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Start Over Subject intergalactic medium Content Level Research
11. Gal. redshift survey near HST/COS AGN sight lines
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/237/11
Title:
Gal. redshift survey near HST/COS AGN sight lines
Short Name:
J/ApJS/237/11
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
To establish the connection between galaxies and UV-detected absorption systems in the local universe, a deep (g<=20) and wide (~20' radius) galaxy redshift survey is presented around 47 sight lines to UV-bright AGNs observed by the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS). Specific COS science team papers have used this survey to connect absorbers to galaxies, groups of galaxies, and large-scale structures, including voids. Here we present the technical details of the survey and the basic measurements required for its use, including redshifts for individual galaxies and uncertainties determined collectively by spectral class (emission-line, absorption-line, and composite spectra) and completeness for each sight line as a function of impact parameter and magnitude. For most of these sight lines, the design criteria of >90% completeness over a >1Mpc region down to <~0.1L* luminosities at z<=0.1 allows a plausible association between low-z absorbers and individual galaxies. Ly{alpha} covering fractions are computed to approximate the star-forming and passive galaxy populations using the spectral classes above. In agreement with previous results, the covering fraction of star-forming galaxies with L>=0.3L* is consistent with unity inside one virial radius and declines slowly to >50% at four virial radii. On the other hand, passive galaxies have lower covering fractions (~60%) and a shallower decline with impact parameter, suggesting that their gaseous halos are patchy but have a larger scale-length than star-forming galaxies.
12. Ghostly damped Ly{alpha} systems in SDSS DR14
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/901/123
Title:
Ghostly damped Ly{alpha} systems in SDSS DR14
Short Name:
J/ApJ/901/123
Date:
18 Feb 2022 09:18:37
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We report the discovery of 59 new ghostly absorbers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 14. These absorbers, with z_abs_~z_QSO_, reveal no Ly{alpha} absorption, and they are mainly identified through the detection of strong metal absorption lines in the spectra. The number of such previously known systems is 30. The new systems are found with the aid of machine-learning algorithms. The spectra of 41 (out of total of 89) absorbers also cover the Ly{beta} spectral region. By fitting the damping wings of the Ly{beta} absorption in the stacked spectrum of 21 (out of 41) absorbers with relatively stronger Ly{beta} absorption, we measured an HI column density of log N(HI)=21.50. This column density is 0.5dex higher than that of the previous work. We also found that the metal absorption lines in the stacked spectrum of the 21 ghostly absorbers with stronger Ly{beta} absorption have similar properties as those in the stacked spectrum of the remaining systems. This circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that the majority of our ghostly absorbers are indeed DLAs.
13. Ghostly strong Lya absorbers in SDSS DR12
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/888/85
Title:
Ghostly strong Lya absorbers in SDSS DR12
Short Name:
J/ApJ/888/85
Date:
25 Oct 2021 10:15:53
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We have searched the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 12 for ghostly strong Ly{alpha} (DLA) systems. These systems, located at the redshift of the quasars, show strong absorption from low-ionization atomic species but reveal no HI Ly{alpha} absorption. Our search has, for the first time, resulted in a sample of 30 homogeneously selected ghostly absorbers with z_QSO_>2.0. Thirteen of the ghostly absorbers exhibit absorption from other HI Lyman series lines. The lack of Ly{alpha} absorption in these absorbers is consistent with them being dense and compact with projected sizes smaller than the broad-line region of the background quasar. Although uncertain, the estimated median HI column density of these absorbers is logN(HI)~21.0. We compare the properties of ghostly absorbers with those of eclipsing DLAs that are high-column-density absorbers, located within 1500km/s of the quasar emission redshift and showing strong Ly{alpha} emission in their DLA trough. We discover an apparent sequence in the observed properties of these DLAs, with ghostly absorbers showing wider HI kinematics, stronger absorptions from high-ionization species, CII and SiII excited states, and a higher level of dust extinction. Since we estimate that all these absorbers have similar metallicities, logZ/Z_{sun}_~-1.0, we conclude that ghostly absorbers are part of the same population as eclipsing DLAs, except that they are denser and located closer to the central active galactic nuclei.
