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J.M. Shull, M.L. Giroux, S.V. Penton, J. Tumlinson (CU/CASA), E.B. Jenkins (Princeton), B.D. Savage (U. Wisc.), K.R. Sembach (JHU), D.G. York (U. Chicago), FUSE Science Team
We describe a moderate-resolution FUSE study of the low-redshift intergalactic medium (IGM). FUSE has observed several sightlines toward AGN and measured the Ly-beta absorption corresponding to low-redshift Ly-alpha lines detected by HST/GHRS and STIS. The low-redshift Ly-alpha absorbers appear to contain a significant fraction of baryons and were a major discovery of the HST spectrographs. With the new FUSE data, we can use the ratio of Ly-beta/Ly-alpha to determine the doppler (b) parameter and obtain accurate column densities, N(HI), for the moderately saturated lines in the Ly-alpha forest. The stronger absorbers can be searched for evidence of trace metals in the IGM (C III 977, N III 989, O VI 1032, 1038). We describe the analysis of Ly-alpha and Ly-beta in the strong associated absorber toward the quasar ESO141-055 and of low-redshift Ly-alpha lines toward several other AGN.
This work was supported by NASA and the FUSE PI Team Contract.