Related papers: Using Machine Learning to Find Ghostly Damped Ly$\…

Detailed analysis of the spectral lines from two low redshift damped Lyman alpha absorbers (DLA) confirms that they are a heterogeneous population. Both systems have low metal abundances of approximately 0.05 to 0.1 solar. The abundance…

Eleven candidate damped Lya absorption systems were identified in 27 spectra of the quasars from the APM z>4 survey covering the redshift range 2.8<z(abs)<4.4 (8 with z(abs)>3.5). High resolution echelle spectra (0.8A FWHM) have been…

Hubble Space Telescope (HST) UV spectroscopy of 12 candidate low-redshift damped Lyman alpha (DLA) systems in 11 QSOs (z=0.103 in Q0054+144, z=0.969 and z=0.987 in Q0302-223, z=0.478 in Q0454-220, z=1.476 in Q1047+550, z=1.070 in Q1206+459,…

We have discovered molecular hydrogen in a fourth quasar damped Ly-alpha system (hereafter DLA). The UVES spectrograph on the 8.2m ESO Kueyen telescope has allowed the detection of H2 in gas with low metallicity, Z/Z_solar ~= 10^{-2}, and…

The galaxy giving rise to the damped Ly$\alpha$ absorbing system in the QSO OI 363 with z=0.221 has been found. A galaxy which is probably associated with the second DLA in this same QSO at z=0.0912 has also been found. Neither galaxy is…

We present the direct detection of molecular hydrogen at the highest redshift known today (z_abs=4.224) in a Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) system toward the quasar PSS J1443+2724. This absorber is remarkable for having one of the highest…

We report on a sensitive search for redshifted H$\alpha$ line-emission from three high-metallicity damped Ly$\alpha$ absorbers (DLAs) at $z \approx 2.4$ with the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS) on the Gemini-North…

We report the detection of a deep broad HI 21 cm absorption system at z = 0.78 toward the radio source [HB89] 2351+456 (4C+45.51) at z = 1.992. The HI absorption was identified in a blind spectral line survey conducted at the Green Bank…

We present the current status of ongoing searches for molecular hydrogen in high-redshift (1.8 < zabs <= 4.2) Damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) capitalising on observations performed with the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) Ultraviolet and…

We report the discovery of two low redshift HI 21cm absorbers, one at z = 0.2212 towards the z_{em} = 0.630 quasar OI 363 (B0738+313), and the other at z = 0.3127 towards PKS B1127-145 (z_{em} = 1.187). Both were found during a survey of…

Damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs), seen in absorption against a background quasar, provide the most detailed probes available of element abundances in the Universe over > 90 % of its age. DLAs can be used to observationally measure the…

We report on the first Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) observations of damped and sub-damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems discovered in a new survey of the gaseous halos of low-redshift galaxies. From observations of 37 sightlines, we have…

Detailed studies of Damped and sub-Damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLA), the galaxies probed by the absorption they produce in the spectra of background quasars, rely on identifying the galaxy responsible for the absorber with more traditional…

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 have used the SEST 15-metre and Onsala 20-metre telescopes to perform deep (r.m.s. >~ 30 mJy) integrations of various molecular rotational transitions towards damped Lyman-alpha absorption systems (DLAs) known to occult millimetre-loud…

The dust-content of damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) is an important observable for understanding their origin and the neutral gas reservoirs of galaxies. While the average colour-excess of DLAs, E(B-V), is known to be <15 milli-magnitudes…

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 present a measurement of the D/H abundance ratio in a metal-poor damped Lyman alpha (DLA) system along the sightline of QSO SDSS1558-0031. The DLA system is at redshift z = 2.70262, has a neutral column density of log(NHI)=20.67+/-0.05…

We present new imaging and spectroscopic observations of the fields of five QSOs with very strong intervening CaII absorption systems at redshifts z<0.5 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Recent studies of these very rare absorbers…

We use medium- and high-resolution spectroscopy of close pairs of quasars to analyze the circumgalactic medium (CGM) surrounding 32 damped Ly$\alpha$ absorption systems (DLAs). The primary quasar sightline in each pair probes an intervening…