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# Chemical Composition of the Early Universe

## 1 Introduction

The last few years have seen great advances in the discovery of highly red-shifted quasars and galaxies and the study of their spectra. High-resolution spectroscopy has simultaneously led to analyses of the chemical composition of gases along the line of sight to distant sources. At red shifts of $`z24`$, Songaila & Cowie (2001) find a pervasive and uniform distribution of ionized carbon and silicon even in relatively tenuous intergalactic clouds. At similar red shifts Songaila and Cowie (1996) also found that C IV can be detected in 75% of the clouds with column densities $`N(\mathrm{HI})>3\times 10^{14}`$, while Ellison et al. (2000) were able to measure C IV lines to a limiting sensitivity $`\mathrm{log}N(\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IV})=11.75`$ against the bright lensed quasar Q1422+231. This suggests that the ratio C IV / H I remains roughly constant down to column densities of at least $`N(\mathrm{HI})10^{14}`$ cm-2 corresponding to roughly the mean density of intergalactic gas at the highest red shifts observed $`z3.5`$. It is not yet clear whether these carbon abundances persist into the intergalactic voids.

The value of the carbon density parameter that Songaila & Cowie (2001) estimate is of order $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IV}}(1.2\pm 0.3)\times 10^8h^1[1+2q_0z]^{0.5}`$. Taking $`h=0.6`$ and a deceleration parameter $`q_0=0`$ this becomes $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{C}\mathrm{IV}}2\times 10^8`$. And if roughly half the carbon is in the triply ionized state, the density parameter for carbon integrated over all ionization states should be about $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{C}4\times 10^8`$. For a baryonic density parameter corresponding to $`\mathrm{\Omega }_B0.04`$ this would mean that the carbon abundance at these redshifts is a factor of 5000 lower than today, i.e., $`n_\mathrm{C}/n_\mathrm{H}10^7`$.

Using data on oxygen in various stages of ionization, obtained from extreme-ultraviolet absorption lines in Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorbers, Telfer et al. (2002) find an oxygen to carbon ratio \[O/C\] $`0.31.2`$ at comparable red shifts.

Triply ionized silicon is also observed in the low density clouds. The Si IV density parameter at $`z>3`$ is $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{Si}\mathrm{IV}}=4.3\pm 1.6\times 10^9h^1[1+2q_0z]^{0.5}`$, about a factor of 3 lower than carbon, and with a silicon to carbon ratio somewhat higher than in the Sun (Songaila & Cowie, 2001).

A number of authors, (Palla, Salpeter & Stahler, 1983; Haiman, Thoul & Loeb, 1996; Gnedin & Ostriker, 1997) have suggested that a very early generation of population III stars could have formed at red shifts ranging out to $`z30`$. Recent simulations due to Abel, Bryan & Norman (2000, 2002) place the epoch of population III formation at $`z18`$. These massive stars, eventually evolving into type II supernovae, would have produced not only sufficient ionizing radiation to reionize the Universe, but would also have produced and explosively ejected heavy elements. However, if the population III stars were formed in protogalactic clouds much, of the newly formed admixture of heavy elements should have remained localized, rather than becoming as dispersed throughout the extragalactic medium as the observations of Songaila & Cowie (2001) indicate.

The question we now ask is, “Can observations determine whether a significant fraction of the highly dispersed carbon and heavier elements could have been part of the primordial mixture from which the first generation of stars and galaxies formed or, alternatively, whether all of the heavy chemical elements had to be produced in the first rush of star formation and then rapidly ejected from galaxies and widely dispersed across extragalactic space?”

Standard cosmological models argue against the existence of heavy elements as admixtures in the primordial brew. However, an observational confirmation or denial of this assumption would provide important insights. Applegate, Hogan & Scherrer (1988) and Aguirre (1999) have pointed out some of the uncertainties surrounding primordial nucleogenesis, and direct observations might suffice to rule out or confirm a number of such possibilities.

In suggesting observational means for determining the abundances of heavy elements before the formation of population III condensations, care has to be taken to determine whether the measurements might not be corrupted by detection of heavy elements produced, instead, in the rapidly ensuing explosions of these same stars. Observational tests for determining the abundances of such ejecta have recently been proposed by Suginohara, Suginohara & Spergel (1999). If the life of a population III star is $`10^6`$ yr at $`z20`$, the red shift difference between pre- and post-collapse will be less than 1%, making the distinction difficult.

In section 2, we outline potential carbon and oxygen chemistries during the dark ages, after recombination but well before population III condensation. In section 3, we examine a number of processes that could yield direct evidence for primordial carbon or oxygen toward the end of that epoch, though all appear too weak for detection with present-day techniques. Section 4 suggests a more accessible approach through a search for spectral absorption features due to intergalactic neutral or singly ionized carbon or neutral oxygen wherever neutral hydrogen Gunn-Peterson troughs are observed. A concluding section summarizes these results.

## 2 The Fate of Carbon and Oxygen During the Dark Ages

The relative importance of any given chemical reaction, say with rate $`R`$, can be expressed as the cumulative conversion, $`\gamma `$, per atom, ion or molecule integrated over time

$$\gamma =n(\mathrm{H})R𝑑t=_{z_{\mathrm{min}}}^{z_{\mathrm{max}}}2.4\times 10^{11}R(1+z)^{1/2}𝑑z,$$

with the number density of hydrogen atoms $`n(\mathrm{H})4\times 10^7(1+z)^3`$ cm-3, corresponding to a photon-to-baryon ratio $`\eta 10^9`$ and a current photon density $`20T^3400`$ cm-3 ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_Bh^2=0.034`$), and $`dt6\times 10^{17}/(1+z)^{5/2}dz`$. For $`z_{\mathrm{max}}1500`$ much larger than $`z_{\mathrm{min}}`$, we find $`\gamma 1\times 10^{16}R`$. This cumulative conversion number is given for some of the relevant chemical reactions below. The rates of all the chemical reactions considered in this work are taken from the UMIST database111http://www.rate99.co.uk/ as described in Le Teuff et al. (2000).

Because the ionization potentials of oxygen and hydrogen are both close to 13.6 eV, oxygen ions will begin to recombine along with hydrogen at red shifts $`z1500`$. As Seager, Sasselov& Scott (2000) have shown, the ionization fraction of hydrogen depends on the cosmological model chosen, but drops to $`10^3`$ at $`z<50`$ for currently favored flat cold dark matter models, baryon fractions, and Hubble constants. Carbon, whose ionization potential is 11.3 eV, will not begin to recombine until $`z1250`$, by which epoch the hydrogen ionization fraction will have dropped to $`3050`$%, but will then recombine at temperature-dependent rates 1.5 to 2 times faster. By $`z<50`$ carbon, oxygen and hydrogen ionization fractions should all have dropped to levels of order $`10^3`$.

Neutral carbon atoms suffer negligible charge exchange with protons, and hence carbon will, thereafter, remain mainly neutral. Chemical processes then are driven mostly by neutral-neutral reactions. Furthermore, for modest amounts of H2, $`n(\mathrm{H}_2)/n_\mathrm{H}<10^5`$, one expects that the usual initiating reaction

$$\mathrm{C}^++\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CH}_2^++h\nu (R=4.0\times 10^{16}[T/300]^{0.20}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),\gamma 4\mathrm{for}\mathrm{high}z,$$

does not run, nor that

$$\mathrm{C}^++\mathrm{H}\mathrm{CH}^++h\nu (R=1.7\times 10^{17}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),\gamma 0.17$$

will be frequent. In any case, CH+ is removed by dissociative recombination

$$\mathrm{CH}^++e^{}\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{H}(R=1.5\times 10^7[T/300]^{0.42}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),\gamma 10^6\mathrm{if}n(e^{})/n_\mathrm{H}10^4,$$

although the electron abundance is small. CH+ will drive a number of rapid reactions with neutral atoms, most notably

$$\mathrm{CH}^++\mathrm{H}\mathrm{C}^++\mathrm{H}_2(R=7.5\times 10^{10}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1).$$

The latter reaction then can lead to

$$\mathrm{C}^++\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CH}_2^++h\nu (R=4.0\times 10^{16}[T/300]^{0.20}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),\gamma 4n(\mathrm{H}_2)/n_\mathrm{H},$$

which depends again on the abundance of H2, and implies that the usual ionized carbon chemistry can be driven, albeit at a much lower efficiency since both H2 and C+ should have low abundances.

