Related papers: The SDSS-DR5 Survey for Proximate Damped Lya Syste…
We present the first results from an ongoing survey for Damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) in the spectra of z>2 quasars observed in the course of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky…
We present the results from a damped Lya survey of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Data Release 3 based on over 500 new damped Lya systems at z>2.2. We measure the HI column density distribution f(N) and its zeroth and first moments (the…
We present VLT/UVES spectroscopy of the quasar Q0841+129, whose spectrum shows a proximate damped Lyman-alpha (PDLA) absorber at z=2.47621 and a proximate sub-DLA at z=2.50620, both lying close in redshift to the QSO itself at…
We use the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archive of ultraviolet (UV) quasar spectroscopy to conduct the first blind survey for damped Ly-alpha absorbers (DLAs) at low redshift (z < 1.6). Our statistical sample includes 463 quasars with…
We report {\it HST} COS spectroscopy of 10 quasars with foreground star-forming galaxies at 0.02$<$$z$$<$ 0.14 within impact parameters of $\sim$1-7 kpc. We detect damped/sub-damped Ly$\alpha$ absorption in 100$\%$ of cases where no…
We present new estimates for the statistical properties of damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorbers (DLAs). We compute the column density distribution function at $z>2$, the line density, $\mathrm{d}N/\mathrm{d}X$, and the neutral hydrogen density,…
In merger-driven models of massive galaxy evolution, the luminous quasar phase is expected to be accompanied by vigorous star formation in quasar host galaxies. In this paper, we use high column density Damped Lyman Alpha (DLA) systems…
A comprehensive analysis of 355 high-quality WSRT HI 21-cm line maps of nearby galaxies shows that the properties and incident rate of Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) absorption systems observed in the spectra of high redshift QSOs are in good…
To search for low-redshift damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) and sub-DLA quasar absorbers, we have conducted a 21cm absorption survey of radio-loud quasars at small impact parameters to foreground galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey…
We present the results of a search for damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II (SDSS), Data Release 7. We use a fully automatic procedure to identify DLAs and derive their column densities. The procedure is…
We present the results from an automated search for damped Lya (DLA) systems in the quasar spectra of Data Release 1 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR1). At z~2.5, this homogeneous dataset has greater statistical significance than…
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 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…
Damped Ly-alpha absorbers (DLAs) are a well-studied class of absorption line systems, and yet the properties of their host galaxies remain largely unknown. To investigate the origin of these systems, we have conducted an imaging survey of…
SDSS J095253.83+011422.0 (SDSS J0952+0114) was reported by Hall et al. (2004) as an exotic quasar at $z_{\rm em}=3.020$. In contrast to prominent broad metal--line emissions with FWHM~9000 km/s, only a narrow Ly \alpha emission line is…
We present the detection of excited fine-structure energy levels of singly-ionized silicon and neutral carbon associated with the proximate damped Lyman-$\alpha$ system at $z_{\rm abs}=2.811$ towards \qso. This absorber has an apparent…
(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 results from a survey designed to probe the star formation properties of 32 damped Ly-alpha systems (DLAs) at z~2.7. By using the "double-DLA" technique that eliminates the glare of the bright background quasars, we directly…
Absorption line studies of galaxies along the line-of-sight to distant quasars allow a direct observational link between the properties of the extended gaseous disk/halo and of the star forming region of galaxies. In these proceedings we…
Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorbers (DLAs) with molecular hydrogen have been probed in detail through both spectroscopic observations and numerical modelling. However, such H$_2$ absorbers are quite sparse at very high redshifts. We identify…