Related papers: Dust, Metals and Diffuse Interstellar Bands in Dam…
In order to characterize Damped Lyman Alpha systems (DLAs) potentially hosting first stars, we present a novel approach to investigate DLAs in the context of Milky Way (MW) formation, along with their connection with the most metal-poor…
We present a list of z_abs ~ z_em (Delta v < 3000 km/s) DLAs discovered during the CORALS survey for absorbers in a radio-selected QSO sample. On the assumption that z_abs ~ z_em DLAs are neither ejecta from the QSO, nor part of the host…
Damped Lyman-alpha systems seen in spectra of background quasars are generally thought to represent high redshift counterparts of present-day galaxies. We summarize observations of heavy element abundances in damped Lyman-alpha systems. The…
We present results from an efficient, non-traditional survey to discover damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) absorption-line systems with neutral hydrogen column densities N(HI)>2x10^{20} atoms cm^{-2} and redshifts z<1.65. Contrary to previous…
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…
Analysis of the absorption lines in the afterglow spectrum of the gamma-ray burst GRB010222 indicates that its host galaxy (at a redshift of z=1.476) is the strongest damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) system known, having a very low metallicity and…
Some results from an imaging program to identify low-redshift (0.09<z<1.63) damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) galaxies are presented. The standard paradigm that was widely accepted a decade ago, that DLA galaxies are the progenitors of luminous disk…
We use the results of a set of three-dimensional SPH-Treecode simulations which model the formation and early evolution of disk galaxies, including the generation of heavy elements by star formation, to investigate the effects of dust…
We have investigated chemical evolution in the young universe by analysing the detailed chemical enrichment pattern of a metal-rich galaxy at high redshift. The recent detection of over 20 elements in the gas-phase of a damped Lyman-alpha…
(Abridged for arXiv) We report the discovery of an unusual, extremely dust-rich and metal-strong damped \lya absorption system (DLA) at a redshift $z_{a}=2.4596$ toward the quasar SDSS J115705.52+615521.7 (hereafter J1157+6155) with an…
We present HIRES observations for 30 damped Lyman alpha systems, selected on the basis of their large metal column densities from previous, lower resolution data. The measured metal column densities for Fe, Zn, S, Si, Cr, Mn, and Ni are…
The mean metallicity of the thick disk of the Galaxy is 0.5 dex higher than that of the damped Lyman alpha systems. This has been interpreted to argue that stars in the former do not arise out of gas in the latter. Using new metallicity and…
We present the elemental abundance and H2 content measurements of a Damped Lyman-{\alpha} (DLA) system with an extremely large H i column density, log N(H i) (cm-2) = 22.0+/-0.10, at zabs = 3.287 towards the QSO SDSS J 081634+144612. We…
The H~{\sc i} gas distribution in damped Lyman $\alpha$ absorbers (DLAs) has remained elusive due to the point-source nature of background quasar emission. Observing DLAs against spatially extended background galaxies provides a new method…
This study focuses on some of the most metal-poor damped Lyman alpha absorbers known in the spectra of high redshift QSOs, using new and archival observations obtained with UV-sensitive echelle spectrographs on the Keck and VLT telescopes.…
We discuss our recent results on the statistical properties of damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) at low redshift (z<1.65) (Rao & Turnshek 2000). Contrary to expectations, we found that the cosmological neutral gas mass density as traced by…
We have identified a metal-strong (logN(Zn+) > 13.15 or logN(Si+) > 15.95) DLA (MSDLA) population from an automated quasar (QSO) absorber search in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3 (SDSS-DR3) quasar sample, and find that MSDLAs…
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…
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…
The goal of the Complete Optical and Radio Absorption Line System (CORALS) survey is to quantify the potential impact on QSO absorber statistics from dust in intervening galaxies. Dust may introduce a selection bias in surveys which are…