Citation:
Abstract:
Using a sample of approximately 14,000 z > 2.1 quasars observed inthe first year of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), wemeasure the three-dimensional correlation function of absorption in theLyman-α forest. The angle-averaged correlation function oftransmitted flux (F = e-τ) is securely detected outto comoving separations of 60 h-1Mpc, the firstdetection of flux correlations across widely separated sightlines. Aquadrupole distortion of the redshift-space correlation function bypeculiar velocities, the signature of the gravitational instabilityorigin of structure in the Lyman-α forest, is also detected athigh significance. We obtain a good fit to the data assuming lineartheory redshift-space distortion and linear bias of the transmittedflux, relative to the matter fluctuations of a standard ΛCDMcosmological model (inflationary cold dark matter with a cosmological