Related papers: HD molecules at high redshift: cosmic-ray ionizati…
The ionization rate of interstellar material by cosmic rays has been a major source of controversy, with different estimates varying by three orders of magnitude. Observational constraints of this rate have all depended on analyzing the…
We have searched for molecular hydrogen in damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) and sub-DLA systems at z>1.8 using UVES at the VLT. Out of the 33 systems in our sample, 8 have firm and 2 have tentative detections of associated H2 absorption lines.…
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.…
Physical conditions within DLAs can reveal the star formation history, determine the chemical composition of the associated ISM, and hence document the first steps in the formation of present day galaxies. Here we present calculations that…
Absorption lines of H$_2$ and HD molecules observed at high redshift in the line of sight towards quasars are a test ground to search for variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio $\mu$. For this purpose, results from astronomical…
We have discovered a third quasar absorption system which is consistent with a low deuterium to hydrogen abundance ratio, D/H = 3.4 times 10^-5. The z ~ 2.8 partial Lyman limit system towards QSO 0130-4021 provides the strongest evidence to…
We report the serendipitous detection of an H$_{2}$-bearing damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorber at z = 0.576 in the spectrum of the QSO J0111-0316 in the Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey. Spectroscopic observations from HST-COS in the…
We used HST/STIS to obtain the spectrum of molecular hydrogen associated with the damped Ly$\alpha$ system at $z_{\rm abs}=1.7765$ toward the quasar Q1331+170 at $z_{\rm em}=2.084$. Strong ${\rm H}_2$ absorption was detected, with a total…
An independent analysis of the molecular hydrogen absorption system at z = 2.059 in the spectrum of the quasar J2123-0050 is presented. The H_2 system consists of two components (A and B) with column densities log N^A(H_2) = 17.94+/-0.01…
We present a survey for low-ionization metal absorption line systems towards 17 QSOs at redshifts z_em=5.8-6.4. Nine of our objects were observed at high resolution with either Keck/HIRES or Magellan/MIKE, and the remainder at moderate…
We present the largest homogeneous survey of $z>4.4$ damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems (DLAs) using the spectra of 163 QSOs that comprise the Giant Gemini GMOS (GGG) survey. With this survey we make the most precise high-redshift measurement of…
Observationally mapping the relation between galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM) is of key interest for studies of cosmic reionization. Diffuse hydrogen gas has typically been observed in HI Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$) absorption in…
We report results from a FUSE survey of interstellar molecular hydrogen (H2) in the Galactic disk toward 139 O-type and early B-type stars at Galactic latitudes $|b| < 10^{\circ}$, with updated photometric and parallax distances. The H2…
We present the detection analysis of a diffuse molecular cloud at z$_{abs}$=2.4636 towards the quasar SDSS J1513+0352(z$_{em}\,\simeq$ 2.68) observed with the X-shooter spectrograph(VLT). We measure very high column densities of atomic and…
We study the dust depletion pattern in eight well separated components of the z=1.973, logN(HI)=20.83, damped Lyman-alpha system toward Q0013-004, four of which have detectable H2 absorption. The apparent correlation between the abundance…
We probe the physical conditions in high redshift galaxies, specifically, the Damped Lyman-alpha Systems (DLAs) using neutral carbon (CI) fine structure lines and molecular hydrogen (H2). We report five new detections of CI and analyze the…
We present HST spectra for a sample of six QSOs with intermediate redshift (z_a < 1) damped Ly-alpha systems. These observations aim at measuring the HI column density and detect metal lines in order to investigate the metal enrichment of…
Absorption lines at high redshift in front of quasars are rare in the mm domain. Only five associated and five intervening systems have been reported in the literature. These bring very useful information complementary to emission lines,…
HD molecule is one the most abundant molecule in the Universe and due to its sensibility to the conditions in the medium, it can be used to constrain physical parameters in the medium where HD resides. Lately we have shown that HD abundance…
To interpret H_2 quasar absorption line observations in Damped Ly-alpha clouds (DLAs), we model the H_2 spatial distribution within a DLA. Based on numerical simulations of disk structures with parameters similar to those derived for such…