Related papers: Metal abundances in the high-redshift intergalacti…
Recent observations show the presence of metals in low-density Ly$\alpha$ forest absorbers at high redshift ($z\sim 3$). It remains still far from being clearly understood what mechanisms spread metals over Mpc scales from the parent…
We have examined the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium (IGM) based on a galactic wind model. A galactic wind driven by supernovae brings metallic gas to the IGM but not so far beyond the gravitational potential. The expanding…
Most models of cosmic chemical evolution predict that the mass-weighted mean interstellar metallicity of galaxies should rise with time from a low value $\sim 1/30$ solar at $z \sim 3$ to a nearly solar value at $z = 0$. In the absence of…
We present the first results from our KODIAQ Z survey aimed to determine the metallicity distribution and physical properties of the z>2 partial and full Lyman limit systems (pLLSs and LLSs; 16.2<log N(HI)<19), which are probed of the…
Hydrodynamic simulations of Lyman alpha clouds based on ab inito cosmological models have produced results that are in broad agreement with observations. However, further analyses have revealed that, with progressively higher numerical…
We present the gas-phase oxygen abundance (O/H) for a sample of 131 star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts ($0.2<z<1.0$). The sample selection, the spectroscopic observations (mainly with VLT/FORS) and associated data reduction,…
It appears that the Lyman alpha forest is becoming thick at a redshift of about 5.5, cutting off the higher redshift intergalactic medium from view in neutral hydrogen. However, the effects of star formation at higher redshift are still…
We present predictions for the cosmic metal budget in various phases of baryons from redshift z=6-0, taken from a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation that includes a well-constrained model for enriched galactic outflows. We find that…
The comparison of chemical abundances in the neutral gas of galaxies to photospheric abundances of old and young stars, ionized gas abundances, and abundances in galactic halos can trace the chemical enrichment of the universe through…
We explore the redshift evolution of the metal content of damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) with new observations of four absorbers at z < 1.5 . The main conclusion is that the column density--weighted mean metallicity, [<Zn/H>] = -1.03 +/-…
We present the first results from a survey of the relative spatial distributions of galaxies, intergalactic neutral hydrogen, and intergalactic metals at high redshift. We obtained high-resolution spectra of 8 bright QSOs at 3.1<z<4.1 and…
The past few years have seen a steady progress in the determination of element abundances at high redshifts, with new and more accurate measures of metallicities in star-forming galaxies, in QSO absorbers, and in the intergalactic medium.…
We present a study of the mass-metallicity (M-Z) relation and H II region physical conditions in a sample of 20 star-forming galaxies at 1.0<z<1.5 drawn from the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey. Our analysis indicates that the zero point of…
We present evidence that the cosmological mean metallicity of neutral atomic hydrogen gas shows a sudden decrease at z>4.7 down to <Z>=-2.03(+0.09-0.11), which is 6 sigma deviant from that predicted by a linear fit to the data at lower…
The emission line survey within the Calar Alto Deep Imaging Survey (CADIS) detects galaxies with very low continuum brightness by using an imaging Fabry-Perot interferometer. With spectroscopic follow-up observations of MB>~-19 CADIS…
We present a census of the mass density of metals and their evolution with cosmic time on a global scale throughout the Universe, synthesizing robust estimates of metals in stars, hot intra-cluster gas, and gaseous absorbers tracing neutral…
The chemical enrichment of dust and metals are vital processes in constraining the star formation history of the universe. Previously, the dust masses of high-redshift star-forming galaxies have been determined through their far-infrared…
We present an analysis of the chemical abundance properties of $\approx$650 star-forming galaxies at $z \approx0.6-1.8$. Using integral-field observations from the $K$-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS), we quantify the [NII]/H$\alpha$…
We present a direct measurement of the metallicity distribution function for the high redshift intergalactic medium. We determine the shape of this function using survival statistics, which account for both detections and non-detections of…
I review the observational characteristics of intermediate-to-high redshift star forming galaxies, including their star formation rates, dust extinctions, ISM kinematics, and chemical compositions. I present evidence that the mean rate of…