CH and CH2 formation is initiated through

$$\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{H}\mathrm{CH}+h\nu (R=10^{17}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),\gamma 0.1,$$

with

$$\mathrm{CH}+\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CH}_2+\mathrm{H}(R=5.46\times 10^{10}e^{1,943/T}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),\gamma 10^7n(\mathrm{H}_2)/n_\mathrm{H},$$

or

$$\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CH}_2+h\nu (R=10^{17}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),\gamma 0.1n(\mathrm{H}_2)/n_\mathrm{H},$$

and

$$\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CH}+\mathrm{H}(R=6.64\times 10^{10}e^{11,700/T}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1,\gamma 10^5n(\mathrm{H}_2)/n_\mathrm{H}\mathrm{at}\mathrm{high}z,$$

CH2 is destroyed through

$$\mathrm{CH}_2+\mathrm{H}\mathrm{CH}+\mathrm{H}_2(R=6.6\times 10^{11}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

and CH is destroyed through

$$\mathrm{CH}+\mathrm{H}\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{H}+\mathrm{H}(R=6.0\times 10^9e^{40,200/T}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),\gamma 2\times 10^3atz1500,$$

or

$$\mathrm{CH}+\mathrm{H}\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{H}_2(R=2.7\times 10^{11}[T/300]^{0.38}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),\gamma 10^4,$$

which is also a source of H2.

Note that quite a few of the reactions above have substantial reaction barriers or temperature dependencies, so that elevated temperatures are required to drive this neutral-neutral chemistry.

The small abundance of H2 quenches the formation of CH$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{2}{}^{}`$ through the otherwise rapid reaction

$$\mathrm{CH}^++\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CH}_2^++\mathrm{H}(R=1.2\times 10^9\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

which is normally the dominant removal channel of CH+ in diffuse clouds. However, if CH$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{2}{}^{}`$ is present then one has

$$\mathrm{CH}_2^++\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{CH}_3^++\mathrm{H}(R=1.60\times 10^9\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

leading to CH and CH2 after dissociative recombination.

For oxygen present only in neutral form, and modest amounts of H2, $`n(\mathrm{H}_2)/n_\mathrm{H}<10^5`$, one expects that the charge transfer reaction

$$\mathrm{H}^++\mathrm{O}\mathrm{O}^++\mathrm{H}(R=7.31\times 10^{10}e^{225.9/T}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

which itself is limited by the number of protons, is not followed by (the usually rapid) reactions with H2. Instead the O+ that is present is removed by the inverse reaction

$$\mathrm{O}^++\mathrm{H}\mathrm{H}^++\mathrm{O}(R=5.66\times 10^{10}[T/300]^{0.36}e^{8.60/T}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),1041,000K,$$

However, one can initiate OH formation through

$$\mathrm{O}+\mathrm{H}\mathrm{OH}+h\nu (R=9.9\times 10^{19}[T/300]^{0.38}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),10300K,$$

followed by reaction with atomic hydrogen that leads mostly back to oxygen in atomic form.

Finally, there are negative ion reactions, similar to the gas-phase formation of H2, that lead to OH

$$\mathrm{H}+e^{}\mathrm{H}^{}+h\nu (R=4.5\times 10^{16}[T/300]^{0.6}e^{4/T}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

$$\mathrm{O}+e^{}\mathrm{O}^{}+h\nu (R=1.50\times 10^{15}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

followed by

$$\mathrm{H}^{}+\mathrm{O}\mathrm{OH}+e^{}(R=1.00\times 10^9\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

$$\mathrm{O}^{}+\mathrm{H}\mathrm{OH}+e^{}(R=5.00\times 10^{10}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

The H- is rapidly removed through

$$\mathrm{H}^{}+\mathrm{H}\mathrm{H}_2+e^{}(R=1.30\times 10^9\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

and by the prevailing background radiation.

For carbon one has similarly

$$\mathrm{C}+e^{}\mathrm{C}^{}+h\nu (R=3.00\times 10^{15}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

followed by

$$\mathrm{H}^{}+\mathrm{C}\mathrm{CH}+e^{}(R=1.00\times 10^9\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1),$$

$$\mathrm{C}^{}+\mathrm{H}\mathrm{CH}+e^{}(R=5.00\times 10^{10}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1).$$

This set of chemical pathways is strongly dependent on the (generally modest) abundance of free electrons.

Interactions of carbon with oxygen can be disregarded at the low primordial oxygen and carbon abundances, $`n_{\mathrm{C},\mathrm{O}}/n_\mathrm{H}10^7`$ permitted by direct observations.

If one evaluates the measure $`\gamma `$ for the chemical reactions discussed above, one finds that both carbon and oxygen tend to remain in atomic form. This is largely due to the absence of any substantial amount of molecular hydrogen and the long reaction time scales relative to the Hubble time.

## 3 Potential Approaches to Directly Detecting Carbon or Oxygen During the Dark Ages

We investigated whether the presence of carbon or oxygen would leave an imprint on the cosmic microwave background radiation through resonant absorption, in analogy to such an effect due to primordial traces of lithium (Loeb, 2001). As pointed out by Loeb (2002), however, neither carbon nor oxygen has sufficiently low-lying excited states that combine with the ground state through allowed transitions. The imprint of both carbon and oxygen through this process would be negligibly weak.

A further weak imprint on the microwave background radiation could arise through cooling of gas collapsing to form population III stars. Both carbon and oxygen atoms have fine-structure transitions that act as primary coolants in Galactic clouds. At low temperatures they dominate the cooling of molecular hydrogen, whose lowest rotational excited level lies at 28.2 $`\mu `$m, i.e., at an excitation temperature of 510 K. This is significantly higher than the lowest-lying fine-structure transition of atomic oxygen at 63.2 $`\mu `$m and 228K, or of carbon at 609 $`\mu `$m and 23.6 K. At the low molecular hydrogen concentrations expected at high red shifts and the low temperatures expected at the end of the dark ages, cooling through carbon and oxygen fine-structure transitions could well prevail over cooling by molecular hydrogen through rotational transitions. The total emitted radiation, however, would be low and would fall close to the peak of the microwave background radiation.

To determine an upper limit to the maximum amount of fine-structure cooling to be expected we may consider the collapse of a population III star of mass $`M`$. The total gravitational energy released in collapsing to a radius $`r`$ is $`GM/r`$ per unit mass, where $`G`$ is the gravitational constant. The maximum amount of fine-structure emission will be emitted if the collapse takes place in thermal equilibrium, since an adiabatic collapse will generate no radiation until a shock is formed, and at that point the temperature will generally be sufficiently high for H2 emission to dominate. When $`GMm_\mathrm{H}/kr`$, exceeds a temperature $`T500`$K, H2 cooling is likely to dominate over fine-structure cooling by a factor of $`10^5`$ even for an abundance of H2 of $`10^2`$; here $`k`$ is the Boltzmann constant and $`m_\mathrm{H}`$ the mass of a hydrogen atom. Hence, fine-structure cooling is not likely to exceed $`500k6.9\times 10^{14}`$ erg per carbon or oxygen atom. The number of background photons per atom or molecule, however, is the entropy $`\eta 10^9`$. The average energy per photon is $`2.73k(1+z)`$ for a total energy of $`2.73\eta k(1+z)3.8\times 10^7(1+z)`$ erg per hydrogen atom or molecule. If, as Abel, Bryan & Norman (2002) suggest, the dark ages end at $`z20`$, the maximum contribution of fine-structure transitions to the background would be of order of 1 part in $`10^{15}`$. Because the epoch $`\mathrm{\Delta }z`$ over which the fine-structure radiation took place could be quite long, the normally narrow emission lines would be spread over a rather broad spectral range, making them even more difficult to observe, particularly since emission in thermal equilibrium would mean that much of the radiation would occur at a wavelength close to the peak of the microwave background. Detection of this radiation is well short of currently foreseeable means.

## 4 A Less Direct Approach

Fan et al. (2001) have recently detected what may be the long-sought Gunn-Peterson trough (Gunn & Peterson, 1965) in observations of quasars at red shifts $`z6`$. They interpret the observed features as due to a contiguous expanse of partially neutral intergalactic hydrogen around an epoch $`z6`$, i.e., before the intergalactic medium became completely re-ionized. The immediate implication of this observation is that much of the intergalactic medium remained at least partially neutral for a limited period following the formation of population III stars, and that the intergalactic medium did not become fully ionized until $`z5`$. Ionization of the intergalactic medium is certain to have taken place before appreciable contamination through ejection of carbon or oxygen from exploding population III stars. This is partly because the number of ionizing photons exceeds the number of ejected ions by many orders of magnitude, partly because the ejection velocities of the material would be well below the speed of light and incapable of uniformly spreading across far reaches of intergalactic space, and partly because most of the ejecta will be injected in an ionized state and will long remain ionized at the prevailing low intergalactic densities. Detection of neutral or singly ionized carbon, or neutral oxygen wherever a neutral hydrogen Gunn-Peterson trough is detected, would therefore indicate the existence of either of these elements as part of the primordial mixture. A unique signature of the presence of either of these elements would be the appearance of one or more additional absorption features at wavelengths longer than the Ly-$`\alpha `$ Gunn-Peterson trough. Singly ionized carbon would be expected because radiation at energies between 11.3 and 13.6 eV would quickly penetrate to great distances across the intergalactic medium, ionizing carbon, but leaving hydrogen and oxygen neutral.

