Centre Workshop on the Intergalactic Medium

Venues

Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (Find us on campus maps)
Blackford Hill
Edinburgh
EH9 3HJ
UK

Organisers

  • Jamie Bolton
    (
    • University of Nottingham
    )
  • Joseph Hennawi
    (
    • Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
    )
  • Sadegh Khochfar
    (
    • University of Edinburgh
    • Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
    )
  • Avery Meiksin
    (
    • University of Edinburgh
    • Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
    )
  • Joop Schaye
    (
    • Leiden University
    )
  • Martin White
    (
    • University of California Berkeley
    )

Key speakers

  • O'Meara, John (Saint Michael's College)
  • Neeleman, Marcel (UCSD)
  • Rahmati, Ali (Leiden Observatory)
  • Fumagalli, Michele (Carnegie Observatories/Princeton University)
  • Lee, Khee-Gan (MPIA)
  • Richter, Philipp (University of Potsdam)
  • Oppenheimer, Benjamin (Leiden University)
  • Bielby, Richard (Durham University)
  • Pieri, Matthew (ICG, Portsmouth)
  • Turner, Monica (Leiden Observatory)
  • Syphers, David (University of Colorado, Boulder)
  • Zheng, Wei (Johns Hopkins University)
  • Worseck, Gabor (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie)
  • McQuinn, Matthew (UC Berkeley)
  • Davies, Frederick (UCLA)
  • Graziani, Luca (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics - MPA Garching)
  • Cantalupo, Sebastiano (UCSC)
  • Rafelski, Marc (IPAC (Caltech))
  • Miralda-Escudé, Jordi (ICREA, Barcelona)
  • Busca, Nicolás (Laboratoire AstroParticules Cosmologie - CNRS)
  • Font-Ribera, Andreu (University of Zurich)
  • Viel, Matteo (INAF)
  • Theuns, Tom (Durham University)
  • Cooke, Ryan (UC Santa Cruz)
  • Chen, Hsiao-Wen (The University of Chicago)
  • Stocke, John (CASA, U. of Colorado)
  • Danforth, Charles (University of Colorado)
  • Crighton, Neil (MPIA)
  • Tejos, Nicolas (Durham University)
  • Becker, George (University of Cambridge)
  • Boera, Elisa (Swinburne University)
  • Rorai, Alberto (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy - Heidelberg)
  • Dixon, Keri (University of Sussex)
  • Compostella, Michele (Argelander Institute for Astronomy, Bonn)
  • Tripp, Todd (University of Massachusetts)
  • Kulkarni, Varsha (University of South Carolina)
  • Shen, Sijing (University of California, Santa Cruz)
  • Claudio DALLA VECCHIA (MPE)

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