Jeans-length ionization correction for the Lyman-alpha forest ($N_H\propto N_{\mathrm{HI}}^{1/3}{\Gamma }^{1/3}[f_{g}T/\alpha (T){]}^{1/3}$)

Assume optically thin photoionization equilibrium and an absorber depth of order its local Jeans length, $L\propto (f_{g}T/n_H{)}^{1/2}$, where $f_g$ is the local gas fraction. Then $N_{\mathrm{HI}}\simeq \alpha (T)n_H^{2}L/\Gamma \propto [\alpha (T)/\Gamma ](f_{g}T{)}^{1/2}{n}_H^{3/2}$. Solving for $n_H$ and substituting in $N_H=n_{H}L$ gives the displayed correction. Thus the ionized mass integral weights the neutral-hydrogen column-density distribution by $N_{\mathrm{HI}}^{1/3}$ rather than $N_{\mathrm{HI}}$. This model does not apply without modification to optically thick systems or arbitrary unconfined gas.