Longward of Ly-$`\alpha `$, neutral carbon has six particularly strong ultraviolet transitions combining with the ground electronic state $`1s^22s^22p^2{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$. For each of these, the ground electronic state is split into three fine-structure levels, two of which, respectively lie at 16.40 and 43.40 cm-1 above the true ground state. The lower of these excited fine-structure levels will be significantly populated at red shifts above $`z5`$, while the upper would have a significant population only above $`z15`$. The upper electronic state is also split into three levels, leading to six possible fine-structure components to each of the six electronic transitions. The six electronic transitions cluster around 1657, 1561, 1329, 1280, 1277.5,and 1261 Å. The products of the oscillator strengths $`f`$ and statistical weights $`g`$ for these respective transitions are $`fg=1.26,0.65,0.57,0.19,0.85`$, and 0.36, depending in part on the extent to which the lower fine-structure levels are populated. Longward of Ly-$`\alpha `$, C+ has only one significantly allowed transition, a blend of three fine structure transitions centered on 1335 Å, with $`fg=0.76`$. Neutral oxygen also has only one strong absorption feature due to a transition at 1303.5Å, with $`fg=0.47`$. These data and more detailed information on the transitions have been compiled by Wiese, Fuhr & Deters (1996).

Because the cited lines all lie longward of Ly-$`\alpha `$ they would be identifiable even in the presence of strong intergalactic Ly-$`\alpha `$ absorption. However, both carbon and oxygen have a number of relatively strong absorption features also shortward of Ly-$`\alpha `$. Neutral carbon has a range of allowed absorption features at wavelengths between 1194 and 1189Å, 1158 and 1156Å, 1140 and 1138 Å, and around 1129, 1122 and 945 Å. Singly ionized carbon has just one allowed transition at wavelengths between Ly-$`\alpha `$ and the Lyman limit; it lies at 1036.8Å. Neutral oxygen has allowed transitions around 1040, 1026.5, 989.5, 977, 972.5, 951.5 Å, all longward of the Lyman limit at 912Å.

Following the original work of Gunn and Peterson (1965), the optical depth of these lines is given by

$$\tau =\left(\frac{\pi e^2fg}{m_e\nu H_0}\right)n_0(1+z)^{3/2}$$
(1)
where $`e`$ is the electron charge, $`m_e`$ the electron mass, $`\nu `$ the spectral frequency of the cluster of transitions, and $`H_0`$ and $`n_0`$, respectively the Hubble constant and number density at $`z=0`$. Substituting the $`fg`$ values cited above, we obtain for the neutral carbon 1657Å feature,

$$\tau =0.21\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^{3/2}\left(\frac{0.6}{h}\right)$$
(2)
For the five other neutral carbon transitions cited above, we obtain, in order of decreasing wavelengths, respective optical depths of 0.1, 0.08, 0.02, 0.11 and 0.04, for the same red shift and Hubble constant. For the C+ transition at 1335 Å, the corresponding optical depth is 0.10 and for neutral oxygen it is 0.06. At wavelengths between Ly-$`\alpha `$ and the Lyman limit, the only transitions with appreciable optical depths are the neutral carbon transtion at 945Å, which has $`\tau 0.13`$, the C+ transition at 1036.8Å, with $`\tau 0.07`$ and the neutral oxygen transitions at 1303 and 989.5Å, with respective optical dpeths, $`\tau 0.06`$ and 0.05.

Depending on whether one chooses to search for lines only logward of Ly-$`\alpha `$, or includes the whole spectral range longward of the Lyman limit, neutral carbon, respectively has four or five absorption features with optical depths $`\tau `$ in the range of 8 to 20%; C+ has one or two features with $`\tau `$ in the range 7 to 10%, and neutral oxygen one to three features with $`\tau 5\%`$.

In the spectrum of the quasar SDSS 1044-0125 at $`z5.73`$ obtained by Djorgovski et al. (2001) there appears to be a narrow trough slightly longward of Ly-$`\alpha `$, at $`8250`$Å in the red-shifted spectrum in which Ly-$`\alpha `$ appears to strongly absorb shortward of 8100 Å. However, none of the longer-wavelength carbon or oxygen lines would lie as close to Ly-$`\alpha `$ as this, since the closest lying line, the 1277.5Å line of carbon would lie more nearly at 8500Å for a red-shifted Ly-$`\alpha `$ line at 8100Å. Taken at face value, the identification of the Ly-$`\alpha `$ trough beginning at 8100Å appears to rule out a significant abundance of either primordial atomic carbon or oxygen at levels of order $`n_{\mathrm{C},\mathrm{O}}/n_\mathrm{H}10^7`$. This may, however, be because much of the intergalactic medium is ionized even at $`z=5.7`$ and the broad Ly-$`\alpha `$ trough observed could be due to minuscule traces of neutral hydrogen. For a highly ionized intergalactic medium neutral carbon or oxygen features would not lead to sufficient optical depth to have been detected, but singly ionized carbon could have left a detectable absorption feature longward of the quasar’s Ly-$`\alpha `$ emission peak. No such absorption appears to be present in any of the three spectra displayed by Fan et al. (2001).

If a more thorough examination shows that absorption features of atomic or ionic carbon or atomic oxygen are consistenly absent in the spectra of distant quasars with strong Gunn-Peterson neutral hydrogen troughs and low levels of ionization, it should be possible to rule out the presence of primordial carbon or oxygen in concentrations four or more orders of magnitude lower than solar abundance.

## 5 Discussion

To some extent 12C is the most likely heavy element to exist at early times, since unknown circumstances might conceivably contrive to make the triple alpha process somewhat efficient at the early epochs of helium, deuterium, and lithium formation. Other elements, like oxygen, would most likely have to be formed at far later epochs once stars have formed, and would be less likely to exist before the first stars formed. If carbon and/or oxygen did exist before the first stars were formed, the formation of heavier elements in the very first generation of massive stars, rather than in a second generation, might also be facilitated, which could explain why all quasars and galaxies, even those seen at the highest red shifts, already exhibit spectra of heavy elements, as do the oldest known Galactic stars.

The quality of spectra currently available for quasars detected at red shifts of order $`z6`$ appear to make possible the detection of absorption features of optical depth $`\tau 10\%`$ to 20%, and possibly even weaker features. With improving techniques, the detection of features with such optical depths should become progressively more reliable. If the existence of hydrogen Gunn-Peterson troughs before substantial re-ionization can be observationally confirmed, and no additional features due to neutral or singly ionized carbon or neutral oxygen absorption are found, it should become possible to rule out primordial abundances of these two elements at levels as low as $`10^4`$ of the solar abundance and conceivably significantly lower.

## 6 Acknowledgments

The research efforts of M.H. are supported by NASA contracts. Part of this work was carried out while he was Adriaan Blaauw Visiting Professor at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in Groningen. He wishes to thank the members of the institute for their kind hospitality, and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for their support of the Blaauw Visiting Professorship. M.S. acknowledges discussions with Andrea Ferrara on the formation of pop III stars.

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# The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey - XI. The QSO Power Spectrum

## 1 Introduction

The large-scale structure of the Universe represents one of the most powerful discriminants between cosmological models. QSOs are highly effective probes of the structure of the Universe over a wide range of scales and can trace clustering evolution over a look-back time which is 70-80 per cent of its present age. In the linear regime ($`10r1000`$h-1Mpc), they are clearly superior to galaxies as probes of large scale structure by virtue of both the large volumes they sample and their flat $`n(z)`$ distribution. Accurately measuring the clustering over these scales bridges the gap between the clustering results on relatively small scales from galaxy redshift surveys out to scales previously only probed by microwave background anisotropy experiments.

