Related papers: Lyman Alpha Absorption and Tidal Debris
I review the results obtained using the GHRS on low redshift Lyman alpha absorbers. Until the advent of HST and the GHRS, the existence of such absorbers was doubted. The confirmation of their existence, in one of the first GHRS GTO team…
Models for the formation of galaxies and clusters of galaxies require strong feedback in order to explain the observed properties of these systems. We investigate whether such feedback has observational consequences for the intergalactic…
The last few years have seen a dramatic improvement in our understanding of the origin of Lyman alpha absorption systems. Hydrodynamic numerical simulations of cold dark matter dominated universes have shown that the many properties of the…
Absorption signatures in the spectra of QSOs are one of our most powerful tools for studying galactic and intergalactic environments at high redshifts. With the discovery of QSOs out to z > 7, QSO absorption lines are now tracing the end…
The importance of HST for the study of quasar absorption lines and of the nature of the intergalactic medium is illustrated by reviewing selected results from past HST observations. Topics reviewed include the study of Ly-alpha absorbers at…
The low-redshift Ly-alpha forest of absorption lines provides a probe of large-scale baryonic structures in the intergalactic medium, some of which may be remnants of physical conditions set up during the epoch of galaxy formation. We…
We combine predictions for several hierarchical cosmogonies with observational evidence on damped Lyman alpha systems to establish a correspondence between the high redshift galaxy population and the properties of damped Lyman alpha…
We propose that a large fraction of the QSO Lyman limit absorption systems (LLS) observed at high redshift (z > 3) originate from gas trapped in small objects, such as minihalos, that form prior to reionization. In the absence of a strong…
Cold gas streaming along the dark-matter filaments of the cosmic web is predicted to be the major provider of resources for disc buildup, violent disk instability and star formation in massive galaxies in the early universe. We study to…
Galaxies are surrounded by large reservoirs of gas, mostly hydrogen, fed by inflows from the intergalactic medium and by outflows due to galactic winds. Absorption-line measurements along the sightlines to bright and rare background quasars…
We present a semi-analytical model to test the hypothesis that Ly-alpha QSO absorption lines originate in gaseous halos produced by multiple supernova explosions occurring in Pop III objects in a CDM cosmological scenario hoping to assess…
We present arguments based on the measured abundances in individual damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) and sub-damped Lyman alpha systems (sub-DLAs), and also the average abundances inferred in large samples of QSO absorption line systems,…
We have identified galaxies near two quasars which are at the redshift of damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems in the UV spectra of the quasars. Both galaxies are actively forming stars. One galaxy has a luminosity close to the break in the…
Groups and clusters of galaxies hosting a quasar can be found through the detection of Lyman-alpha absorption lines beyond the quasar redshift. The effect occurs whenever the distortion to the redshift distribution of Lyman-alpha clouds…
Lyman alpha absorber correlations contain information about the underlying density distribution associated with a particular class of absorbers. As such, they provide an opportunity to independently measure the "bias" of the Lyman alpha…
Plots of equivalent width (or neutral hydrogen column density) versus impact parameter (between the galaxy and quasar line of sight) have been used to support a variety of conclusions about the relationship between galaxies and Ly\alpha…
The Hubble Deep Field images have provided us with a unique chance to relate statistical properties of high-redshift galaxies to statistical properties of \lya absorption systems. Combining an {\em empirical} measure of the galaxy surface…
We present here new GHRS observations of Lyman-alpha absorption lines associated with groups or clusters toward the QSOs 1545+2101 and 0850+4400. In the first case we have identified at least eight distinct Lyman-alpha absorption features,…
Together with the CMB, the three sources of information that astronomers have at high redshift as probes of the formation and evolution of the LSS are QSOs, galaxies and absorbers observed in the spectrum of distant background objects. In…
The significance of the Ly$\alpha$ emission line as a probe of the high-redshift Universe has long been established. Originating mainly in the vicinity of young, massive stars and in association with accretion of large bulks of matter, it…