14. HeII photoionization rates of quasars
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/847/81
Title:
HeII photoionization rates of quasars
Short Name:
J/ApJ/847/81
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
The HeII transverse proximity effect-enhanced HeII Ly{alpha} transmission in a background sightline caused by the ionizing radiation of a foreground quasar-offers a unique opportunity to probe the morphology of quasar-driven HeII reionization. We conduct a comprehensive spectroscopic survey to find z~3 quasars in the foreground of 22 background quasar sightlines with Hubble Space Telescope/COS HeII Ly{alpha} transmission spectra. With our two-tiered survey strategy, consisting of a deep pencil-beam survey and a shallow wide-field survey, we discover 131 new quasars, which we complement with known SDSS/BOSS quasars in our fields. Using a restricted sample of 66 foreground quasars with inferred HeII photoionization rates greater than the expected UV background at these redshifts ({Gamma}_QSO_^HeII^>5x10^-16^s^-1^) we perform the first statistical analysis of the HeII transverse proximity effect. Our results show qualitative evidence for a large object-to-object variance: among the four foreground quasars with the highest {Gamma}_QSO_^HeII^ only one (previously known) quasar is associated with a significant HeII transmission spike. We perform a stacking analysis to average down these fluctuations, and detect an excess in the average HeII transmission near the foreground quasars at 3{sigma} significance. This statistical evidence for the transverse proximity effect is corroborated by a clear dependence of the signal strength on {Gamma}_QSO_^HeII^. Our detection places a purely geometrical lower limit on the quasar lifetime of t_Q_>25Myr. Improved modeling would additionally constrain quasar obscuration and the mean free path of HeII-ionizing photons.
15. Intergalac. medium opacity from Lyman-break galaxies
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/160/37
Title:
Intergalac. medium opacity from Lyman-break galaxies
Short Name:
J/AJ/160/37
Date:
08 Dec 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We measure the effective opacity ({tau}_eff_) of the intergalactic medium from the composite spectra of 281 Lyman-break galaxies in the redshift range 2<~z<~3. Our spectra are taken from the COSMOS Ly{alpha} Mapping And Tomographic Observations survey derived from the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer on the W.M. Keck I telescope. We generate composite spectra in two redshift intervals and fit them with spectral energy distribution (SED) models composed of simple stellar populations. Extrapolating these SED models into the Ly{alpha} forest, we measure the effective Ly{alpha} opacity ({tau}_eff_) in the 2.02<~z<~2.44 range. At z=2.22, we estimate {tau}_eff_=0.159{+/-}0.001 from a power-law fit to the data. These measurements are consistent with estimates from quasar analyses at z<2.5 indicating that the systematic errors associated with normalizing quasar continua are not substantial. We provide a Gaussian processes model of our results and previous {tau}_eff_ measurements that describes the steep redshift evolution in {tau}_eff_ from z=1.5-4.
16. Ions density in the CGM of low mass galaxy groups
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/159/216
Title:
Ions density in the CGM of low mass galaxy groups
Short Name:
J/AJ/159/216
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We explore how environment affects the metallicity of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) using 13 low-mass galaxy groups (two to five galaxies) at <z_abs_>=0.25 identified near background quasars. Using quasar spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (HST/COS) and from Keck/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (Keck/HIRES) or the Very Large Telescope/Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (VLT/UVES), we measure column densities of or determine limits on CGM absorption lines. We use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach with Cloudy to estimate metallicities of cool (T~104K) CGM gas within groups and compare them to CGM metallicities of 47 isolated galaxies. Both group and isolated CGM metallicities span a wide range (-2<[Si/H]<0), where the mean group (-0.54{pm}0.22) and isolated (-0.77{pm}0.14) CGM metallicities are similar. Group and isolated environments have similar distributions of HI column densities as a function of impact parameter. However, contrary to isolated galaxies, we do not find an anticorrelation between HI column density and the nearest group galaxy impact parameter. We additionally divided the groups by member luminosity ratios (i.e., galaxy-galaxy and galaxy-dwarf groups). While there was no significant difference in their mean metallicities, a modest increase in sample size should allow one to statistically identify a higher CGM metallicity in galaxy-dwarf groups compared to galaxy-galaxy groups. We conclude that either environmental effects have not played an important role in the metallicity of the CGM at this stage and expect that this may only occur when galaxies are strongly interacting or merging or that some isolated galaxies have higher CGM metallicities due to past interactions. Thus, environment does not seem to be the cause of the CGM metallicity bimodality.
17. Keck Lyman continuum spectroscopic survey (KLCS)
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/869/123
Title:
Keck Lyman continuum spectroscopic survey (KLCS)
Short Name:
J/ApJ/869/123
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present results of a deep spectroscopic survey quantifying the statistics of the escape of ionizing radiation from star-forming galaxies at z~3. We measure the ratio of ionizing to non-ionizing UV flux density <f_900_/f_1500_>_obs_, where f_900_ is the mean flux density evaluated over the range [880,910]{AA}. We quantify the emergent ratio of ionizing to non-ionizing UV flux density by analyzing high signal-to-noise ratio composite spectra formed from subsamples with common observed properties and numbers sufficient to reduce the statistical uncertainty in the modeled IGM+CGM correction to obtain precise values of <f_900_/f_1500_>_out_, including a full-sample average <f_900_/f_1500>_out_=0.057{+/-}0.006. We show that <f_900_/f_1500_>_out_ increases monotonically with W_{lambda}_(Ly{alpha}), inducing an inverse correlation with UV luminosity as a by-product. We fit the composite spectra using stellar spectral synthesis together with models of the ISM in which a fraction f_c_ of the stellar continuum is covered by gas with column density N_HI_. We show that the composite spectra simultaneously constrain the intrinsic properties of the stars (L_900_/L_1500_)_int_ along with f_c_, N_HI_, E(B-V), and f_esc,abs_, the absolute escape fraction of ionizing photons. We find a sample-averaged f_esc,abs_=0.09{+/-}0.01, with subsamples falling along a linear relation <f_esc,abs_>~0.75[W_{lambda}_(Ly{alpha})/110{AA}]. Using the far-UV luminosity function, the distribution function n(W(Ly{alpha})), and the relationship between W_{lambda}_(Ly{alpha}) and <f_900_/f_1500_>_out_, we estimate the total ionizing emissivity of z~3 star-forming galaxies with M_uv_<=-19.5, which exceeds the contribution of quasi-stellar objects by a factor of ~3, and accounts for ~50% of the total {epsilon}LyC at z~3 estimated using indirect methods.