The power spectrum perhaps provides the most natural description of the matter fluctuations that comprise large-scale structure; for a Gaussian field, the amplitude of the Fourier modes provide a statistically complete description of the density perturbations. One potential problem of using QSOs as probes of large scale structure is that they, like galaxies, are biased tracers of the mass density field. QSO imaging experiments at redshifts out to $`z12`$ suggest that the QSOs reside in relatively modest ($`L_{}`$) galaxy hosts (Rix et al. 2001; Ridgway et al. 2001) and that the clustering environment of UVX QSOs are similar to optically selected galaxies (Croom & Shanks 1999). This implies that at $`z12`$ QSOs and galaxies have a similar bias with respect to the underlying mass density field (Kauffmann & Haehnelt 2002). It is likely that the bias is scale-dependent, at least at small scales (Blanton et al. 1999). At larger scales ($`r>>10`$h-1Mpc), however, where QSO clustering statistics prevail, the shape (although not the amplitude) of the measured power spectrum can reasonably be assumed to apply to the mass and galaxies as well, since it is unlikely that the QSO bias will be scale dependent in this regime (Coles 1993; Mann, Peacock & Heavens 1998). For the purposes of modelling the QSO P(k) in this paper we assume that any bias is scale independent on the scales considered ($`40<r<500`$h-1Mpc).

With the principal aim of determining the form of QSO clustering, and hence producing strong new constraints on cosmological models, we have used the 2dF multi-fibre spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope to make a large QSO redshift survey. The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey (2QZ) comprises two $`5\mathrm{deg}\times 75\mathrm{deg}`$ declination strips, one at the South Galactic Pole and one in an equatorial region in the North Galactic Cap. QSOs are selected by ultra-violet excess (UVX) in the $`ub_\mathrm{J}:b_\mathrm{J}r`$ plane. The effectiveness of our QSO selection criteria has been demonstrated with an overall QSO sky density of $`35\mathrm{deg}^2`$ to $`b_\mathrm{J}<20.85`$ being achieved, at a completeness of 93 per cent. Spectroscopic observations are now complete, and we have been able to identify 86 per cent of the colour-selected candidates. Around half, 47 per cent, of the 47768 candidates are positively identified as QSOs, leading to a final catalogue containing 22652 QSOs. The QSOs typically have redshifts $`0.3<z<3`$, and probe a volume of around $`2\times 10^9h^3`$Mpc3 (assuming an Einstein-de Sitter cosmology).

The spectra of the first 10000 2QZ QSOs were released in April 2001 (Croom et al 2001a) and can be obtained at http://www.2dfquasar.org. Hoyle et al. (2002) used these QSOs to measure the QSO power spectrum. They found that the QSO power spectrum has similar amplitude to that of local galaxies, and little evolution is seen with redshift. The main conclusion was that they detected large-scale power significantly in excess of the standard ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=1`$) CDM prediction, strongly ruling out this model and more consistent with CDM models with lower mass content and a non-zero cosmological constant ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM).

In this paper, we re-apply the power spectrum analysis described in Hoyle et al. (2002) to the final 2QZ catalogue containing 22652 QSOs. As well as having more than twice as many QSOs as available to Hoyle et al., this dataset has a much cleaner window function, significantly reducing the potential systematics on large scales. We briefly describe the 2QZ data set in Section 2, including the angular and radial selection functions which are required to estimate the survey window function. Section 3 discusses the power spectrum estimation method, and the resulting QSO power spectrum is presented in Section 4. In this section we compare the QSO power spectrum to that of present day galaxies and clusters, and investigate evolution in the clustering amplitude. Then, in Section 5, we compare the QSO power spectrum with models of large scale structure, deriving strong constraints on the baryon and matter content of the Universe, before drawing conclusions in Section 6.

## 2 The 2QZ catalogue

The 2QZ comprises two $`5\mathrm{deg}\times 75\mathrm{deg}`$ declination strips, one at the South Galactic Pole (centred at $`\delta =30^{}`$, with 21h40m $`\alpha `$ 03h15m) and one in an equatorial region in the North Galactic Cap (centred at $`\delta =0^{}`$ with 09h50m $`\alpha `$ 14h50m). We will refer to these regions as the SGC and NGC respectively. QSOs are selected to $`b_\mathrm{J}<20.85`$ by ultra-violet excess (UVX) in the $`ub_\mathrm{J}:b_\mathrm{J}r`$ plane, at a completeness of 93 per cent. The spectra of the objects are obtained using the 2dF instrument on the AAT and reduced using the 2dF pipeline reduction system (Bailey & Glazebrook 1999). Objects are identified as QSOs by an automated procedure known as AUTOZ (Miller et al., in prep.). AUTOZ also determines the QSO redshifts; these have then been visually checked by two independent observers. The final 2QZ catalogue, containing 22652 QSOs (only those QSOs with quality 1 are used in this analysis; see Croom et al. (2001a) for details), covers an area of 740 deg2, and the data will be released to the community in the first half of 2003.

### 2.1 The QSO selection function

In order to estimate the QSO power spectrum, we need to take into account the various selection effects introduced when constructing the survey. This is achieved by generating a catalogue of random points that mimics the angular and radial selection functions of the QSOs but otherwise is unclustered.

The rapid luminosity evolution seen in QSOs (Boyle et al. 2000) means that at each redshift, over the redshift range we are considering, we are studying roughly the same part of the QSO luminosity function, relative to $`M^{}`$. In areas where the spectroscopic completeness is low, due for example to poor seeing conditions, we are sampling on average slightly brighter QSOs. This just has the effect of sampling QSOs further up the luminosity function at all redshifts, rather than sampling objects at lower redshift, as is typical with galaxy redshift surveys. Even if we cut back the magnitude limit of the survey by half a magnitude from $`b_\mathrm{J}=20.85`$ to $`b_\mathrm{J}=20.35`$, the mean redshift only drops slightly from $`\overline{z}=1.48`$ to $`\overline{z}=1.45`$. Therefore, for this work we have assumed that the radial and angular selection functions can be applied independently, and consider each in turn below.

#### 2.1.1 The angular selection function

The QSOs were observed simultaneously with galaxies from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS), and an adaptive tiling algorithm was developed to allow as many galaxies and QSOs as possible to be observed in each pointing. The pointings overlap in high density regions to maximise the coverage in all areas of the survey, and with this algorithm, we have achieved a completeness of 93 per cent. In addition to the 7 per cent of objects on which we were unable to place fibres, regions around bright stars were omitted from the input catalogue, and hence the angular mask of the 2QZ is quite complicated.

The survey also suffers from spectroscopic incompleteness. We have failed to confirm the identity of approximately 14 per cent of the objects observed. The spectra of these objects are typically very noisy, with a lack of discernible spectral features. As some classes of objects are easier to identify in low S/N spectra than others, due to, for example, distinctive emission lines, the spectroscopic completeness of QSOs in the survey may differ from that of stars, or the input catalogue as a whole. To correct for spectroscopic incompleteness we therefore need to estimate the fraction of QSOs that remain in these unidentified spectra. By examining the results from objects that have been observed more than once, such an estimate can be obtained. For objects unidentified after their first observation, but identified in subsequent observations, the relative fractions of QSOs and stars are remarkably similar to those of the identified objects in the full survey. Hence we estimate that QSOs account for approximately the same proportion ($`59`$ per cent) of the identified and unidentified populations and so the spectroscopic incompleteness of QSOs is in fact the same as that of the input catalogue as a whole. However, the rate of identifications obtained through the re-observation of previously unidentified objects is significantly lower than the survey average, and hence it is still possible that the fraction of QSOs remaining in the unidentified population could be somewhat lower. Through consideration of the fraction of QSOs unidentified after their first observation that are subsequently identified, we can set a lower limit to the fraction of QSOs in the remaining unidentified population at about 40 per cent. We will consider the effect of different spectroscopic completeness corrections in Section 4.1.

To match the angular selection function of the QSOs, we construct a completeness map, estimating completeness both to observational and spectroscopic effects in regions defined by the intersection of 2dF pointings. In each such region we calculate the fraction of objects contained in the input catalogue that have been identified. As the spectroscopic incompleteness of QSOs is approximately the same as that of the full input catalogue, the proportion of QSOs in unobserved objects should be the same as the proportion of QSOs in observed, but unidentified objects. Hence we can take this fraction to be the overall (observational and spectroscopic) completeness in that region. As we are applying a spectroscopic completeness correction, we have decided not to apply simultaneously a minimum spectroscopic completeness cut, as this would reduce the size of our sample.

We also account for the extinction due to Galactic dust, using the estimate of the dust reddening, $`E(BV)`$, as a function of position given by Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davis (1998). As Galactic dust changes the effective magnitude limit, we weight the random distribution by

$$W_{\mathrm{ext}}(\alpha ,\delta )=10^{\beta \mathrm{A}_{\mathrm{b}_\mathrm{J}}}$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{A}_{\mathrm{b}_\mathrm{J}}=4.035E(BV)`$ and $`\beta =0.3`$, the slope of the integral QSO number-magnitude relation at the magnitude limit of the survey, $`b_\mathrm{J}`$=20.85. As we apply a dust correction to the angular mask, we need to correct for dust extinction in the observed radial selection function (below) to avoid including the effect of dust twice.

