580 research outputs found
Correlation of Low z Lyman-alpha Absorbers with HI-selected Galaxies
In this work, observational evidence for the connection between low column
density Lyman-alpha absorbers and large-scale structure traced by gas-rich
galaxies is investigated. The HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) galaxy
catalogue is cross-correlated with known low redshift, low column density
Lyman-alpha absorbers from the literature. The absorber-galaxy
cross-correlation function shows that on scales from 1 to 10 h^-1 Mpc,
absorbers are imbedded in halos with masses similar to that of galaxy groups.
This statistical evidence suggests that galaxy groups could be the dominant
environment of low column density Lyman-alpha absorbers at z=0.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, to appear in IAU 199 conf. proc.: "Probing
Galaxies through Quasar Absorption Lines," eds. Williams, Shu, Menar
Cross correlation of Lyman-alpha absorbers with gas-rich galaxies
The HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) galaxy catalogue is cross-correlated
with known low redshift, low column density (N_HI <10^15 cm^-2) Lyman-alpha
absorbers from the literature. The redshift-space correlation is found to be
similar in strength to HIPASS galaxy self-clustering (correlation length
s_0,ag=6+/-4 and s_0,gg=3.1+/-0.5 h^-1 Mpc respectively). In real-space the
cross-correlation is stronger than the galaxy auto-correlation (correlation
length r_0,ag=7.2+/-1.4 and r_0,gg=3.5+/-0.7 h^-1 Mpc respectively) on scales
from 1-10 h^-1 Mpc, ruling out the mini-halo model for the confinement
Lyman-alpha absorbers at the 99 percent confidence level. Provided that the
cause of the strong cross-correlation is purely gravitational, the ratio of
correlation lengths suggest that absorbers are embedded in dark matter haloes
with masses log(M/Msun)=14.2 h^-1, similar to those of galaxy groups. The
flattening of the cross-correlation at separations less than ~600 h^-1 kpc
could correspond to the thickness of filaments in which absorbers are embedded.
This work provides indirect statistical evidence for the notion that galaxy
groups and large-scale filaments, particularly those that comprise gas-rich
galaxies, are the dominant environments of low column density Lyman-alpha
absorbers at z=0.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, minor typos
fixed and references update
The Column Density Distribution Function at z=0 from HI Selected Galaxies
We have measured the column density distribution function, f(N), at z=0 using
21-cm HI emission from galaxies selected from a blind HI survey. f(N) is found
to be smaller and flatter at z=0 than indicated by high-redshift measurements
of Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems, consistent with the predictions of
hierarchical galaxy formation. The derived DLA number density per unit
redshift, dn/dz =0.058, is in moderate agreement with values calculated from
low-redshift QSO absorption line studies. We use two different methods to
determine the types of galaxies which contribute most to the DLA cross-section:
comparing the power law slope of f(N) to theoretical predictions and analysing
contributions to dn/dz. We find that comparison of the power law slope cannot
rule out spiral discs as the dominant galaxy type responsible for DLA systems.
Analysis of dn/dz however, is much more discriminating. We find that galaxies
with log M_HI < 9.0 make up 34% of dn/dz; Irregular and Magellanic types
contribute 25%; galaxies with surface brightness > 24 mag arcsec^{-2} account
for 22% and sub-L* galaxies contribute 45% to dn/dz. We conclude that a large
range of galaxy types give rise to DLA systems, not just large spiral galaxies
as previously speculated.Comment: 13 pages, low resolution figures in the appendix, MNRAS accepte
Local Column Density Distribution Function from HI selected galaxies
The cross-section of sky occupied by a particular neutral hydrogen column
density provides insight into the nature of Lyman-alpha absorption systems. We
have measured this column density distribution at z=0 using 21-cm HI emission
from a blind survey. A subsample of HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) galaxies
have been imaged with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). The
contribution of low HI mass galaxies 10^7.5 to 10^8 M_solar is compared to that
of M_star (10^10 to 10^10.5 M_solar) galaxies. We find that the column density
distribution function is dominated by low HI mass galaxies with column
densities in the range 3x10^18 to 2x10^20 cm^-2. This result is not intuitively
obvious. M_star galaxies may contain the bulk of the HI gas, but the
cross-section presented by low HI mass galaxies 10^7.5 to 10^8 M_solar is
greater at moderate column densities. This result implies that moderate column
density Lyman-alpha absorption systems may be caused by a range of galaxy types
and not just large spiral galaxies as originally thought.Comment: 5 pages, including 1 figure. To appear in "Extragalactic Gas at Low
Redshift" (ASP Conf. Series, Weymann Conf.
