Related papers: The Keck+Magellan Survey for Lyman Limit Absorptio…

We present an absorption line analysis of the Lyman limit system (LLS) at z=3.55 in our Magellan/MIKE spectrum of PKS2000-330. Our analysis of the Lyman limit and full HI Lyman series constrains the total HI column density of the LLS (N_HI…

We present results of a blind survey of Lyman limit systems (LLSs) detected in absorption against 105 quasars at z~3 using the blue sensitive MagE spectrograph at the Magellan Clay telescope. By searching for Lyman limit absorption in the…

We report the discovery of three new "near-pristine" Lyman Limit Systems (LLSs), with metallicities ~1/1000 solar, at redshifts 2.6, 3.8 and 4.0, with a targeted survey at the Keck Observatory. High resolution echelle spectra of eight…

We present the results of a survey for super Lyman limit systems (SLLS; defined to be absorbers with 19.0 <= log(NHI) <= 20.3 cm^-2) from a large sample of high resolution spectra acquired using the Keck and Magellan telescopes.…

We analyze Keck HIRES observations of a Lyman limit system at z=2.652 toward Q2231-00. These observations afford the most comprehensive study of the physical properties of a LL system to date. By comparing the ionic column densities for…

We study the physical properties of a homogeneous sample of 157 optically-thick absorption line systems at redshifts ~1.8-4.4, selected from a high-dispersion spectroscopic survey of Lyman limit systems (LLSs). By means of multiple…

We report Keck/ESI and VLT/UVES observations of three super-damped Lyman-alpha quasar absorbers with H I column densities log N(HI) >= 21.7 at redshifts z=2-2.5. All three absorbers show similar metallicities (-1.3 to -1.5 dex), and dust…

We present the first science results from our Hubble Space Telescope Survey for Lyman limit absorption systems (LLS) using the low dispersion spectroscopic modes of the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3. Through an…

We present abundance measurements for two super Lyman Limit systems (SLLS; quasar absorption line systems with 10^19 cm^-2 < N_HI < 10^20.3 cm^-2) selected from a set of metal-strong absorbers in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar…

We present optical spectra of QSO HS~1946+7658 with either high resolution (FWHM=10 km/s) or high signal to noise ratio (SNR=40-100). We find 113 Lyman alpha and six metal line systems. The metal systems at Zabs=2.844 and 3.050 have complex…

We present chemical abundance measurements from high-resolution observations of 5 sub-damped Lyman-alpha absorbers at 1.7 < z < 2.4 observed with the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle (MIKE) spectrograph on the 6.5-m Magellan II Clay…

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…

(Abridged) We present a systematic investigation of physical conditions and elemental abundances in four optically thick Lyman-limit systems (LLSs) at $z=0.36-0.6$ discovered within the Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (CUBS). CUBS LLSs…

We present UV and optical observations from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope and Keck of a z= 0.27395 Lyman limit system (LLS) seen in absorption against the QSO PG1630+377. We detect H I absorption with log…

We present a new method for probing the physical conditions and metal enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium: the composite spectrum of Ly-alpha forest absorbers. We apply this technique to a sample of 9480 Ly-alpha absorbers with redshift…

We present a pipeline based on a random forest classifier for the identification of high column-density clouds of neutral hydrogen (i.e. the Lyman limit systems, LLSs) in absorption within large spectroscopic surveys of z>3 quasars. We test…

We measured metallicities for 33 z=3.4-4.2 absorption line systems drawn from a sample of H I-selected-Lyman limit systems (LLSs) identified in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasar spectra and stratified based on metal line features. We…

The absorption system at $z=3.572$ towards Q1937--1009 provides the best extragalactic measurement of the atomic deuterium to hydrogen ratio, D/H. We have obtained a new low-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) Keck spectrum to…

We present the results of a survey for damped (DLA, log N(H I) > 20.3) and sub-damped Lyman-? systems (19.5 < log N(H I) < 20.3) at z > 2.55 along the lines-of-sight to 77 quasars with emission redshifts in the range 4 < zem < 6.3.…

We present the first detailed analysis of the chemical abundances, ionization state, and origin of a partial Lyman limit system (N(\hI) ~ 10^{16} \cmjj) at low redshift (z=0.167 towards PKS0405-1219). Two galaxies at ~ 70 h^{-1} kpc…