#### 2.1.2 The radial selection function

We are measuring QSO clustering as a function of comoving distance, and so we need to adopt a cosmology to convert from redshift into comoving distance. In this paper we consider an Einstein-de Sitter ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}`$=1.0, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$=0.0) cosmology $`r(z)`$ (EdS hereafter) and an $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}`$=0.3, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$=0.7 cosmology $`r(z)`$ ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ hereafter).

Figure 1 shows the radial selection function of QSOs in the NGC (solid line) and SGC (dashed line), corrected for the average dust extinction in each region and calculated assuming the EdS $`r(z)`$ or the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`r(z)`$. Due to the contribution from the host galaxy, QSOs at low redshift are lost from our input catalogue because they do not appear stellar. The host galaxy also reddens faint QSOs causing then to be preferentially lost from the sample. To limit this incompleteness, we restrict our analysis to $`z>0.3`$ ($`r>740h^1`$Mpc, assuming EdS, or $`r>835h^1`$Mpc, assuming $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$). At high redshifts the UVX colour selection technique breaks down as the Lyman-alpha forest enters the $`U`$ band, and the completeness of the survey rapidly drops. Therefore, we also limit our analysis to $`z<2.2`$ ($`r<2645h^1`$Mpc, assuming EdS, or $`r<3820h^1`$Mpc, assuming $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$). Over the redshift range $`0.3<z<2.2`$ the completeness of the 2QZ colour selection technique is $`90`$ per cent. The SGC has a slightly higher normalisation (15 per cent) than the NGC, even after correcting for the higher levels of dust in the NGC, but very similar shape, except at low redshift ($`r<1200h^1`$Mpc, or $`z<0.45`$) where the SGC suffers from higher incompleteness, probably due to star/galaxy separation differences. For this reason we treat the radial selection function separately in the two strips. The QSO number density varies very slowly as a function of redshift. Assuming EdS it is almost constant over the range $`0.3<z<2.2`$, whereas assuming $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, it decreases only by a factor of approximately three over the range $`0.3<z<2.2`$. Applying these redshift cuts therefore allows us to consider clustering statistics without the need for a weighting scheme. This gives us a sample of 8704 QSOs in the NGC, and 10845 QSOs in the SGC.

We estimate the space density of QSOs as a function of comoving distance, $`n(r)`$, via a 10 coefficient (9th order) polynomial fit to the number distribution of QSOs, $`N(r)`$, in each strip in bins of $`\mathrm{\Delta }r=50h^1`$Mpc. Further details of the fits, including the coefficients, are given in Table 1. The resulting $`n(r)`$ distributions, used to create the random catalogue, are plotted in Fig. 1 over the redshift range $`0.3<z<2.2`$. A low order polynomial would provide a poor fit to the $`n(r)`$ distribution. As the order is increased, the quality of the fit, as measured by the $`\chi ^2`$ statistic, improves dramatically until approximately an 8/9 coefficient polynomial is used. Further increasing the order of the fit, however, hardly reduces the $`\chi ^2`$ value. If a much higher order polynomial were used, it may also start to fit real features in the $`n(r)`$ distribution, and hence artificially remove power. Hence a 10 coefficient polynomial is chosen so as to provide an adequate fit to the $`n(r)`$ distribution without over-fitting.

A poor fit to the $`n(r)`$ distribution would artificially introduce waves in the normalised QSO distribution, and hence add power on the largest scales. Indeed, when the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ power spectrum is measured using a radial selection function derived from a 5 coefficient polynomial fit, and comparing to the result using a 10 coefficient polynomial fit, we find that the power is significantly enhanced on scales $`>200h^1`$Mpc ($`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)<1.5`$). Slightly increasing the order of the polynomial fit, however, has little effect our power spectrum estimate. Remeasuring the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ power spectrum using a 15 coefficient polynomial fit, and comparing to the result using a 10 coefficient polynomial fit, we find that out to scales of 400$`h^1`$Mpc ($`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)>1.8`$), the power spectra agree in amplitude to within 4 per cent, considerably smaller than the fractional error at this scale.

### 2.2 Mock 2QZ catalogues

To test our method of power spectrum estimation described below, as well as our error estimates, we have used the huge Hubble Volume $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM simulation (Frenk et al. 2000, Evrard et al. 2002), where the particles have been output along an observer’s past light cone to simulate the 2QZ. The cosmological parameters of the simulation are $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{b}`$=0.04, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{CDM}}`$=0.26, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$=0.7, $`H_0`$=70 km s-1Mpc-1 and $`\sigma _8=0.9`$. One billion mass particles are contained within a cube that is 3,000$`h^1`$Mpc on a side. To create realistic QSO mock catalogues to match the final 2QZ sample, we bias the mass particles to give a similar clustering pattern, and introduce the same angular and radial selection function as seen in the final 2QZ sample, described in the previous section. For further details see Hoyle (2000), where the Hubble Volume simulation was compared to the 10k QSO catalogue.

## 3 Power spectrum estimation

The power spectrum estimation is carried out as described in Hoyle et al. (2002), using the method outlined in Tadros & Efstathiou (1996). The two declination strips are treated separately. They are embedded into a larger cubical volume, and the density field is binned onto a 2563 mesh, using nearest grid-point assignment. The power spectrum of each region is estimated using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), and the average of the resulting power spectra is taken. The Fourier modes are binned up logarithmically to reduce the covariance between each bin. The FFT is unreliable at small scales; for a 2563 FFT and a box of size 4000$`h^1`$Mpc, the Nyquist frequency of the transform is $`k_{\mathrm{Nyq}}=0.2h\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. The limit out to which the power spectrum measurement is reliable depends on the grid assignment scheme, and is a fraction of $`k_{\mathrm{Nyq}}`$. Using the nearest grid point assignment scheme, $`k_{\mathrm{lim}}1/2`$ $`k_{\mathrm{Nyq}}`$ (Hatton 1999), which, for the above box size, corresponds to a value of $`\mathrm{log}(k_{\mathrm{lim}}/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)1`$ or a scale of $`60h^1`$Mpc.

The measured power spectrum is convolved with the power spectrum of the window function. As the QSO co-moving number density is almost constant out to very large scales, we are effectively considering a volume limited sample. Hence each QSO carries equal weight, and the survey window function, $`W(𝐱)`$, simply takes a value of unity in the volume of the universe included in the survey, and zero elsewhere. This is approximated using a catalogue containing a large number of unclustered points with the same radial and angular distribution as the survey, and its power spectrum is calculated in a similar manner to that of the data.

To enable measurements of the power spectrum on smaller scales, we use a direct method of computing the Fourier transform. This method is time intensive and can only be applied to a small number of particles (so cannot be applied to the random catalogue). Therefore, we make the assumption that the window function has a small amplitude, and so negligible effect on the power spectrum estimate. Using mock catalogues drawn from the Hubble Volume simulation, Hoyle (2000) demonstrated that on scales smaller than $`100h^1`$Mpc ($`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)1.2`$) this approximation is accurate.

Finally, to obtain a single 2QZ power spectrum for each assumed cosmology, we average the power spectrum of the QSOs in the NGC and SGC strips together, weighting by the inverse of the variance on each scale.