18. KODIAQ DR3: 727 quasars (01.<zem<6.4) with ESI
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/161/45
Title:
KODIAQ DR3: 727 quasars (01.<zem<6.4) with ESI
Short Name:
J/AJ/161/45
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present and make publicly available the third data release (DR3) of the Keck Observatory Database of Ionized Absorption toward Quasars (KODIAQ) survey. KODIAQ DR3 consists of a fully reduced sample of 727 quasars at 0.1<zem<6.4 observed with the Echellette Sepctrograph and Imager at moderate resolution (4000<~R<~10000). DR3 contains 872 spectra available in flux calibrated form, representing a sum total exposure time of ~2.8 megaseconds. These coadded spectra arise from a total of 2753 individual exposures of quasars taken from the Keck Observatory Archive (KOA) in raw form and uniformly processed using a data reduction package made available through the XIDL distribution. DR3 is publicly available to the community, housed as a higher level science product at the KOA and in the igmspec database.
19. LAE cand. at z~5.7 in the field of QSO J0148+0600
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/863/92
Title:
LAE cand. at z~5.7 in the field of QSO J0148+0600
Short Name:
J/ApJ/863/92
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
The observed scatter in intergalactic Ly{alpha} opacity at z<~6 requires large-scale fluctuations in the neutral fraction of the intergalactic medium (IGM) after the expected end of reionization. Post-reionization models that explain this scatter invoke fluctuations in either the ionizing ultraviolet background (UVB) or IGM temperature. These models make very different predictions, however, for the relationship between Ly{alpha} opacity and local density. Here, we test these models using Ly{alpha}-emitting galaxies (LAEs) to trace the density field surrounding the longest and most opaque known Ly{alpha} trough at z<6. Using deep Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam narrowband imaging, we find a highly significant deficit of z~5.7 LAEs within 20h^-1^Mpc of the trough. The results are consistent with a model in which the scatter in Ly{alpha} opacity near z~6 is driven by large-scale UVB fluctuations, and disfavor a scenario in which the scatter is primarily driven by variations in IGM temperature. UVB fluctuations at this epoch present a boundary condition for reionization models, and may help shed light on the nature of the ionizing sources.
20. LAE candidates around bright Ly{alpha} blobs
ID:
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/845/172
Title:
LAE candidates around bright Ly{alpha} blobs
Short Name:
J/ApJ/845/172
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
Bright Ly{alpha} blobs (LABs)-extended nebulae with sizes of ~100kpc and Ly{alpha} luminosities of ~10^44^erg/s -- often reside in overdensities of compact Ly{alpha} emitters (LAEs) that may be galaxy protoclusters. The number density, variance, and internal kinematics of LABs suggest that they themselves trace group-like halos. Here, we test this hierarchical picture, presenting deep, wide-field Ly{alpha} narrowband imaging of a 1{deg}x0.5{deg} region around a LAB pair at z=2.3 discovered previously by a blind survey. We find 183 Ly{alpha} emitters, including the original LAB pair and three new LABs with Ly{alpha} luminosities of (0.9-1.3)x10^43^erg/s and isophotal areas of 16-24arcsec^2^. Using the LAEs as tracers and a new kernel density estimation method, we discover a large-scale overdensity (Bootes J1430+3522) with a surface density contrast of {delta}_{Sigma}_=2.7, a volume density contrast of {delta}~10.4, and a projected diameter of ~20 comoving Mpc. Comparing with cosmological simulations, we conclude that this LAE overdensity will evolve into a present-day Coma-like cluster with log(M/M_{sun}_)~15.1+/-0.2. In this and three other wide-field LAE surveys re-analyzed here, the extents and peak amplitudes of the largest LAE overdensities are similar, not increasing with survey size, and implying that they were indeed the largest structures then and today evolve into rich clusters. Intriguingly, LABs favor the outskirts of the densest LAE concentrations, i.e., intermediate LAE overdensities of {delta}_{Sigma}_=1-2. We speculate that these LABs mark infalling protogroups being accreted by the more massive protocluster.

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