Related papers: Detecting Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ Absorbers with Gau…

We characterize the Ly$\alpha$ halo and absorption systems toward PSO J083+11, a unique $z=6.3401$ weak-line quasar, using Gemini/GNIRS, Magellan/FIRE, and VLT/MUSE data. Strong absorptions by hydrogen and several metal lines (e.g., CII,…

The advantages of angular differential imaging (ADI) has been previously untested in imaging the host galaxies of damped Lyman alpha (DLA) systems. In this pilot study, we present the first application of ADI to directly imaging the host…

Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Data Release 5, we survey proximate damped Lya systems (PDLAs): absorption line systems with HI column density N(HI)> 2x10^20 cm^{-2} at velocity separation dv < 3000 km/s from their background quasar.…

Galaxies believed to be responsible for damped Ly-alpha absorption (DLA) systems in the spectra of high-redshift quasars represent a viable population of progenitors of normal disk galaxies. They appear to contain a substantial fraction of…

A new method is used to measure the physical conditions of the gas in damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs). Using high resolution absorption spectra of a sample of 80 DLAs, we are able to measure the ratio of the upper to lower fine-structure…

We report on the results of a search for CO(3-2) emission from the galaxy counterpart of a high-metallicity Damped Ly-alpha Absorber (DLA) at z=2.5832 towards the quasar Q0918+1636. We do not detect CO emission from the previously…

We investigate Damped Ly-alpha absorbing galaxies (DLA galaxies) at low redshifts z<1 in the hierarchical structure formation scenario to clarify the nature of DLA galaxies because observational data of such galaxies mainly at low redshifts…

Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorbers (DLAs) with molecular hydrogen have been probed in detail through both spectroscopic observations and numerical modelling. However, such H$_2$ absorbers are quite sparse at very high redshifts. We identify…

The damped and sub-damped Lyman-alpha absorption line systems in quasar spectra are believed to be produced by intervening galaxies. However, the connection of quasar absorbers to galaxies is not well-understood, since attempts to image the…

In order to interpret H2 (molecular hydrogen) quasar absorption line observations of damped Ly-alpha systems (DLAs) and sub-DLAs, we model their H2 abundance as a function of dust-to-gas ratio, including H2 self-shielding and dust…

We present results from a survey designed to probe the star formation properties of 32 damped Ly-alpha systems (DLAs) at z~2.7. By using the "double-DLA" technique that eliminates the glare of the bright background quasars, we directly…

[Abridged] We present results on the clustering og Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) around a probable damped Ly-alpha absorption (DLA) line cloud at z_DLA=2.974 from deep UBVI images of the field containing the quasar APM 08279+5255 (z=3.91).…

Gas flows in and out of galaxies are one of the key unknowns in todays' galaxy evolution studies. Because gas flows carry mass, energy and metals, they are believed to be closely connected to the star formation history of galaxies. Most of…

Absorbers seen in the spectrum of background quasars are a unique tool to select HI-rich galaxies at all redshifts. In turns, these allow to determine the cosmological evolution of the HI gas, Omega_HI+HeII, a possible indicator of gas…

We present high signal-to-noise, 5 A resolution (FWHM) spectra of 66 z \ga 4 bright quasars obtained with the 4 m Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and 4.2 m William Hershel telescopes. The primary goal of these observations was to…

If damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) contain even modest amounts of dust, the ultraviolet luminosity of the background quasar can be severely diminished. When the spectrum is redshifted, this leads to a bias in optical surveys for DLAs.…

(Abridged) We performed a spectroscopic galaxy survey, complete to m<20.3 (L_B>0.15L_B* at z=0.3), within 100x100" of the quasar Q1127-145 (z=1.18). The VLT/UVES quasar spectrum contains three z<0.33 MgII absorption systems. We obtained…

We report the first results of our systematic search for strongly lensed quasars using the spectroscopically confirmed quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Among 46,420 quasars from the SDSS Data Release 3 (~4188 deg^2), we…

The APM multicolor survey for bright z > 4 objects, covering 2500 deg^2 of sky to m(R)~19, resulted in the discovery of thirty-one quasars with z > 4. High signal-to-noise optical spectrophotometry at 5A resolution has been obtained for the…

We assess the feasibility of detecting star formation in damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) at z>1 through near-infrared spectroscopy using the forthcoming integral field units on 8m-class telescopes. Although their relation to galaxies is…