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Gunn–Peterson trough

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of the IGM high enough to cause the suppression of emission observed. Despite the fact that the ratio of neutral hydrogen to ionized hydrogen may not have been particularly high, the low flux observed past the Lyman-alpha limit indicates that the universe was in the final stages of reionization.
150:≈ 6 appeared to conflict with estimates made from the WMAP measurement of the electron column density. However, the WMAP III data released in 2006 now seems to be in much better agreement with the limits on reionization placed by observation of the Gunn–Peterson trough. 133:
the surrounding IGM. However, as the scattering cross section of photons with energies near that of the Lyman-alpha limit with neutral hydrogen is very high, even a small fraction of neutral hydrogen will make the
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For over three decades after the prediction, no objects had been found distant enough to show the Gunn–Peterson trough. It was not until 2001, with the discovery of a quasar with a redshift
95:= 5.99, and, while each of these exhibited absorption at wavelengths on the blue side of the Lyman-alpha transition, there were numerous spikes in flux as well. The flux of the quasar at 99:= 6.28, however, was effectively zero beyond the Lyman-alpha limit, meaning that the neutral hydrogen fraction in the IGM must have been larger than ~10. 296:
Kogut, A.; et al. (2003). "First-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Temperature-Polarization Correlation".
129:, the universe was expected to be neutral, until the first objects in the universe started emitting light and energy which would 408: 349:
Page, L.; et al. (2007). "Three-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Polarization Analysis".
121:= 6 presented strong evidence for the hydrogen in the universe having undergone a transition from neutral to ionized around 413: 60: 56: 126: 44: 20: 84: 28: 75:
Zero flux troughs by different Lyman absorbers in the spectrum of first confirmed observation of the effect.
418: 87:, that a Gunn–Peterson trough was finally observed. The article also included quasars at redshifts of 368: 315: 262: 208: 40: 384: 358: 331: 305: 278: 252: 175: 71: 376: 323: 270: 216: 167: 146:
spacecraft in 2003, the determination by Becker that the end of reionization occurred at
117:= 6.28 quasar, and the absence of the trough in quasars detected at redshifts just below 372: 319: 266: 212: 402: 135: 388: 335: 282: 130: 108: 48: 157: 363: 310: 257: 52: 36: 32: 55:
of the emitted light. This effect was originally predicted in 1965 by
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Becker, R. H.; et al. (2001). "Evidence For Reionization at
243:~ 6: Detection of a Gunn–Peterson Trough in a z = 6.28 Quasar". 143: 197:"On the Density of Neutral Hydrogen in Intergalactic Space" 83:= 6.28 by Robert Becker and others using data from the 47:
from the quasar at wavelengths less than that of the
43:. The trough is characterized by suppression of 142:Following the first release of data from the 8: 362: 309: 256: 220: 351:Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 298:Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 187: 195:Gunn, J. E.; Peterson, B. A. (1965). 7: 234: 232: 14: 113:The discovery of the trough in a 16:Feature of the spectra of quasars 160: 35:due to the presence of neutral 1: 435: 106: 41:Intergalactic medium (IGM) 103:Evidence for reionization 21:astronomical spectroscopy 85:Sloan Digital Sky Survey 45:electromagnetic emission 76: 409:Astrophysics concepts 201:Astrophysical Journal 74: 245:Astronomical Journal 27:is a feature of the 25:Gunn–Peterson trough 373:2007ApJS..170..335P 320:2003ApJS..148..161K 267:2001AJ....122.2850B 213:1965ApJ...142.1633G 414:Physical cosmology 176:Lyman-alpha forest 77: 426: 393: 392: 366: 364:astro-ph/0603450 346: 340: 339: 313: 311:astro-ph/0302213 293: 287: 286: 260: 258:astro-ph/0108097 251:(6): 2850–2857. 236: 227: 226: 224: 192: 170: 168:Astronomy portal 165: 164: 163: 434: 433: 429: 428: 427: 425: 424: 423: 399: 398: 397: 396: 348: 347: 343: 295: 294: 290: 238: 237: 230: 194: 193: 189: 184: 166: 161: 159: 156: 111: 105: 69: 67:First detection 17: 12: 11: 5: 432: 430: 422: 421: 416: 411: 401: 400: 395: 394: 381:10.1086/513699 357:(2): 335–376. 341: 328:10.1086/377219 304:(1): 161–173. 288: 275:10.1086/324231 228: 222:10.1086/148444 186: 185: 183: 180: 179: 178: 172: 171: 155: 152: 104: 101: 68: 65: 61:Bruce Peterson 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 431: 420: 419:Space plasmas 417: 415: 412: 410: 407: 406: 404: 390: 386: 382: 378: 374: 370: 365: 360: 356: 352: 345: 342: 337: 333: 329: 325: 321: 317: 312: 307: 303: 299: 292: 289: 284: 280: 276: 272: 268: 264: 259: 254: 250: 246: 242: 235: 233: 229: 223: 218: 214: 210: 207:: 1633–1641. 206: 202: 198: 191: 188: 181: 177: 174: 173: 169: 158: 153: 151: 149: 145: 140: 137: 136:optical depth 132: 128: 127:recombination 124: 120: 116: 110: 102: 100: 98: 94: 90: 86: 82: 73: 66: 64: 62: 58: 57:James E. Gunn 54: 50: 46: 42: 38: 34: 30: 26: 22: 354: 350: 344: 301: 297: 291: 248: 244: 240: 204: 200: 190: 147: 141: 122: 118: 114: 112: 109:Reionization 96: 92: 88: 80: 78: 51:line at the 24: 18: 125:= 6. After 91:= 5.82 and 49:Lyman-alpha 403:Categories 182:References 107:See also: 389:12113374 336:15253442 283:14117521 154:See also 131:reionize 53:redshift 37:hydrogen 369:Bibcode 316:Bibcode 263:Bibcode 209:Bibcode 39:in the 33:quasars 29:spectra 387:  334:  281:  23:, the 385:S2CID 359:arXiv 332:S2CID 306:arXiv 279:S2CID 253:arXiv 144:WMAP 59:and 377:doi 355:170 324:doi 302:148 271:doi 249:122 217:doi 205:142 31:of 19:In 405:: 383:. 375:. 367:. 353:. 330:. 322:. 314:. 300:. 277:. 269:. 261:. 247:. 231:^ 215:. 203:. 199:. 63:. 391:. 379:: 371:: 361:: 338:. 326:: 318:: 308:: 285:. 273:: 265:: 255:: 241:z 225:. 219:: 211:: 148:z 123:z 119:z 115:z 97:z 93:z 89:z 81:z

Index

astronomical spectroscopy
spectra
quasars
hydrogen
Intergalactic medium (IGM)
electromagnetic emission
Lyman-alpha
redshift
James E. Gunn
Bruce Peterson

Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Reionization
recombination
reionize
optical depth
WMAP
Astronomy portal
Lyman-alpha forest
"On the Density of Neutral Hydrogen in Intergalactic Space"
Bibcode
1965ApJ...142.1633G
doi
10.1086/148444


arXiv
astro-ph/0108097
Bibcode
2001AJ....122.2850B

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