Mock Quasar-Lyman-{\alpha} Forest Data-sets for the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

Understand

We describe mock data-sets generated to simulate the high-redshift quasar sample in Data Release 11 (DR11) of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS).

• The mock spectra contain Ly{\alpha} forest correlations useful for studying the 3D correlation function including Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO).
• They also include astrophysical effects such as quasar continuum diversity and high-density absorbers, instrumental effects such as noise and spectral resolution, as well as imperfections introduced by the SDSS pipeline treatment of the raw data.
• The Ly{\alpha} forest BAO analysis of the BOSS collaboration, described in Delubac et al.