### 3.1 The window function

In Fig. 2 we show the window function, $`|W_k|^2`$, of the 2QZ, measured assuming either EdS or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The window function is anisotropic, due to the shape of the survey and variations in completeness, described by the selection function. In order to compare model power spectra with that determined here for the 2QZ, we need to convolve the model power spectra with the window function. In the case where the power is isotropic, the same result would be obtained by convolving with the spherically averaged window function. In reality, whilst we expect the real-space power spectrum to be isotropic, redshift-space distortions introduce small anisotropies into the shape of the redshift-space 2QZ power spectrum (see Outram et al. 2001). However, the Hubble Volume simulations suggest that these anisotropies have little effect on the spherically averaged power spectrum estimation, and so we only consider the spherically averaged window function from here on. We also show an analytic fit to the spherically averaged window function in Fig. 2:

$$<|W_k|^2>_{EdS}=[1+(k/0.00204)^2+(k/0.00362)^4]^1$$
(2)
$$<|W_k|^2>_\mathrm{\Lambda }=[1+(k/0.00132)^2+(k/0.00258)^4]^1$$
(3)
Due to the huge volume probed by 2QZ, the window function is much more compact than that of galaxy surveys, and it takes the form of a steep power law, proportional to $`k^4`$ out to scales of $`600h^1`$Mpc ($`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)2`$) for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. For comparison we also show an analytic fit to the 2dFGRS window function (Percival et al. 2001) in Fig. 2. The 2QZ window function has a very similar shape to that of the 2dFGRS, but shifted to larger scales; a factor of $`2.5\times `$ larger for the 2QZ EdS window function, or a factor of $`3.5\times `$ for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

Fig. 3 demonstrates the effect that the 2QZ window function has on power spectra. On scales $`<200h^1`$Mpc ($`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)>1.5`$), the window function has very little effect on the true power spectrum, whilst on scales larger than this the true power is slightly suppressed. Even out to scales of $`600h^1`$Mpc ($`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)2`$), the effect of the window function is considerably smaller than the statistical errors on the power spectrum estimate. The broader 2dFGRS window function has a much larger effect, not only suppressing power on scales $`>100h^1`$Mpc, but also smoothing out any baryonic ’wiggles’ at smaller scales (Miller, Nichol & Chen 2002), and introducing covariance between the $`P(k)`$ data points.

### 3.2 Error determination

The errors on the power spectrum determination are estimated using the method of Feldman, Kaiser & Peacock (1994; FKP), equation 2.3.2. The error is given by

$$\frac{\sigma ^2(k)}{P^2(k)}=\frac{(2\pi )^3[1+\frac{1}{n(r)P(k)}]^2}{V_kV_s}$$
(4)
where $`V_k`$ is the volume of each bin in $`k`$-space, estimated by $`V_k=N_k(\mathrm{\Delta }k)^3`$ with $`N_k`$ the number of independent modes in the $`k`$-shell and $`(\mathrm{\Delta }k)^3`$ the volume of one $`k`$-mode. $`V_s`$ is the volume of the survey. (We have assumed that the QSOs carry equal weight when estimating the power spectrum and associated errors). Hoyle (2000) demonstrated that over a wide range of scales these errors were found to be in reasonable agreement with errors estimated from the dispersion over power spectrum estimates from the Hubble Volume mock catalogues. On the smallest scales, non-linearities may lead to a larger error than the FKP error estimate (Meiksin & White 1999).

## 4 The QSO power spectrum

In Figure 4 we show the power spectrum estimate obtained, using the method outlined above, for the 2QZ dataset restricted to QSOs with redshift in the range $`0.3<z<2.2`$. We compare the NGC and SGC power spectra measured assuming the EdS (a) or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (b). The combined power spectra are also shown, assuming EdS (c) or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (d). The power spectra measured from the two strips agree well over a wide range of scales, with a dispersion that is consistent with our error estimate. The errors shown here and throughout the paper are 1$`\sigma `$ errors estimated using the FKP method. The power spectrum estimates obtained are also given in Table 2 (assuming EdS) and Table 3 (assuming $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$).

We compare this power spectrum estimate (assuming $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) to that obtained by Hoyle et al. (2002) using the 10k 2QZ catalogue in Fig. 5. On scales smaller than $`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)1.6`$, the spectra are very similar, with the main difference being the reduced errors for the new estimate due to the increased sample size. On large scales, however, the 10k power spectrum estimate is slightly higher than the latest determination. This over-estimate was largely due to problems accounting for the complicated window of the incomplete 10k survey. However, with this difference in mind we now examine some of the other potential contributions to systematic errors in the power spectrum determination on large scales.

### 4.1 Large-scale systematic errors

One possible source of systematic errors is the uncertainty in the zero-point calibration of the UKST field plates that were used to define the input catalogue for the 2QZ survey. The fields are $`5\mathrm{deg}\times 5\mathrm{deg}`$, and so any differences in the plate calibration could introduce power on the largest scales probed. The recent release of the SDSS EDR data (Stoughton et al. 2002) has given us the opportunity to apply a new calibration to our data in the NGP to test this effect, after converting the Sloan colours to our bands (Blanton et al. 2001; Fukugita, Shimasaku, & Ichikawa 1995). A comparison of the two calibrations suggests that our calibration introduces plate-to-plate uncertainty in the QSO number density of the order of 4 per cent. In Fig. 6 we show the effect of using the SDSS calibration in the NGP on our power spectrum estimate. The difference in $`\mathrm{log}P(k)`$ determined using the two calibrations is shown by the solid line. On scales $`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)>1.8`$ there is virtually no difference. On large scales, using the SDSS calibration would lead to a small decrease in the measured power spectrum. Unfortunately we have no similar data to re-calibrate the SGP strip, and so, because this effect is very small, we have continued to use our original calibration.

A second potential source of systematic error is Galactic dust. We account for dust extinction using the estimates given by Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davis (1998). If dust extinction is not correctly accounted for then this could introduce large scale variations in the observed QSO number density, and hence power. The short-dashed line in Fig. 6 shows a comparison between the power spectrum estimates with and without a dust correction. Applying the correction significantly reduces power on scales $`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)<1.8`$. Whilst this gives us confidence in the dust maps, their resolution is fairly low, and so dust could still affect our estimate on smaller scales.

Finally we consider the effect of different choices of spectroscopic incompleteness corrections. In the 10k power spectrum analysis, only regions with spectroscopic completeness in excess of 85 per cent were considered, and no further correction was applied to account for any QSOs still missing in the unidentified spectra. As identification is dependent on the quality of the spectra, which varies with each pointing due to observing conditions, the fraction of missing QSOs could vary slightly from region to region even in this 85 per cent complete sample, introducing large scale power. To investigate this we compare the power spectra determined using an 85 per cent spectroscopic completeness cut, then a further correction for observational completeness (as carried out in the 10k analysis) to one with the same 85 per cent cut, but also correcting for spectroscopic completeness, using the same form of correction as in this paper; assuming that fraction of QSOs in unidentified objects is the same as the fraction in the identified spectra. The result is shown by the dotted line in Fig. 6. The lack of a spectroscopic completeness correction introduces a slight over-estimate in the power, especially at large scales. This may also partly explain the difference between the 10k and final power spectrum estimates.

The spectroscopic completeness correction we apply simply assumes that the spectroscopic incompleteness of the QSOs is the same as that of the full input catalogue, and hence that $`59`$ per cent of unidentified objects are QSOs. Whilst this is favoured by evidence from re-observations, there is still uncertainty in the proportion of QSOs remaining in the unidentified spectra, and a slightly lower fraction of unidentified QSOs is still compatible with the observations. To test the effect of this uncertainty in the spectroscopic completeness correction we can construct a new completeness map where we instead assume that a lower fraction of approximately 40 per cent of objects that remain unidentified after observation are QSOs. A comparison between the power estimated using the two completeness corrections is shown by the long-dashed line in Fig. 6. The difference in power is very small on all scales, indicating that the uncertainty in the unidentified QSO fraction has a negligible effect on the power spectrum estimate.

It is also possible that there are spectroscopic completeness variations across individual 2dF fields, which could in principle introduce power on smaller scales. By artificially introducing completeness gradients across the 2dF fields in the random catalogue, we can investigate the likely size of any systematic uncertainty due to this effect. Even with a completeness gradient of 20 per cent from the centre to the edge of each field, the change in the measured power spectrum is no larger than that observed for any of the other potential systematics discussed above. As this artificially introduced gradient is much larger than the expected size of completeness variations across 2dF fields, given that the overall spectroscopic completeness for the survey is 86 per cent (and this is largely due to other effects such as weather conditions and seeing), we conclude that the power added by such an effect would be small, and we do not attempt to correct for this.

All of the potential systematics discussed above are much smaller than the statistical errors on all scales. With the exception of the dust correction, they are of the order of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{log}P(k)0.05`$ even on scales of $`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)2`$. Therefore we have confidence that our estimate is robust out to these scales.

### 4.2 The shape of the QSO power spectrum

In CDM models, the power spectrum should turn over at a scale which depends on the shape parameter, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, of the power spectrum. The shape of the power spectrum and the position of the turnover contains information on cosmological parameters that can lead to strong constraints. In pure CDM models (i.e. without baryons) with a scale-invariant spectrum of initial fluctuations $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}h`$. However, the inclusion of baryons, or a tilted spectrum of initial fluctuations complicates the picture, so a measurement of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ alone cannot be inverted reliably to give $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}h`$ (Sugiyama 1995, Peacock 2000). For example, the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ model we have assumed ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}`$=0.3, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$=0.7) to calculate the $`r(z)`$ would have a value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.21`$, if we further assume that $`H_070`$km s-1Mpc-1 (e.g. Tanvir et al. 1995; Mould et al. 2000), in the absence of baryons. However, when baryons are taken into account this model would then have an effective value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.17`$. For a full comparison, we also need to consider the effects of the window function, and redshift-space distortions. We have had to estimate the real-space distances to the QSOs from their observed redshift, and peculiar velocities, large-scale flows, geometrical assumptions and uncertainties in redshift measurements can all affect the shape and amplitude of the power spectrum we have determined. Despite this, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a very useful parameter for describing the general shape of power spectra, and allowing a simple comparison between different measurements or models.

