We present new measurements of the free-streaming of warm dark matter (WDM) from Lyman-α flux-power spectra. We use data from the medium resolution, intermediate redshift XQ-100 sample observed with the X-shooter spectrograph (z = 3−4.2) and the high-resolution, high-redshift sample used in obtained with the HIRES/MIKE spectrographs (z = 4.2 − 5.4). Based on further improved modelling of the dependence of the Lyman-α flux-power spectrum on the freestreaming of dark matter, cosmological parameters, as well as the thermal history of the intergalactic medium (IGM) with hydrodynamical simulations, we obtain the following limits, expressed as the equivalent mass of thermal relic WDM particles. The XQ-100 flux power spectrum alone gives a lower limit of 1.4 keV, the re-analysis of the HIRES/MIKE sample gives 4.1 keV while the combined analysis gives our best and significantly strengthened lower limit of 5.3 keV (all 2σ C.L.). The further improvement in the joint analysis is partly due to the fact that the two data sets have different degeneracies between astrophysical and cosmological parameters that are broken when the data sets are combined, and more importantly on chosen priors on the thermal evolution. These results all assume that the temperature evolution of the IGM can be modelled as a power law in redshift. Allowing for a non-smooth evolution of the temperature of the IGM with sudden temperature changes of up to 5000K reduces the lower limit for the combined analysis to 3.5 keV. A WDM with smaller thermal relic masses would require, however, a sudden temperature jump of 5000 K or more in the narrow redshift interval z = 4.6 − 4.8, in disagreement with observations of the thermal history based on high-resolution resolution Lyman-α forest data and expectations for photo-heating and cooling in the low density IGM at these redshifts.

We present the Lyman-α flux power spectrum measurements of the XQ-100 sample of quasar spectra obtained in the context of the European Southern Observatory Large Programme "Quasars and their absorption lines: a legacy survey of the high redshift universe with VLT/XSHOOTER". Using 100 quasar spectra with medium resolution and signal-to-noise ratio we measure the power spectrum over a range of redshifts z = 3 − 4.2 and over a range of scales k = 0.003 − 0.06 km −1 s. The results agree well with the measurements of the one-dimensional power spectrum found in the literature. The data analysis used in this paper is based on the Fourier transform and has been tested on synthetic data. Systematic and statistical uncertainties of our measurements are estimated, with a total error (statistical and systematic) comparable to the one of the BOSS data in the overlapping range of scales, and smaller by more than 50% for higher redshift bins (z > 3.6) and small scales (k > 0.01 km −1 s). The XQ-100 data set has the unique feature of having signal-to-noise ratios and resolution intermediate between the two data sets that are typically used to perform cosmological studies, i.e. BOSS and high-resolution spectra (e.g. UVES/VLT or HIRES). More importantly, the measured flux power spectra span the high redshift regime which is usually more constraining for structure formation models.

We describe the execution and data reduction of the European Southern Observatory Large Programme "Quasars and their absorption lines: a legacy survey of the high-redshift Universe with VLT/X-shooter" (hereafter "XQ-100"). XQ-100 has produced and made publicly available a homogeneous and high-quality sample of echelle spectra of 100 quasars (QSOs) at redshifts z 3.5-4.5 observed with full spectral coverage from 315 to 2500 nm at a resolving power ranging from R ∼ 4000 to 7000, depending on wavelength. The median signal-to-noise ratios are 33, 25 and 43, as measured at rest-frame wavelengths 1700, 3000 and 3600 Å, respectively. This paper provides future users of XQ-100 data with the basic statistics of the survey, along with details of target selection, data acquisition and data reduction. The paper accompanies the public release of all data products, including 100 reduced spectra. XQ-100 is the largest spectroscopic survey to date of high-redshift QSOs with simultaneous rest-frame UV/optical coverage, and as such enables a wide range of extragalactic research, from cosmology and galaxy evolution to AGN astrophysics.

We present a sample of 38 intervening Damped Lyman α (DLA) systems identified towards 100 z > 3.5 quasars, observed during the XQ-100 survey. The XQ-100 DLA sample is combined with major DLA surveys in the literature. The final combined sample consists of 742 DLAs over a redshift range approximately 1.6 < z abs < 5.0. We develop a novel technique for computing Ω DLA HI as a continuous function of redshift, and we thoroughly assess and quantify the sources of error therein, including fitting errors and incomplete sampling of the high column density end of the column density distribution function. There is a statistically significant redshift evolution in Ω DLA HI (≥ 3σ) from z ∼ 2 to z ∼ 5. In order to make a complete assessment of the redshift evolution of Ω HI , we combine our high redshift DLA sample with absorption surveys at intermediate redshift and 21cm emission line surveys of the local universe. Although Ω DLA HI , and hence its redshift evolution, remains uncertain in the intermediate redshift regime (0.1 < z abs < 1.6), we find that the combination of high redshift data with 21cm surveys of the local universe all yield a statistically significant evolution in Ω HI from z ∼ 0 to z ∼ 5 (≥ 3σ). Despite its statistical significance, the magnitude of the evolution is small: a linear regression fit between Ω HI and z yields a typical slope of ∼0.17×10 −3 , corresponding to a factor of ∼ 4 decrease in Ω HI between z = 5 and z = 0.

Using our sample of the most metal-rich damped Lyman α systems (DLAs) at z abs ∼ 2, and two literature compilations of chemical abundances in 341 DLAs and 2818 stars, we present an analysis of the chemical composition of DLAs in the context of the Local Group. The metal-rich sample of DLAs at z abs ∼ 2 probes metallicities as high as the Galactic disc and the most metal-rich dwarf spheroidals (dSphs), permitting an analysis of many elements typically observed in DLAs (Fe, Zn, Cr, Mn, Si, and S) in comparison to stellar abundances observed in the Galaxy and its satellites (in particular dSphs). Our main conclusions are: (1)