Constraining IGM enrichment and metallicity with the C IV forest correlation function

TL;DR

This paper introduces a clustering-based method to statistically detect and analyze weak metal absorbers in the intergalactic medium at high redshift using the C IV forest, providing new constraints on IGM metallicity and enrichment topology.

Contribution

The study develops a novel correlation function technique applied to the C IV forest to constrain IGM metallicity and enrichment morphology at z>4, improving measurement precision.

Findings

The two-point correlation function peaks at the C IV doublet separation.

Metallicity constraints can reach within 0.2 dex.

Enrichment topology influences the shape and amplitude of the correlation function.

Abstract

The production and distribution of metals in the diffuse intergalactic medium (IGM) have implications for galaxy formation models and the baryon (re)cycling process. The relative abundance of metals in high versus low-ionization states has also been argued to be sensitive to the Universe's reionization history. However, measurements of the background metallicity of the IGM at z~4 are sparse and in poor agreement with one another, and reduced sensitivity in the near-IR renders detecting individual metal absorbers nearly impossible. We present a new clustering-based technique that enables the detection of these weak IGM absorbers by statistically averaging over all spectral pixels, here applied to the C IV forest. We simulate the z=4.5 IGM with different models of inhomogeneous metal distributions and investigate its two-point correlation function (2PCF) using mock skewers of the C IV forest. The 2PCF demonstrates a clear peak at the doublet separation of the C IV line. The peak amplitude scales quadratically with metallicity, while enrichment morphology affects both the shape and amplitude of the 2PCF. The effect of enrichment topology can also be framed in terms of the metal mass- and volume-filling factors, and we show their trends as a function of the enrichment topology. For models consistent with the distribution of metals at z~3, we find that we can constrain [C/H] to within 0.2 dex, log$\,M_{\rm{min}}$ to within 0.4 dex, and $R$ to within 15%. We show that strong absorbers arising from the circumgalactic medium of galaxies can be easily identified and masked, allowing one to recover the underlying IGM signal. The auto-correlation of the metal-line forest presents a new and compelling avenue to simultaneously constrain IGM metallicity and enrichment topology with high precision at z>4, thereby pushing such measurements into the Epoch of Reionization.