Related papers: An efficient technique for pre-selecting low redsh…

Zinc is a good indicator of metallicity in Damped Lyman alpha (DLA) systems because it is almost unaffected by dust depletion. However, the use of zinc as a tracer of metallicity evolution has been hampered by the difficulty of detecting…

We present equivalent width measurements and limits of six diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in seven damped Ly-alpha absorbers (DLAs) over the redshift range 0.091<z<0.524, sampling 20.3<log[N(HI)]<21.7. DIBs were detected in only one of…

We present a sample of 45 Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ system (DLA, \nhi\ $ \geq 2 \times 10^{20} {\rm cm}^{-2}$) counterparts (33 detections, 12 upper limits) which host gamma-ray bursts (GRB-DLAs) in order to investigate star-formation and…

We investigate the properties of Damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) using high-resolution and large box-size cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of a LambdaCDM model. The numerical code used is a modification of GADGET-2 with a self…

We present Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) HI 21cm emission images of the z=0.009 damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) absorber towards the QSO HS 1543+5921. The DLA has been earlier identified as a low surface brightness galaxy SBS 1543+593 at…

We have designed, developed, and applied a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture using multi-task learning to search for and characterize strong HI Lya absorption in quasar spectra. Without any explicit modeling of the quasar…

The evolution of the metallicity of damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) is investigated in order to understand the nature of these systems. The observational data on chemical abundances of DLAs are analysed with robust statistical methods,…

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III has provided an unprecedentedly large sample of Damped \lya systems (DLAs), the largest repositories of neutral hydrogen in the Universe. This DLA sample has been used to determine the…

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 have completed spectroscopic observations using LRIS on the Keck 1 telescope of 30 very high redshift quasars, 11 selected for the presence of damped Ly-alpha absorption systems and 19 with redshifts z > 3.5 not previously surveyed for…

The formation and evolution of galaxies require large reservoirs of cold, neutral gas. The damped Lya systems (DLAs), seen in absorption towards distant quasars and gamma-ray bursts, are predicted to be the dominant reservoirs for this gas.…

(ABRIDGED) We present a study of the highly ionized gas (plasma) associated with damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems at z=2.1-3.1. We search for O VI absorption and corresponding Si IV, C IV, and N V in a Very Large…

We present Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) measurements of metal abundances in eight 0.083<z<0.321 damped Lyman-\alpha (DLA) and sub-damped Ly-\alpha\ absorption systems serendipitously discovered in the COS-Halos survey. We find that…

We have initiated a survey using the newly commissioned X-shooter spectrograph to target candidate relatively metal-rich damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs). The spectral coverage of X-shooter allows us to search for not only Lyman-alpha…

We present the results of deep Lyman limit imaging in four new fields as part of a continuing search for galaxies at $3.0 \le z \le 3.5$. The technique uses a custom broad--band filter set ($U_n G {\cal R}$) designed to isolate objects…

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 the results of a new spectroscopic survey for dusty intervening absorption systems, particularly damped Ly$\alpha$ absorbers (DLAs), towards reddened quasars. The candidate quasars are selected from mid-infrared photometry from…

We develop an automated technique to measure quasar redshifts in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our technique is an extension of an earlier Gaussian process method for detecting…

[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).…

The number of damped Ly-alpha absorbers (DLAs) currently known is about 100, but our knowledge of their sizes and morphologies is still very sparse as very few have been detected in emission. Here we present narrow-band and broad-band…