To parametrize the QSO power spectra we have measured, we fit model CDM power spectra with different values of the shape parameter $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. We assume the fit to the CDM transfer function given by Bardeen et al. (1986). For each value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, we allow the amplitude to vary freely, and minimize the $`\chi ^2`$ of the fit. The best fit models are shown in Fig. 7. For an EdS $`r(z)`$, we find that models with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.16\pm 0.03`$ (1$`\sigma `$ errors) provide the best fit to the power spectrum, whereas assuming a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`r(z)`$, the power spectrum is slightly steeper, with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.13\pm 0.02`$. These low measurements of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ indicate significant large-scale power, considerably in excess of Standard ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}=1`$) CDM model predictions, and consistent with the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ model prediction discussed above. In the case of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`r(z)`$, whilst the power spectrum flattens at the largest scales probed, we see no evidence of the expected turnover below scales of $``$400$`h^1`$Mpc ($`\mathrm{log}k1.8`$). However, in the slightly flatter EdS $`r(z)`$ power spectrum there is a hint of a possible turnover by scales of $``$400$`h^1`$Mpc. In either case we can strongly rule out a turnover in the power spectrum at scales below $``$300$`h^1`$Mpc ($`\mathrm{log}k1.7`$). We will consider the effect of baryons, the window function, and redshift-space distortions in Section 5 in order to derive constraints on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}h`$ from the shape of the power spectrum.

### 4.3 Comparison with P(k) from galaxy and cluster surveys

We compare the QSO power spectrum with the power spectra of local galaxies, determined from the 2dFGRS (Percival et al. 2001), PSCz (Sutherland et al. 1999), APM (Gaztanaga & Baugh 1998), and DUKST (Hoyle et al. 1999) galaxy surveys and the power specta of local Abell/ACO clusters (Miller & Batuski 2001) and APM clusters (Tadros, Efstathiou & Dalton 1998) in Fig. 8. Assuming a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`r(z)`$, the amplitude of QSO clustering at $`\overline{z}1.4`$ is similar to that of local galaxies, and almost an order of magnitude below that of galaxy clusters. Assuming an EdS $`r(z)`$, the amplitude of QSO clustering is slightly lower than the local galaxy clustering amplitude. The $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`r(z)`$ QSO power spectrum appears steeper than that of the 2dFGRS, with more power on large scales. This is largely due, however, to the effects of the window function on the 2dFGRS power spectrum, as demonstrated in Fig. 3. For a true comparison of the relative shapes of the galaxy and QSO power spectra, we will fit models convolved with their respective window functions in Section 5.

### 4.4 The evolution of QSO clustering

To investigate the effects of evolution on the amplitude of QSO clustering we split the QSO sample into two, a high redshift sample with $`z>1.4`$, and a low redshift sample with $`z<1.4`$, and compare their respective power spectra. The results are shown in Fig. 9. Assuming either EdS or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, we see virtually no evolution in the amplitude of clustering between the two samples, at $`0.3<z<1.4`$ and $`1.4<z<2.2`$. To quantify this, we fit the amplitude of the best fitting model power spectra for each cosmology found in section 4.2 ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.16`$ for EdS and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.13`$ for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) separately for each redshift bin. The results are shown in Table 4. We find that the amplitude of QSO clustering is almost identical in the two redshift bins. Assuming EdS, the difference in amplitude between the two redshifts is insignificant. Assuming $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, we marginally detect a slight fall in amplitude of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{log}P=0.05`$ from high redshift to low redshift, at about 1$`\sigma `$ significance. This is in very good agreement with the results of the 2QZ correlation function analysis of Croom et al. (2001b).

We fixed the value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ for the above analysis, as the shape parameter is assumed not to evolve with redshift (in the linear regime), in order to investigate the evolution of the amplitude of QSO clustering. We can test this assumption by comparing the value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in the low and high redshift bins. For the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`r(z)`$, we find that this is indeed the case, with best fit values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.14\pm 0.03`$ at $`0.3<z<1.4`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.13\pm 0.03`$ at $`1.4<z<2.2`$. For the EdS $`r(z)`$, however, there is marginal evidence for a slight flattening of the power spectrum at higher redshift, with best fit values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.15\pm 0.05`$ at $`0.3<z<1.4`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.20\pm 0.05`$ at $`1.4<z<2.2`$. One possible, though unlikely explanation for this observed flattening could be evolution of a scale-dependent QSO bias on $`100`$ h-1Mpc scales. If this were the case it could be a major problem for the cosmological parameter analysis in the next section, and other similar analyses that use galaxies or QSOs as tracers of large-scale structure. Alternatively, the flattening could be due to the different shape of the window function in the two redshift bins. However, the two window functions are very similar, and if anything, the high redshift window function is slightly more compact, so we would expect less suppression of large-scale power, not more, at high redshift.

If our assumption of an EdS cosmology $`r(z)`$ were incorrect, as suggested by the low measured values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and hence $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$ (see Section 5) then we would have a simple explanation for the observed flattening. If, for example, the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ cosmology were the true cosmology, then our assumption of an EdS $`r(z)`$ would lead to an underestimate of the comoving distance scale, by about 25 per cent in the low redshift bin, and 50 per cent in the high redshift bin. If we apply this correction to distance scale of the power spectrum determined assuming EdS, we then obtain consistent values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.12\pm 0.03`$ at $`0.3<z<1.4`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.13\pm 0.03`$ at $`1.4<z<2.2`$. The observed evolution in shape assuming an EdS $`r(z)`$ could therefore be taken as further marginal evidence against an EdS cosmology.

## 5 Comparison with models of large scale structure

### 5.1 The Hubble Volume simulation

The Hubble Volume simulation was introduced in section 2.2. The power spectrum determined from biased mock QSO catalogues, created using the final 2QZ selection function imprinted on the Hubble Volume simulation, is shown in Fig. 10, where it is compared to the real space input mass power spectrum for the simulation, together with the 2QZ power spectrum with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ assumed. The simulation was designed to mimic the 2QZ as closely as possible, and so any differences in shape should give a good test of the cosmological assumptions.

The first thing to note is that over a wide range of scales, the output redshift-space mock catalogue power spectrum follows very closely the real space input mass power spectrum for the simulation. On the largest scales ($`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)1.5`$), this demonstrates that the effects of the 2QZ window, which were also imprinted on the Hubble Volume simulation, are relatively small, as shown in section 3.1. This also shows that at scales of $`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)1.0`$ the biasing prescription we chose to create the mock catalogues (see Hoyle et al. (2002) for details) has no effect on the shape of the power spectrum. On smaller scales, however, we see a slight reduction in the output power from the simulation, relative to the real space input power spectrum. This can be attributed to redshift-space distortions caused by small-scale peculiar velocities of the mock QSOs.

A comparison between the Hubble Volume and 2QZ power spectra shows that the simulation provides a very good fit to the observed data over virtually the whole range observed. The 2QZ power spectrum is therefore entirely consistent with the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmological model assumed to create the Hubble Volume. Whilst performing detailed analyses of N-body simulations such as the Hubble Volume is very useful, providing a good test of the power spectrum estimator and a way of examining possible systematic effects, it is also very time consuming. We need to compare many different CDM models to derive constraints on cosmological parameters. Therefore in the next section we instead compare the QSO power spectrum to model CDM power spectra with a variety of different cosmologies.

### 5.2 Fitting model power spectra

Assuming that QSO bias is not scale-dependent on the scales we are probing, the shape of the QSO power spectrum provides new constraints on the matter and baryonic contents of the Universe at a different (much higher) redshift than that of the 2dFGRS, or other galaxy / cluster power spectrum determinations. Therefore, the QSO power spectrum measurement at $`z1.4`$ can provide a powerful new test for cosmological models that have previously only been constrained locally ($`z0`$) and at recombination ($`z1000`$). Model power spectra with a variety of CDM cosmologies have been created using transfer function formulae from Eisenstein & Hu (1998) to compare with the 2QZ data. We have chosen to vary $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ (where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=\mathrm{\Omega }_{cdm}+\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$), and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$, considering the range $`0<\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m<0.5`$ and $`0<\mathrm{\Omega }_mh<1.0`$ in order to determine constraints on these important parameters. We have assumed a scale invariant spectrum of initial fluctuations.

