Related papers: Using weak MgII lines to chart Low Surface Brightn…

We present high-resolution VLT/UVES spectroscopy and a detailed analysis of the unique Broad Absorption-Line system towards the quasar SDSS J165252.67+265001.96. This system exhibits low-ionization metal absorption lines from the ground…

We present a study of the Ly\alpha forest at z<0.4 from which we conclude that at least 20% of the total baryons in the universe are located in the highly-ionized gas traced by broad Ly\alpha absorbers. The cool photoionized low-z…

We present results on the X-ray spectrum of the quasar PG 1114+445 from an ASCA observation performed in 1996 June, and a ROSAT observation performed 3 years earlier. We show good agreement between all the datasets can be obtained if the…

We present initial results from the first systematic survey for MgII quasar absorption lines at z > 2.5. Using infrared spectra of 46 high-redshift quasars, we discovered 111 MgII systems over a path covering 1.9 < z < 6.3. Five systems…

We present our investigation into the physical conditions of the gas in five intervening quasar absorption line systems along the line of sight toward the quasar PG 0117+213, with redshifts of z=0.57, z=0.72, z=1.04, z=1.32 and z=1.34.…

We present a high-resolution, high signal-to-noise optical spectrum of the afterglow of GRB 051111 obtained with the HIRES spectrograph on the Keck I 10-m telescope. The spectrum exhibits three redshifted absorption systems with the…

We report the detection of a strong HI 21-cm absorption system at z=0.5344, as well as a candidate system at z=0.3389, in the sight-line towards the z=2.64 quasar MG J0414+0534. This, in addition to the absorption at the host redshift and…

We have studied a spectrum of Q0122+0338 (z = 1.202) obtained by the FOS on board HST. We present the analysis of three associated absorption systems at z = 1.207, 1.199 and 1.166. The most complex of these at z = 1.207 shows strong…

Using high resolution, high signal-to-noise ultraviolet spectra of the z = 0.9754 quasar PG1148+549 obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope, we study the physical conditions and abundances of…

We present a high spectral resolution optical spectrum of the bright quasar Q~1037-2704. The large number of absorption systems suggests the presence of an intervening supercluster, but the issue remains controversial.\par We demonstrate…

The cosmic chemical enrichment as measured from damped Ly$\alpha$ absorbers (DLAs) will be underestimated if dusty and metal-rich absorbers have evaded identification. Here we report the discovery and present the spectroscopic observations…

Aims. We have searched for temporal variations of narrow absorption lines in high resolution quasar spectra. A sample of 5 distant sources have been assembled, for which 2 spectra - VLT/UVES or Keck/HIRES - taken several years apart are…

With close pairs of quasars at different redshifts, a background quasar sightline can be used to study a foreground quasar's environment in absorption. We use a sample of 650 projected quasar pairs to study the HI Lya absorption transverse…

Spectroscopy of ten quasars obtained with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is presented. A clustering analysis reveals an excess of nearest neighbor line pairs on velocity scales of 250-750…

(Abridged) We present a systematic study of weak intervening CaII absorbers at low redshift (z<0.5), based on the analysis of archival high resolution (R>45,000) optical spectra of 304 quasars and active galactic nuclei observed with…

To study the nature of low z Lya absorbers in the spectra of QSOs, we have obtained high signal-to-noise UV spectra of H 1821+643 (z = 0.297) and PG 1116+215 (z = 0.177) with the GHRS on the HST. The spectra have minimum S/N of 70-100 and 3…

As part of our program to identify host galaxies of known z=2-3 MgII absorbers with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI), we discovered a compact group giving rise to a z=2.431 DLA with ultra-strong MgII absorption in quasar field…

We use FUSE and STIS spectra to study intergalactic absorption towards the quasar PG1259+593 (z=0.478). We identify 135 intergalactic absorption lines with equivalent widths >10mA, tracing 78 absorption components in 72 Ly alpha/beta…

The current status and remaining questions of MgII absorbers are reviewed with an eye toward new results incorporating high quality Hubble Space Telescope images of the absorbing galaxies. In the end, we find that our current picture of…

CaII 3934,3969 absorbers, which are likely to be a subset of damped Lyman alpha systems, are the most dusty quasar absorbers known, with an order of magnitude more extinction in E(B-V) than other absorption systems. There is also evidence…