Probing inhomogeneity in the helium ionizing UV background

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present an analysis combining the simultaneous measurement of intergalactic absorption by hydrogen (${\rm {H\,\small {I}}}$), helium (${\rm {He\,\small {II}}}$), and oxygen (${\rm {O\,\small {VI}}}$) in UV and optical quasar spectra. The combination of the ${\rm {H\,\small {I}}}$ and ${\rm {He\,\small {II}}}$ Lyman-alpha forests through η (the ratio of column densities of singly ionized helium to neutral hydrogen) is thought to be sensitive to large-scale inhomogeneities in the extragalactic UV background. We test this assertion by measuring associated five-times-ionized oxygen (${\rm {O\,\small {VI}}}$) absorption, which is also sensitive to the UV background. We apply the pixel optical depth technique to ${\rm {O\,\small {VI}}}$ absorption in high and low η samples filtered on various scales. This filtering scale is intended to represent the scale of any coherent oxygen excess/deficit. We find a 2σ detection of an ${\rm {O\,\small {VI}}}$ opacity excess in the low η sample on scales of ∼10 cMpc for HE 2347-4342 at $\bar{z}\approx 2.6$, consistent with a large-scale excess in hard UV photons. However, for HS 1700 + 6416 at $\bar{z}\approx 2.5$ we find that the measured ${\rm {O\,\small {VI}}}$ absorption is not sensitive to differences in η. HS 1700 + 6416 also shows a relative absence of ${\rm {O\,\small {VI}}}$ overall, which is 6σ inconsistent with that of HE 2347-4342. This implies UV background inhomogeneities on ≳200 cMpc scales, hard UV regions having internal ionization structure on ∼10 cMpc scales, and soft UV regions showing no such structure. Furthermore, we perform the pixel optical depth search for oxygen on the ${\rm {He\,\small {II}}}$ Gunn-Peterson trough of HE 2347-4342 and find results consistent with post-${\rm {He\,\small {II}}}$-reionization conditions.