The models generated have been numerically convolved with the 2QZ window function. We noted in the comparison with the Hubble Volume simulation that small-scale power is slightly suppressed in the redshift-space power spectrum by small-scale peculiar velocities of the QSOs. A second similar effect also affects the 2QZ sample. There is an uncertainty in determining QSO redshifts from the low resolution, low S/N 2dF spectra of $`\delta z0.0035`$ (Croom et al. 2001a), which, at the average redshift of the survey, assuming $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, corresponds to an uncertainty in the line-of-sight distance of $`5h^1`$Mpc. This introduces an apparent velocity dispersion of $`\sigma _p600`$km s-1, which can be added in quadrature to the true QSO small-scale velocity dispersion. We can apply a simple model to correct the power spectrum for these redshift-space distortions (Ballinger et al. 1996). Following Outram et al. (2001) we assume an apparent QSO line of sight pairwise velocity dispersion, due to both redshift determination errors and peculiar velocities, of $`700`$km s-1, and a value of $`\beta \mathrm{\Omega }_m^{0.6}/b=0.39`$ to describe the coherent peculiar velocities on large, linear scales due to the infall of galaxies into overdense regions. We do not attempt a correction for geometric distortions introduced by incorrect cosmological model assumptions when measuring the power spectrum.

For this analysis, we have assumed that the data points are independent. Due to the compactness of our window function, this should be a good approximation. We have also had to assume a cosmology to derive the QSO $`r(z)`$ prior to measuring the QSO power spectrum. Ideally one would like to fit each power spectrum model to the power spectrum measured assuming the appropriate cosmology. However, this would be very time consuming, and beyond the scope of this paper. Therefore we limit our analysis to power spectra measured assuming either an EdS or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`r(z)`$. Despite assuming a particular cosmology to derive the $`r(z)`$, we do not initially restrict the fitted parameters to match these cosmologies. We determine the likelihood of each model by calculating the $`\chi ^2`$ value of each fit, performed over the range $`1.9<\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)<0.75`$, and assuming that $`\mathrm{exp}(\chi ^2/2)`$. For each model, we allowed the amplitude to vary (to account for linear QSO bias; we assumed that QSO bias is scale independent on scales $`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)<0.75`$), choosing the value that maximised the likelihood of the fit.

We also allowed $`h`$ to vary, within the range $`0.4<h<0.9`$, choosing the value that maximised the likelihood of the fit. As the shape of the power spectrum is primarily dependent on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$, and relatively invariant to changes in $`h`$ for a given $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$, the value of $`h`$ has relatively little effect on the results. Repeating the fit, with $`h`$ fixed at $`h=0.7`$, following, for example, the results of Tanvir et al. (1995) and the HST Key Project (Mould et al. 2000) only marginally improved the constraints on the parameters of interest.

The best fit models, shown in Fig. 11, fit the data well over the full range of scales considered. The effect of the window function and redshift-space corrections can be seen in the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ plot. The solid line in the plot shows the best fit model to the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ 2QZ power spectrum, with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.18`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh=0.19`$. The dotted line shows the same model prior to correction for window function and redshift-space distortion effects. The effect of the window function can be seen on large scales, slightly supressing the power, and on small scales the effect of redshift-space distortions can be seen. This lack of small scale power steepens the power spectrum, leading to a lower value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. If not corrected for, therefore, it would lead to an under-estimate of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$. The effect of the window function is slightly larger when an EdS $`r(z)`$ is assumed.

Likelihood contours in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ plane for fits to the 2QZ power spectra are shown in Fig. 12 (allowing $`h`$ to vary), and Fig. 13 (with fixed $`h=0.7`$). Assuming an EdS QSO $`r(z)`$, we find a degeneracy between the two parameters. The best fit model has $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.18\pm 0.09`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh=0.24\pm 0.04`$, however a second solution with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.42`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh=0.70`$ cannot be rejected at 95 per cent confidence from this analysis alone. For comparison, we show the best fit derived from the 2dFGRS data (Percival et al. 2001), which is in good agreement with the result derived here. The degeneracy we see is also very much like that found in the 2dFGRS data. We note that the best fit value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$ obtained is totally inconsistent with the assumed EdS cosmology. Whilst the second solution is consistent with EdS, it is strongly rejected by other analyses such as estimates of the baryon content from big-bang nucleosynthesis (O’Meara et al. 2001) and recent Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) results (e.g. Sievers et al. 2002).

The best fit model to the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`r(z)`$ 2QZ data has $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.18\pm 0.10`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh=0.19\pm 0.05`$. Although the contours are again elongated in the direction of the degeneracy seen in the EdS plot, the second peak seen in the greyscale is ruled out at over 95 per cent confidence. Due to the huge volume of the 2QZ, particularly in a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ cosmology, we are able probe larger scales than with the 2dFGRS. Whilst the second solution is not a bad fit on scales $`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)>1.5`$, we can discriminate between the two models on the largest scales probed by the 2QZ. When repeating the fits, considering only models with $`h=0.7`$, we see a marginal tightening of the contours, shown in Fig. 13, with best fit models of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.17\pm 0.09`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh=0.19\pm 0.04`$. This is totally consistent with the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ cosmology assumed to calculate $`r(z)`$.

These results agree well with those obtained by Yamamoto (2002) who produced a similar analysis of the cosmological parameter constraints that could be derived from the 2QZ 10k catalogue. The values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ obtained assuming either $`r(z)`$ are very similar, indicating that these results are largely independent of our $`r(z)`$ assumption. When fitting models in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ plane we have considered only a family of CDM models with a scale invariant spectrum of initial fluctuations ($`n=1`$). If we relaxed these assumptions we would introduce new degeneracies (Efstathiou et al. 2002), and significantly reduce the constraints on the above parameters. However, the degeneracies between cosmological parameters derived from power spectral analyses of large-scale structure (e.g. probed by the 2QZ or the 2dFGRS) alone are different from those from other datasets, such as the CMB, and Efstathiou et al. demonstrated that by combining such datasets, these degeneracies can be broken, leading to strong cosmological constraints.

## 6 Conclusions

We have presented a power spectrum analysis of the final 2dF QSO Redshift Survey catalogue containing 22652 QSOs. Utilising the huge volume probed by the QSOs, we have accurately measured the power over the range $`2<\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)<0.7`$, thus covering over a decade in scale, and reaching scales of $`500h^1`$Mpc. The $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`r(z)`$ QSO power spectrum can be well described by a model with shape parameter $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.13\pm 0.02`$. If an Einstein-de Sitter model is instead assumed, a slightly higher value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.16\pm 0.03`$ is obtained. These low measurements of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ indicate significant large-scale power and assuming either cosmology we can strongly rule out a turnover in the power spectrum at scales below $``$300$`h^1`$Mpc ($`\mathrm{log}(k/h\mathrm{Mpc}^1)1.7`$). The amplitude of clustering of the QSOs at $`z1.4`$ is similar to that of present day galaxies, and an order of magnitude lower than present day clusters. A comparison of the power spectra of QSOs at high and low redshift shows little evidence for any evolution in the amplitude of clustering.

A comparison with the Hubble Volume $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM simulation shows very good agreement over the whole range of scales considered. To derive constraints on the matter and baryonic contents of the Universe, we fit CDM model power spectra (assuming scale-independent bias and scale-invariant initial fluctuations), convolved with the survey window function, and corrected for redshift space distortions. Assuming a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ cosmology $`r(z)`$, we find that models with baryon oscillations are slightly preferred, with the baryon fraction $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.18\pm 0.10`$. The overall shape of the power spectrum provides a strong constraint on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$ (where $`h`$ is the Hubble parameter), with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh=0.19\pm 0.05`$. These new constraints are derived at $`z1.4`$, which corresponds to a look-back time of approximately two-thirds of the age of the Universe. Cosmological constraints at this intermediate epoch provide a strong test for models previously constrained to match CMB observations at $`z1000`$ and the local Universe at $`z0`$.

## Acknowledgements

The 2dF QSO Redshift Survey was based on observations made with the Anglo-Australian Telescope and the UK Schmidt Telescope, and we would like to thank our colleagues on the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey team and all the staff at the AAT that have helped to make this survey possible. We would like to thank Adrian Jenkins, Gus Evrard, and the Virgo Consortium for kindly providing the Hubble Volume simulations. PJO would like to acknowledge the support of a PPARC Fellowship.