The Population of Weak Mg II Absorbers I. A Survey of 26 QSO HIRES/Keck Spectra

We present a search for "weak" MgII absorbers [those with W_r(2796) < 0.3 A in the HIRES/Keck spectra of 26 QSOs. We found 30, of which 23 are newly discovered. The spectra are 80% complete to W_r(2796) = 0.02 A and have a cumulative redshift path of ~17.2 for the redshift range 0.4 < z < 1.4. The number of absorbers per unit redshift, dN/dz, is seen to increase as the equivalent width threshold is decreased; we obtained dN/dz = 1.74+/-0.10 for our 0.02 <= W_r(2796) < 0.3 A sample. The equivalent width distribution follows a power law with slope -1.0; there is no turnover down to W_r(2796) = 0.02 A at = 0.9. Weak absorbers comprise at least 65% of the total MgII absorption population, which outnumbers Lyman limit systems (LLS) by a factor of 3.8+/-1.1; the majority of weak MgII absorbers must arise in sub-LLS environments. Tentatively, we predict that ~5% of the Lyman-alpha forest clouds with W_r(1215) > 0.1 A will have detectable MgII absorption to W_r,min(2796) = 0.02 A and that this is primarily a high-metallicity selection effect (Z/Z_sun] > -1). This implies that MgII absorbing structures figure prominently as tracers of sub-LLS environments where gas has been processed by stars. We compare the number density of W_r(2796) > 0.02 A absorbers with that of both high and low surface brightness galaxies and find a fiducial absorber size of 35h^-1 to 63h^-1 kpc, depending upon the assumed galaxy population and their absorption properties. The individual absorbing "clouds" have W_r(2796) <= 0.15 A and their narrow (often unresolved) line widths imply temperatures of ~25,000 K. We measured W_r(1548) from CIV in FOS/HST archival spectra and, based upon comparisons with FeII, found a range of ionization conditions (low, high, and multi-phase) in absorbers selected by weak MgII.Comment: Accepted Version: 43 pages, PostScript figures embedded; accepted to ApJ; updated version includes analysis of CIV absorptio

The evolution of clustering and bias in the galaxy distribution

This paper reviews the measurements of galaxy correlations at high redshifts, and discusses how these may be understood in models of hierarchical gravitational collapse. The clustering of galaxies at redshift one is much weaker than at present, and this is consistent with the rate of growth of structure expected in an open universe. If $\Omega=1$, this observation would imply that bias increases at high redshift, in conflict with observed $M/L$ values for known high-$z$ clusters. At redshift 3, the population of Lyman-limit galaxies displays clustering which is of similar amplitude to that seen today. This is most naturally understood if the Lyman-limit population is a set of rare recently-formed objects. Knowing both the clustering and the abundance of these objects, it is possible to deduce empirically the fluctuation spectrum required on scales which cannot be measured today owing to gravitational nonlinearities. Of existing physical models for the fluctuation spectrum, the results are most closely matched by a low-density spatially flat universe. This conclusion is reinforced by an empirical analysis of CMB anisotropies, in which the present-day fluctuation spectrum is forced to have the observed form. Open models are strongly disfavoured, leaving $\Lambda$CDM as the most successful simple model for structure formation.Comment: Invited review at the Royal Society Meeting `Large-scale structure in the universe', London, March 1998. 20 Pages LaTe

Associated Absorption Lines in the Radio-Loud Quasar 3C 351: Far-Ultraviolet Echelle Spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope

As one of the most luminous radio-loud quasars showing intrinsic ultraviolet (UV) and X-ray absorption, 3C 351 provides a laboratory for studying the kinematics and physical conditions of such ionized absorbers. We present an analysis of the intrinsic absorption lines in the high-resolution ($\sim$ 7 km/s) far-UV spectrum which was obtained from observations with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The spectrum spans wavelengths from 1150 \AA to 1710 \AA, and shows strong emission lines from O VI and Ly$\alpha$. Associated absorption lines are present on the blue wings of the high-ionization emission doublets O VI $\lambda\lambda$ 1032,1038 and N V $\lambda\lambda$ 1238,1242, as well as the Lyman lines through Ly$\epsilon$. These intrinsic absorption features are resolved into several distinct kinematic components, covering rest-frame velocities from -40 to -2800 km/s, with respect to the systemic redshift of $z_{em}=0.3721$. For the majority of these absorption line regions, strong evidence of partial covering of both the background continuum source and the BELR is found, which supports the intrinsic absorption origin and rules out the possibility that the absorption arises in some associated cluster of galaxies. The relationship between the far-UV absorbers and X-ray `warm' absorbers are studied with the assistance of photoionization models. Most of the UV associated absorption components have low values of the ionization parameter and total hydrogen column densities, which is inconsistent with previous claims that the UV and X-ray absorption arises in the same material. Analysis of these components supports a picture with a wide range of ionization parameters, temperatures, and column densities in AGN outflows.Comment: 27 pages with 5 figures, accepted by Ap

