Related papers: A HST Spectroscopic study of QSOs with intermediat…

Any viable cosmological model must produce enough structure at early epochs to explain the amount of gas associated with high-redshift damped Ly$\alpha$ systems. We study the evolution of damped Ly$\alpha$ systems at redshifts $z\ge 2$ in…

We show that the extinction of quasar absorbers increases exponentially with the logarithmic column density of any volatile metal (e.g. zinc), with a charateristic turning point above which the quasars are severely dimmed. We derive the…

Damped Ly-alpha Systems (DLAs), with N(HI)>2*10^20 cm^{-2}, observed in quasars have allowed us to quantify the chemical content of the Universe over cosmological scales. Such studies can be extended to lower N(HI), in the sub-DLA range…

We present an absorption line analysis of the Lyman limit system (LLS) at z=3.55 in our Magellan/MIKE spectrum of PKS2000-330. Our analysis of the Lyman limit and full HI Lyman series constrains the total HI column density of the LLS (N_HI…

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…

We present chemical abundance measurements from high-resolution observations of 5 sub-damped Lyman-alpha absorbers at 1.7 < z < 2.4 observed with the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle (MIKE) spectrograph on the 6.5-m Magellan II Clay…

The HI 21cm absorption optical depth and the N(HI) derived from Lya absorption can be combined to yield the spin temperature (Ts) of DLAs. Although Ts measurements exist for samples of DLAs with z <0.6 and z >1.7, the intermediate redshift…

A study of the absorption systems toward the gravitationally lensed quasar APM 08279+5255 is presented. Most of the MgII systems in the redshift range 1.2-2.07, although saturated, show large residuals at the bottom of the lines. The most…

(Abridged) We present a sample of new population of associated absorbers, detected through Ne VIII \lambda\lambda 770,780 absorption, in HST/COS spectra of intermediate redshift (0.45 < z < 1.21) quasars (QSOs). Our sample comprised of…

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 have obtained a moderate resolution spectrum of the quasar PKS 0528-250 with the Red Channel Spectrograph on the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) in order to study a damped Lyman alpha absorption line system at z = 2.8115. We obtain a new…

As part of a larger program to identify low redshift radio analogues of the damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) absorbers seen in the spectra of high redshift quasars, Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) observations have discovered two new HI…

The afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have more soft X-ray absorption than expected from the foreground gas column in the Galaxy. While the redshift of the absorption can in general not be constrained from current X-ray observations, it…

We report the detection of a deep broad HI 21 cm absorption system at z = 0.78 toward the radio source [HB89] 2351+456 (4C+45.51) at z = 1.992. The HI absorption was identified in a blind spectral line survey conducted at the Green Bank…

In an effort to study Damped Lyman Alpha galaxies at low redshift, we have been using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to identify galaxies projected onto QSO sightlines and to characterize their optical properties. For low redshift galaxies,…

We present the results from the optical component of a survey for damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) towards radio-loud quasars. Our quasar sample is drawn from the Texas radio survey with the following primary selection criteria: z_em >…

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…

(Abridged) We present the results of a systematic GBT and GMRT survey for 21-cm absorption in a sample of 10 DLAs at 2<z_abs<3.4. Analysis of L-band VLBA images of the background QSOs are also presented. We detect 21-cm absorption in only…

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,…

Detecting HI using redshifted Ly-alpha absorption lines is 1e6 times more sensitive than using the 21cm emission line. We review recent discoveries of HI Ly-alpha absorbers made with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) which have allowed us a…