Related papers: Are Damped Ly-alpha Systems Large, Galactic Disks …
The velocity profiles of weak metal absorption lines can be used to observationally probe the kinematic state of gas in damped Lyman-alpha systems. Prochaska and Wolfe have argued that the flat distribution of velocity widths combined with…
We present a quantitative analysis of the abundances of heavy elements in damped Ly-alpha galaxies in the sample of Lu et al. (1996). In particular, we compare the observed gas-phase abundances with those expected when the intrinsic (i.e.,…
Recent observations demonstrate that the thin and thick disks of the Galaxy have different chemical abundance trends and evolution timescales. The relative abundances of $\alpha$-elements in the thick Galactic disk are increased relative to…
We use a model of galaxy disk formation to explore the metallicities, dust content, and neutral-gas mass density of damped Lyman-$\alpha$ (D\lya) absorbers. We find that the [Zn/H] abundance measurements of D\lya systems now available can…
Damped Lyman-alpha systems seen in spectra of background quasars are generally thought to represent high redshift counterparts of present-day galaxies. We summarize observations of heavy element abundances in damped Lyman-alpha systems. The…
We have collected data for 69 Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems, to investigate the chemical evolution of galaxies in the redshift interval 0.0 < z < 4.4. In doing that, we have adopted the most general approach used so far to correct for…
We investigate the properties of Damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) using high-resolution and large box-size cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of a LambdaCDM model. The numerical code used is a modification of GADGET-2 with a self…
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,…
We study the average Ly$\alpha$ emission associated with high-$z$ strong (log $N$(H I) $\ge$ 21) damped Ly$\alpha$ systems (DLAs). We report Ly$\alpha$ luminosities ($L_{\rm Ly\alpha}$) for the full as well as various sub-samples based on…
We report the first discovery of a QSO damped Ly-alpha (DLA) system by the GALEX satellite. The system was initially identified as an MgII absorption-line system (z_abs=1.028) in the spectrum of SDSS QSO J0203-0910 (z_em=1.58). The presence…
The evolution of the metal content of the universe can be tracked through rest-frame UV spectroscopy of damped Ly-$\alpha$ systems (DLAs). Gas-phase abundances in DLAs must be corrected for dust depletion effects, which can be accomplished…
We describe the evolution of galaxies in a chemically consistent way accounting for the increasing initial metallicity of successive generations of stars. The enrichment of various types of model galaxies is compared with Damped Ly$\alpha$…
Based on the disk galaxy formation theory within the framework of standard LCDM hierarchical picture, we selected modelled DLAs, according to their observational criterion, by Monte Carlo simulation with the random inclinations being…
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…
We present evidence that the cosmological mean metallicity of neutral atomic hydrogen gas shows a sudden decrease at z>4.7 down to <Z>=-2.03(+0.09-0.11), which is 6 sigma deviant from that predicted by a linear fit to the data at lower…
The damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) and sub-DLA quasar absorption lines provide powerful probes of the evolution of metals, gas, and stars in galaxies. One major obstacle in trying to understand the evolution of DLAs and sub-DLAs has been the…
Using the GAEA semi-analytic model, we analyse the connection between Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems (DLAs) and HI in galaxies. Our state-of-the-art semi-analytic model is tuned to reproduce the local galaxy HI mass function, and that also…
We present first results from a program to measure the chemical abundances of a large (N>30) sample of thick disk stars with the principal goal of investigating the formation history of the Galactic thick disk. Our analysis confirms…
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…
The recently emerging conviction that thick disks are prevalent in disk galaxies, and their seemingly ubiquitous old ages, means that the formation of the thick disk, perhaps more than any other component, holds the key to unravelling the…