Evolution of damped Lyman alpha kinematics and the effect of spatial resolution on 21-cm measurements
We have investigated the effect of spatial resolution on determining
pencil-beam like velocity widths and column densities in galaxies. Three 21-cm
datasets are used, the HIPASS galaxy catalogue, a subset of HIPASS galaxies
with ATCA maps and a high-resolution image of the LMC. Velocity widths measured
from 21-cm emission in local galaxies are compared with those measured in
intermediate redshift Damped Lyman alpha (DLA) absorbers. We conclude that
spatial resolution has a severe effect on measuring pencil-beam like velocity
widths in galaxies. Spatial smoothing by a factor of 240 is shown to increase
the median velocity width by a factor of two. Thus any difference between
velocity widths measured from global profiles or low spatial resolution 21-cm
maps at z=0 and DLAs at z>1 cannot unambiguously be attributed to galaxy
evolution. The effect on column density measurements is less severe and the
values of dN/dz from local low-resolution 21-cm measurements are expected to be
overestimated by only ~10 per cent.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter
Intergalactic CIV absorption at redshifts 5.4 to 6
We report the discovery of a strong CIV 1548,1550 absorption system at z_abs
= 5.7238 in the near-infrared spectrum (J-band) of the z_em = 6.28 QSO SDSS
J1030+0524. These observations, obtained with the Infrared Spectrometer And
Array Camera (ISAAC) on the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope
(ESO VLT), demonstrate that, with modern instrumentation, QSO absorption line
spectroscopy can be successfully extended to near-infrared wavelengths to probe
the intergalactic medium near the end of the reionization epoch. Although the
statistics of this pilot study are limited, the mass density of triply ionized
carbon implied by our data is comparable to the values of Omega_CIV reported at
lower redshifts. Neither the column density distribution of CIV absorbers nor
its integral show significant redshift evolution over a period of time which
stretches from 1 to 4.5 Gyr after the big bang, suggesting that a large
fraction of intergalactic metals may already have been in place at redshifts
above 6. Alternatively, the strong CIV system we have detected may be
associated with outflowing, highly-ionized, gas from a foreground massive
galaxy; deep imaging and spectroscopy of galaxies near the QSO sightline should
be able to distinguish between these two possibilities.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS on June 28t
Recycling of ghost galaxies: The origin of giant HI ring around NGC 1533
We propose that the giant HI ring recently discovered by HIPASS for S0 galaxy
NGC 1533 is formed by unequal-mass merging between gas-rich LSB (low surface
brightness: ``ghost'') galaxies and HSB disks. The NGC 1533 progenitor HSB
spiral is transformed into a barred S0 during merging and the outer HI gas disk
of the LSB is transformed into the giant HI ring. We also discuss two different
possibilities for the origin of isolated star-forming regions (``ELdot''
objects) in the giant gas ring.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure (Color GIF file for Figure 1), in the proceedings
of IAU 217 ''Recycling intergalactic and interstellar matte
The host galaxies of strong CaII QSO absorption systems at z<0.5
We present new imaging and spectroscopic observations of the fields of five
QSOs with very strong intervening CaII absorption systems at redshifts z<0.5
selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Recent studies of these very rare
absorbers indicate that they may be related to damped Lyman alpha systems
(DLAs). In all five cases we identify a galaxy at the redshift of the CaII
system with impact parameters up to ~24 kpc. In four out of five cases the
galaxies are luminous (L ~L*), metal-rich (Z ~Zsun), massive (velocity
dispersion, sigma ~100 km/s) spirals. Their star formation rates, deduced from
Halpha emission, are high, in the range SFR = 0.3 - 30 Msun/yr. In our
analysis, we paid particular attention to correcting the observed emission line
fluxes for stellar absorption and dust extinction. We show that these effects
are important for a correct SFR estimate; their neglect in previous low-z
studies of DLA-selected galaxies has probably led to an underestimate of the
star formation activity in at least some DLA hosts. We discuss possible links
between CaII-selected galaxies and DLAs and outline future observations which
will help clarify the relationship between these different classes of QSO
absorbers.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 14 pages, 9 figures. Version with
full resolution images available at
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~bjz/papers/Zych_etal_2007a.pd
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