Lyman alpha absorption lines from mini pancakes

Abstract

[Abridged abstract:] Recent numerical simulations show that many $\lyal$ absorption lines of column densities $\nha \la 10^{15}$ cm$^{-2}$ are produced in transient, mini pancakes. Such pancakes are modeled here, approximating the initial perturbation leading to the formation of the pancake as a single sinusoidal wave. The density and temperature profiles of the gas in the pancake are determined for $z_c \sim 3$, where $z_c$ is the collapse redshift. The $\lyal$ absorption line profiles for a line of sight through the pancake are then calculated. The absorption lines in general have wings signifying bulk motions in the gas. It is shown that the deviation from a single Voigt profile is large for small H I column density lines, in which the effect of bulk motions is large. For lines with $\nha > 10^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$, high temperature tend to wash out the signatures of bulk motion. The analytical modeling of mini pancakes associated with $\lyal$ forest lines --- with $10^{13} \la \nha \la 10^{15}$ cm$^{-2}$---gives the corresponding mass scales. It is shown here that, for typical values of cosmological parameters, absorption lines with $\nha \sim 10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$ correspond to structures with baryonic mass of $M_b \sim 10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$ with an overdensity of $\sim 10$ at $z \sim 3$. The value of $\nha$ can change by a factor $\sim 3$ in the course of evolution of the pancake in time. It is also shown that there is an upper limit to $\nha$ from a pancake due to the slow recombination rate and the importance of collisional ionization at high temperatures. Mini pancakes do not give rise to $\lyal$ lines with $\nha \ga 10^{14.5}$ cm$^{-2}$, for $\j21=1$ and $\Omega_{IGM} \sim 0.03$.