Lick Slit Spectra of Thirty-Eight Objective Prism QSO Candidates and Low Metallicity Halo Stars

We present Lick Observatory slit spectra of 38 objects which were claimed to have pronounced ultraviolet excess and emission lines by Zhan \& Chen. Most of our spectra have FWHM spectral resolutions of about 4~\AA , and relatively high S/N of about 10 -- 50, although some have FWHM $\simeq 15$~\AA ~or lower S/N. We find eleven QSOs, four galaxies at $z \simeq 0.1$, twenty-two stars and one unidentified object with a low S/N spectrum. Six of the QSOs show absorption systems, including Q0000+027A with a relatively strong associated C~IV absorption system, and Q0008+008 (V$\simeq 18.9$) with a damped Ly$\alpha$ system with an H~I column density of $10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$. The stars include a wide variety of spectral types. There is one new DA4 white dwarf at 170~pc, one sdB at 14~kpc, and three M stars. The rest are of types F, G and K. We have measured the equivalent widths of the Ca~II~K line, the G-band and the Balmer lines in ten stars with the best spectra, and we derive metallicities. Seven of them are in the range $-2.5 \leq$~[Fe/H]~$\leq -1.7$, while the others are less metal poor. If the stars are dwarfs, then they are at distances of 1 to 7~kpc, but if they are giants, typical distances will be about 10~kpc.Comment: (Plain Tex, 21 pages, including tables. Send email to 'travell_oir%[email protected]' for 12 pages of figures) To appear in the %%Astronomical Journal, August, 199

Fluctuations of the intergalactic ionization field at redshift z ~ 2

(Abridged) Aims. To probe the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the ionizing background radiation at z ~ 2 and to specify the sources contributing to the intergalactic radiation field. Methods. The spectrum of a bright quasar HS1103+6416 (zem = 2.19) contains five successive metal-line absorption systems at zabs = 1.1923, 1.7193, 1.8873, 1.8916, and 1.9410. The systems are optically thin and reveal multiple lines of different metal ions with the ionization potentials lying in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range (1 Ryd to 0.2 keV). For each system, the EUV SED of the underlying ionization field is reconstructed by means of a special technique developed for solving the inverse problem in spectroscopy. For the zabs = 1.8916 system, the analysis also involves the HeI resonance lines of the Lyman series and the HeI 504 A continuum, which are seen for the first time in any cosmic object except the Sun. Results. From one system to another, the SED of the ionizing continuum changes significantly, indicating that the intergalactic ionization field at z ~ 2 fluctuates at the scale of at least Delta_z ~ 0.004. This is consistent with Delta_z ~ 0.01 estimated from HeII and HI Lyman-alpha forest measurements between the redshifts 2 and 3.Comment: 29 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in A\&

Lick Optical Spectra of Quasar HS 1946+7658 at 10 km/sec Resolution: Lyman-Alpha Forest and Metal Absorption Systems

We present optical spectra of QSO HS~1946+7658 with either high resolution (FWHM=10 km/s) or high signal to noise ratio (SNR=40-100). We find 113 Lyman alpha and six metal line systems. The metal systems at Zabs=2.844 and 3.050 have complex velocity structures. We find that the system at 2.844 is a damped Ly-a absorption system, with neutral hydrogen column density of logN(HI)=20.2+/-0.4, and it is the cause of the Lyman limit break at 3520\AA. The metal abundance in the gas phase of the system is [M/H]=-2.6+/-0.3, with a best estimate of [M/H]= -2.8, with ionization parameter Gamma=-2.75, from a photoionization model. We show that the abundance ratios rule out appreciable dust in this DLA system. We do not see the enhancement of O over C reported in Nature by Reimers last years. We see CII*(1335) offset by 15 km/s with respect to CII(1334), presumably because the gas density varies from 2 - 8 cm(-3) with changing velocity in the DLA system. These densities imply that the damped component is 6 - 25 pc thick, which is reasonable for a single cloud in a cold spiral disk. We see a 2.6sigma lack of Ly-a forest lines well away from the QSO redshift, which may be a chance fluctuation. We also see a correlation between column density N(HI) and Doppler parameter b for 96 unsaturated Ly-a forest absorption lines, and although this correlation persists in the 36 Ly-a lines which lie in regions where SNR=8-16, we agree with Rauch etal (1993) that it is probably a bogus effect of low SNR. We show that there are few low-b Ly-a forest lines in moderate SNR data.Comment: (Plain Tex, 46 pages and 21 figures. To get 21 postscript files for figures ftp to 132.239.146.152 and login as ftp in directory /pub/fan). To appear in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement

The Evolution of Lyman alpha Absorbers in the Redshift Range 0.5<z<1.9

We investigate the evolution and the statistical properties of the Lya absorbers of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the largely unexplored redshift range z=0.5-1.9. We use high-resolution (R > 30,000) UV (STIS) and optical (VLT/UVES and Keck/HIRES) spectra of nine bright quasars with z_em < 1.94. The main results for the combined Lya line sample are summarized as follows: 1. The evolution of the number density of the absorbers can be described by the power law dn/dz ~ (1+z)^gamma. The number density of the low column density lines decreases with decreasing z with gamma=0.74+-0.31 in the interval z=0.7-1.9. A comparison with results at higher redshifts shows that it is decelerated in the explored redshift range and turns into a flat evolution for z -> 0. The stronger absorbers thin out faster (gamma=1.50+-0.45). The break in their evolution predicted for z=1.5-1.7 cannot be seen down to z=0.7. On the other hand, a comparison with values from the literature for the local number density gives a hint that this break occurs at lower redshift. 2. The distribution of the column densities of the absorbers is complete down to N_HI=10^12.90 cm^-2. It can be approximated by a single power law with the exponent beta=1.60+-0.03 over almost three orders of magnitude. beta is redshift independent. 3. The Lya lines with lower column densities as well as the higher column density lines show marginal clustering with a 2 sigma significance over short distances (Delta v < 200 km/s and Delta v < 100 km/s, respectively). We do not see any difference in the clustering with either column density or redshift.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

The Kast Ground Based UV Spectral Survey of 79 QSOs at Redshift 2 for Lyman Alpha Forest and Metal Absorption

We present a moderate resolution (~1.15 Angstroms/pixel) survey of 79 quasars obtained using the Kast spectrograph on the Shane 3m telescope at Lick observatory. The spectra span the wavelength range of 3175-5880 Angstroms, and have typical signal to noise of 6-20 in the regions of the spectra showing Lyman alpha forest absorption. The quasars have a mean emission redshift of z=2.17, and nearly all cover the entire Lyman alpha forest between Lyman alpha and Lyman beta. Although the quasars were selected to avoid BAL, two quasars in the survey are BAL, one of which is a new discovery. We list the HI and metal ions observed in a total of 140 absorption systems. We also identify 526 emission lines, and list their observed wavelengths, along with new redshifts of the quasars. We determine the rest wavelengths of 3 emission lines or line blends in the forest to be 1070.95 +/- 1.00, 1123.13 +/- 0.51, and 1175.88 +/- 0.30 Angstroms.Comment: Submitted to the Astronomical Journa