Damped Lyman-alpha absorption from a nearby Low Surface Brightness galaxy

Ground-based & HST images of the nearby galaxy SBS 1543+593 (z=0.009) show it to be a Low Surface Brightness (LSB) galaxy with a central surface brightness of mu_B(0)=23.2 mag/arcsec-2 and scale length 0.9 h-1 kpc, values typical for the local LSB galaxy population. The galaxy lies directly in front of the QSO HS 1543+5921 (z=0.807); an HST STIS spectrum of the quasar reveals a damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) line at the redshift of the interloper with an HI column density of log N(HI) = 20.35, as well as several low-ionization metal lines with strengths similar to those found in the Milky Way interstellar medium. Our data show that LSB galaxies are certainly able to produce the DLA lines seen at higher redshift, and fuels the speculation that LSB galaxies are a major contributor to that population of absorbers.Comment: Submitted to A

The Low Redshift Lyman Alpha Forest in Cold Dark Matter Cosmologies

We study the physical origin of the low-redshift Lyman alpha forest in hydrodynamic simulations of four CDM cosmologies. Our main conclusions are insensitive to the cosmological model but depend on our assumption that the UV background declines at low redshift. We find that the expansion of the universe drives rapid evolution of dN/dz (the number of absorbers per unit z) at z > 1.7, but that at lower redshift the fading of the UV background counters the influence of expansion, leading to slow evolution. At every redshift, weaker lines come primarily from moderate fluctuations of the diffuse, unshocked IGM, and stronger lines originate in shocked or radiatively cooled gas of higher overdensity. However, the neutral hydrogen column density associated with structures of fixed overdensity drops as the universe expands, so an absorber at z = 0 is dynamically analogous to an absorber with neutral hydrogen column density 10 to 50 times higher at z = 2-3. We find no clear distinction between lines arising in "galaxy halos" and lines arising in larger scale structures; however, galaxies tend to lie near the dense regions of the IGM that produce strong Lyman alpha lines. The simulations provide a unified physical picture that accounts for the most distinctive observed properties of the low redshift Lyman alpha forest: (1) a sharp transition in the evolution of dN/dz at z ~ 1.7, (2) stronger evolution for absorbers of higher equivalent width, (3) a correlation of increasing Lyman alpha equivalent width with decreasing galaxy impact parameter, and (4) a tendency for stronger lines to arise in close proximity to galaxies while weaker lines trace more diffuse large scale structure. (Abridged)Comment: 57 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Ap

The Population of Weak MgII Absorbers. II The Properties of Single-Cloud Systems

We present an investigation of MgII absorbers characterized as single-cloud weak systems at z~1. We measured column densities and Doppler parameters for MgII and FeII in 15 systems found in HIRES/Keck spectra at 6.6 km/s. Using these quantities and CIV, Lyman alpha and Lyman limit absorption observed with FOS/HST (resolution ~230 km/s) we applied photoionization models to each system to constrain metallicities, densities, ionization conditions, and sizes. We find that: (1) Single-cloud weak systems are optically thin in neutral hydrogen and may have their origins in a population of objects distinct from the optically thick strong MgII absorbers, which are associated with bright galaxies. (2) Weak systems account for somewhere between 25% to 100% of the z < 1 Lyman alpha forest clouds in the range 15.8<log N(HI)<16.8 cm^-2. (3) At least seven of 15 systems have two or more ionization phases of gas (multiphase medium). (4) We identify a subset of weak MgII absorber that we term ``iron-rich''. These clouds are not alpha-group enhanced and are constrained to have sizes of ~10 pc. At that size, to produce the observed redshift path density, they would need to outnumber L* galaxies by approximately six orders of magnitude. We discuss these results and the implications that the iron-rich systems require enrichment from Type Ia supernovae. Further, we address how star clusters or supernova remnants in dwarf galaxies might give rise to absorbers with the inferred properties. This would imply far larger numbers of such objects than are presently known, even locally. We compare the weak systems to the weak kinematic subsystems in strong MgII absorbers and to Galactic high velocity clouds. (abridged)Comment: 48 pages, 10 figures, accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

