Related papers: The Halo from the Outside In: QSO Absorption Lines
Quasar absorption lines provide detailed information on the chemical, kinematic, and ionization conditions in galaxies and their environments, and provide a means for studying the evolution of these conditions back to the epoch of the first…
Recent observations have shown that (some) metal line absorption systems in QSO spectra arise from gas in galactic halos with radii much larger than the optical radii of galaxies. We show that the observed galaxy-absorber connections are…
We perform a systematic study of physical properties and distribution of neutral and ionised gas in the halo of the Milky Way (MW). Beside the large neutral intermediate- and high-velocity cloud (IVC, HVC) complexes there exists a…
Recent observations show that spiral galaxies are surrounded by extended gaseous halos as predicted by the hierarchical structure formation scenario. The origin and nature of extraplanar gas is often unclear since the halo is continuously…
Associated absorption lines (AALs) in quasar spectra are valuable probes of the gas kinematics and physical conditions in quasar environments. The host galaxies are by definition in an active evolution stage that might involve large-scale…
The early stage of massive galaxy evolution often involves outflows driven by a starburst or a central quasar plus cold mode accretion (infall), which adds to the mass build-up in the galaxies. To study the nature of these infall and…
We briefly review, at a level appropriate for graduate students and non-specialists, the field of quasar absorption lines (QALs). Emphasis is on the intervening absorbers. We present the anatomy of a quasar spectrum due to various classes…
Recent highly sensitive detections of line emission from extended gas in the local universe demonstrate the feasibility of detecting H$\alpha$ emitting galactic halos out to $z\sim1$. We determine the form of the surface brightness vs.…
Significant progress has been made over the last few years to explore the gaseous halo of the Milky Way by way of absorption spectroscopy. I review recent results on absorption line studies in the halo using various instruments, such as the…
Roughly 10% of all quasars exhibit Broad Absorption Line (BAL) features which appear to arise in material outflowing at high velocity from the active galactic nucleus (AGN). The details of this outflow are, however, very poorly constrained…
Broad absorption lines (BALs), seen in a small fraction of both the radio-quiet and radio-loud quasar populations, are probably caused by the outflow of gas with high velocities and are part of the accretion process. The presence of BALs is…
Rich complexes of associated absorption lines (AALs) in quasar spectra provide unique information about gaseous infall, outflows, and feedback processes in quasar environments. We study five quasars at redshifts 3.1 to 4.4 with AAL…
In this contribution, we review our current knowledge of the properties of galaxies, and their extended halos, selected by MgII absorption in the spectra of background quasars. We then describe recent efforts to quantify the morphologies…
High resolution rest frame UV quasar absorption spectra covering low and high ionization species, as well as the Lyman series lines, provide remarkably detailed information about the gaseous phases of galaxies and their environments. For…
We present results on gas flows in the halo of a Milky Way-like galaxy at z=0.413 based on high-resolution spectroscopy of a background galaxy. This is the first study of circumgalactic gas at high spectral resolution towards an extended…
A model of Lyman limit QSO absorption systems is investigated where they are produced in gaseous galactic halos with a two-phase structure: a hot phase at the halo virial temperature in approximate pressure equilibrium, and a cold,…
This chapter presents a review of the current state of knowledge on the cool (T ~ 1e4 K) halo gas content around massive galaxies at z ~ 0.2-2. Over the last decade, significant progress has been made in characterizing the cool…
We explore the hypothesis that clouds detected in quasar absorption line systems are falling at a terminal velocity toward the center of high redshift gaseous galactic halos. Since both the ionization level and terminal velocity of halo…
Luminous quasars are powerful targets to investigate the role of feedback from supermassive black-holes (BHs) in regulating the growth phases of BHs themselves and of their host galaxies, up to the highest redshifts. Here we investigate the…
Broad absorption lines (BALs) in quasar spectra identify high velocity outflows that likely exist in all quasars and could play a major role in feedback to galaxy evolution. Studying the variability in these BALs can help us understand the…