Related papers: Damped Lyman Alpha Systems in Galaxy Formation Sim…

The metallicity of strong HI systems, spanning from damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs) to Lyman-limit systems (LLSs) is explored between z = 5->0 using the EAGLE high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulation of galaxy formation. The…

We present high resolution spectroscopic observations of two neighbouring damped Lya systems (DLAs) along the same line of sight towards B2314-409. Due to their separation (v ~ 2000 km/s) and the high spectral resolution of the data, it is…

The velocity profiles of weak metal absorption lines can be used to observationally probe the kinematic state of gas in damped Lyman-alpha systems. Prochaska and Wolfe have argued that the flat distribution of velocity widths combined with…

The gas-phase and stellar metallicities have proven to be important parameters to constrain the star formation history of galaxies. However, HII regions associated with recent star-formation may not have abundances typical for the galaxy as…

We used our database of ESO VLT-UVES spectra of quasars to build up a sample of 67 Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems with redshifts 1.7<zabs<3.7. For each system, we measured average metallicities relative to Solar, [X/H] (with either X=Zn,…

We report coincident damped Lyman alpha (DLA) and sub-DLA absorption at z = 2.66 and z = 2.94 towards the z ~ 3 13.8 arcsecond separation binary quasar SDSS 1116+4118 AB. At the redshifts of the absorbers, this angular separation…

Proof of the existence of a significant population of normal disk galaxies at redshift z>2 would have profound implications for theories of structure formation and evolution. We present evidence based on Keck HIRES observations that the…

Using a spectral stacking technique we searched for the average \lya emission from high-z Damped \lya (DLA) galaxies detected in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey QSO spectra. We used a sample of 341 DLAs of mean redshift <z>= 2.86 and log N(HI)…

Damped Ly-alpha absorbers (DLAs) are a well-studied class of absorption line systems, and yet the properties of their host galaxies remain largely unknown. To investigate the origin of these systems, we have conducted an imaging survey of…

We estimate the abundance of dust in damped Lyman-{\alpha} absorbers (DLAs) by statistically measuring the excess reddening they induce on their background quasars. We detect systematic reddening behind DLA consistent with the SMC type…

We test the hypothesis that the host galaxies of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) as well as quasar-selected damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems are drawn from the population of UV-selected star-forming, high-z galaxies (generally…

We obtained comprehensive sets of elemental abundances for eleven damped Ly-alpha systems (DLAs) at z_DLA=1.7-2.5. In Paper I of this series, we showed for three DLA galaxies that we can derive their star formation histories and ages from a…

We have reanalyzed the existing data on Zinc abundances in damped Ly-alpha (DLA) absorbers to investigate whether their mean metallicity evolves with time. Most models of cosmic chemical evolution predict that the mass- weighted mean…

We have carried out a high-resolution imaging search for the galaxy associated with the damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) absorber at z=1.859 toward the z_{em}=2.48 quasar QSO 1244+3443, using the HST and the NICMOS. Images were obtained in the…

We use the existing catalog of Damped Lyman-Alpha (DLA) systems to place constraints on the amount of evolution in the baryonic content of galaxies and on the value of the cosmological constant. The density of cold gas at redshifts z=3+-1…

We report the discovery and analysis of the most metal-poor damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) system currently known, based on observations made with the Keck HIRES spectrograph. The metal paucity of this system has only permitted the determination…

The hypothesis that the Damped Ly-alpha systems (DLAs) are large, galactic disks (Milky Way sized) is tested by confronting predictions of models of the formation and evolution of (large) disk galaxies with observations, in particular the…

Quasar absorption systems not only affect the way quasars are selected, but also serve as key probes of galaxies, providing insight into their chemical evolution and interstellar medium (ISM). Recently, a method based on Gaia astrometric…

We present the largest, publicly available, sample of Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems (DLAs) along Gamma-ray Bursts (GRB) line of sights in order to investigate the environmental properties of long GRBs in the $z=1.8-6$ redshift range.…

We present optical and near-infrared ground-based imaging results on four low-redshift damped Ly-alpha (DLA) galaxies. The corresponding DLA systems were discovered in our HST spectroscopic surveys for DLA lines in known strong MgII…