The extended epoch of galaxy formation: age dating of ~3600 galaxies with 2<z<6.5 in the VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey

We aim at improving constraints on the epoch of galaxy formation by measuring the ages of 3597 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts 2<z<6.5 in the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS). We derive ages and other physical parameters from the simultaneous fitting with the GOSSIP+ software of observed UV rest-frame spectra and photometric data from the u-band up to 4.5 microns using composite stellar population models. We conclude from extensive simulations that at z>2 the joint analysis of spectroscopy and photometry combined with restricted age possibilities when taking into account the age of the Universe substantially reduces systematic uncertainties and degeneracies in the age derivation. We find galaxy ages ranging from very young with a few tens of million years to substantially evolved with ages up to ~1.5-2 Gyr. The formation redshifts z_f derived from the measured ages indicate that galaxies may have started forming stars as early as z_f~15. We produce the formation redshift function (FzF), the number of galaxies per unit volume formed at a redshift z_f, and compare the FzF in increasing redshift bins finding a remarkably constant 'universal' FzF. The FzF is parametrized with (1+z)^\zeta, with \zeta~0.58+/-0.06, indicating a smooth 2 dex increase from z~15 to z~2. Remarkably this observed increase is of the same order as the observed rise in the star formation rate density (SFRD). The ratio of the SFRD with the FzF gives an average SFR per galaxy of ~7-17Msun/yr at z~4-6, in agreement with the measured SFR for galaxies at these redshifts. From the smooth rise in the FzF we infer that the period of galaxy formation extends from the highest possible redshifts that we can probe at z~15 down to redshifts z~2. This indicates that galaxy formation is a continuous process over cosmic time, with a higher number of galaxies forming at the peak in SFRD at z~2 than at earlier epochs. (Abridged)Comment: Submitted to A&A, 24 page

Metallicity Evolution of Damped Lyman Alpha Systems In Lambda CDM Cosmology

Utilizing a new, high mass resolution hydrodynamic simulation we compute the metallicity evolution of damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) and find a reasonable agreement with observations. In particular, the observed slow evolution of the DLA metallicity occurs naturally in the simulation due to the combined effects of physical and observational selection. The slow metallicity evolution is caused by the steady transformation, with increasing time, of the highest metallicity systems to "galaxies", thus depleting this category, while all the lower metallicity systems show, individually, an increase in metallicity. Although the trend of DLA metallicity with redshift is in good agreement with observations, it appears that the average metallicity of simulated DLAs is higher than observed by 0.3-0.5 dex in the probed redshift range (z=0-5). Our study indicates that this difference may be attributed to observational selection effects due to dust obscuration. If we allow for a dust obscuration effect, our model reproduces the observed metallicity evolution in both amplitude and slope. We find that DLAs are not a simple population but probe a range of different systems and the mix changes with redshift. About 50% of all metals in the gaseous phase is in DLAs at all times from z=5 to z=1, making a rapid downturn at z\le 1 to ~20% by z=0, as metals are swept into the hotter components of the IGM as well as locked up in stars. While not the primary focus of this study, we find that the model provides good matches to observations with respect to column density distribution and evolution of neutral gas content, if the same dust obscuration is taken into account. We find Omega_{DLA,comp}=(1-3)E-3, depending on the effect of dust obscuration.Comment: accepted to ApJ, 41 pages Figure 1 in color can be found at http://astro.princeton.edu/~cen/PROJECTS/p2/rhob_Z3.jpe

Constraints on Early Nucleosynthesis from the Abundance Pattern of a Damped Ly-alpha System at z = 2.626

We have investigated chemical evolution in the young universe by analysing the detailed chemical enrichment pattern of a metal-rich galaxy at high redshift. The recent detection of over 20 elements in the gas-phase of a damped Lyman-alpha absorber (DLA) at z = 2.626 represents an exciting new avenue for exploring early nucleosynthesis. Given a strict upper age of ~2.5 Gyr and a gas-phase metallicity about one third solar, we have shown the DLA abundance pattern to be consistent with the predictions of a chemical evolution model in which the interstellar enrichment is dominated by massive stars with a small contribution from Type Ia supernovae. Discrepancies between the empirical data and the models are used to highlight outstanding issues in nucleosynthesis theory, including a tendency for Type II supernovae models to overestimate the magnitude of the "odd-even" effect at subsolar metallicities. Our results suggest a possible need for supplemental sources of magnesium and zinc, beyond that provided by massive stars.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figs. Accepted for publication in ApJ (The Astrophysical Journal