Related papers: Super-Solar Super Lyman Limit Systems
We propose a method for detecting gravitational magnification of distant sources, like quasars, due to absorber systems detected in their spectra. We first motivate the use of metal absorption lines rather than Lyman-alpha lines, then we…
We examine the absorption line spectra of a sample of 31 luminous (M_UV=-23) Lyman break galaxies at redshift z~6 using data taken with the FOCAS and OSIRIS spectrographs on the Subaru and GTC telescopes. For two of these sources we present…
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…
[Abridged]. Here, we report on the discovery of the galaxy counterpart of the z_abs=2.58 DLA on the line-of-sight to the z=3.07 quasar SDSS J091826.16+163609.0. The galaxy counterpart of the DLA is detected in the OIII 5007 and OII…
We report the discovery of a Lyman $\alpha$ emitter (LAE) candidate in the immediate foreground of the quasar PSO J158-14 at $z_{\rm QSO}=6.0685$ at a projected distance $\sim29\ {\rm pkpc}$ that is associated with an extremely metal-poor…
We examine the properties of two galaxy "halos" at z ~ 0.7 in the TON 153 (z_em = 1.01) quasar field. The first absorber-galaxy pair (G1) is a z = 0.672, L_B = 4.3 L*_B, E/S0 galaxy probed at D = 58 kpc. G1 is associated with a remarkable…
We present high resolution, high SNR spectra of the QSO Q2206-199 obtained with HIRES on the 10m W.M. Keck Telescope. Our analysis focuses on the two previously identified damped \lya systems found at $z=1.920$ and $z=2.076$. For each…
We present Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope HI 21cm absorption observations, of candidate and confirmed damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems (DLAS). The derived spin temperatures (T_s) are in all cases $\sim 1000$ K or higher. We have also collated…
We present 6.5-meter MMT and 3.5m APO spectrophotometry of 69 H II regions in 42 low-metallicity emission-line galaxies, selected from the Data Release 7 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to have mostly [O III]4959/Hbeta < 1 and [N…
We have used the Hubble/STIS and FUSE archives of ultraviolet spectra of bright AGN to identify intergalactic Lya absorbers in nearby (z < 0.1) voids. From a parent sample of 651 Lya absorbers, we identified 61 void absorbers located more…
Twenty years of high-resolution spectroscopy at the 8-10 m class telescopes have drastically expanded our view of the gas-phase metallicity in the z>2 universe. This contribution briefly summarizes how these studies reveal a widespread…
We study the formation of damped \lya and Lyman limit absorbers in a hierarchical clustering scenario using a gas dynamical simulation of an $\Omega = 1$, cold dark matter universe. In the simulation, these high column density systems are…
We present the first clustering measurement of Strong Blended Lyman $\alpha$ (SBLA) absorption systems by measuring their cross-correlation with the Lyman $\alpha$ forest. SBLAs are a new population of absorbers detected within the Lyman…
We investigate how damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorbers (DLAs) at z ~ 2-3, detected in large optical spectroscopic surveys of quasars, trace the population of star-forming galaxies. Building on previous results, we construct a model based on…
We present the measured gas-phase metal column densities in 155 sub-damped Lyman alpha systems (subDLAs) with the aim to investigate the contribution of subDLAs to the chemical evolution of the Universe. The sample was identified within the…
We examined the sizes of the absorption clouds in a z=1.3911 damped Ly-alpha absorber (DLA) in the double image lensed quasar Q0957+561 A,B (separation 135 pc at the absorber redshift). Using HIRES/Keck spectra, we studied the MgII…
We present abundance measurements of elements O, C, Si and Fe for three gas-rich galaxies at z~5 using observations from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Keck telescope in order to better constrain the early chemical enrichment of…
This study presents Keck optical and infrared spectroscopy of the rest-frame ultraviolet and optical emission lines in two Lyman alpha emitting galaxies at z>2. These data provide insight on the evolution of fundamental galaxy scaling…
Damped Lyman-alpha absorption systems found in the spectra of high redshift quasars are believed to trace the interstellar gas in high redshift galaxies. In this paper, we study the elemental abundances of C, N, O, Al, Si, S, Cr, Mn, Fe,…
Using Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) early data release spectra, we have identified 370 MgII absorption systems with MgII 2796 rest equivalent widths >= 1A and redshifts z=0.9-2.2. From our previous and ongoing HST UV spectroscopic…