Marcel Neeleman

THE FUNDAMENTAL PLANE OF DAMPED Lyα SYSTEMS

Using a sample of 100 H I-selected damped Lyα (DLA) systems, observed with the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer on the Keck I telescope, we present evidence that the scatter in the well-studied correlation between the redshift and metallicity of a DLA is largely due to the existence of a mass-metallicity relationship at each redshift. To describe the fundamental relations that exist between redshift, metallicity, and mass, we use a fundamental plane description, which is described by the following equation: [M/H] = (– 1.9 ± 0.5) + (0.74 ± 0.21) centerdot logΔv_90 – (0.32 ± 0.06) centerdot z. Here, we assert that the velocity width, Δv_90, which is defined as the velocity interval containing 90% of the integrated optical depth, traces the mass of the underlying dark matter halo. This description provides two significant improvements over the individual descriptions of the mass-metallicity correlation and metallicity-redshift correlation. Firstly, the fundamental equation reduces the scatter around both relationships by about 20%, providing a more stringent constraint on numerical simulations modeling DLAs. Secondly, it confirms that the dark matter halos that host DLAs satisfy a mass-metallicity relationship at each redshift between redshifts 2 through 5.

THE RAPID DECLINE IN METALLICITY OF DAMPED Lyα SYSTEMS AT z ∼ 5

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 6σ deviant from that predicted by a linear fit to the data at lower redshifts. This measurement is made possible by the chemical abundance measurements of eight new damped Lyα (DLA) systems at z > 4.7 observed with the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager on the Keck II Telescope, doubling the number of measurements at z > 4.7 to 16. Possible explanations for this sudden decrease in metallicity include a change in the physical processes that enrich the neutral gas within disks, or an increase of the covering factor of neutral gas outside disks due to a lower ultraviolet radiation field and higher density at high redshift. The later possibility would result in a new population of presumably lower metallicity DLAs, with an increased contribution to the DLA population at higher redshifts resulting in a reduced mean metallicity. Furthermore, we provide evidence of a possible decrease at z > 4.7 in the comoving metal mass density of DLAs, ρ_(metals)(z)_(DLA), which is flat out to z ~ 4.3. Such a decrease is expected, as otherwise most of the metals from star-forming galaxies would reside in DLAs by z ~ 6. While the metallicity is decreasing at high redshift, the contribution of DLAs to the total metal budget of the universe increases with redshift, with DLAs at z ~ 4.3 accounting for ~20% as many metals as produced by Lyman break galaxies.

Reproducing the kinematics of damped Lyman α systems

We examine the kinematic structure of Damped Lyman- Systems (DLAs) in a series of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations using the AREPO code. We are able to match the distribution of velocity widths of associated low ionisation metal absorbers substantially better than earlier work. Our simulations produce a population of DLAs dominated by halos with virial velocities around 70 km s 1 , consistent with a picture of relatively small, faint objects. In addition, we reproduce the observed correlation between velocity width and metallicity and the equivalent width distribution of SiII. Some discrepancies of moderate statistical signicance remain; too many of our spectra show absorption concentrated at the edge of the prole and there are slight dierences in the exact shape of the velocity width distribution. We show that the improvement over previous work is mostly due to our strong feedback from star formation and our detailed modelling of the metal ionisation state.

THE H i CONTENT OF THE UNIVERSE OVER THE PAST 10 GYR

We use the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archive of ultraviolet (UV) quasar spectroscopy to conduct the first blind survey for damped Ly-alpha absorbers (DLAs) at low redshift (z = 10^20.3cm-2, which implies an incidence per absorption length, l(X)= 0.017(+0.014-0.008) at a median survey path redshift of z=0.623. While our estimate of l(X) is lower than earlier estimates at z ~ 0 from HI 21cm emission studies, the results are consistent within the measurement uncertainties. Our dataset is too small to properly sample the N(HI) frequency distribution function f(N(HI),X), but the observed distribution agrees with previous estimates at z > 2. Adopting the z > 2 shape of f(N(HI),X), we infer an HI mass density at z ~ 0.6 of rho_HI = 0.25(+0.20-0.12) x 10^8 Msol Mpc-3. This is significantly lower than previous estimates from targeted DLA surveys with the HST, but consistent with results from low-z HI 21cm observations, and suggests that the neutral gas density of the universe has been decreasing over the past 10 Gyrs.

Probing the Physical Conditions of Atomic Gas at High Redshift

A new method is used to measure the physical conditions of the gas in damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs). Using high resolution absorption spectra of a sample of 80 DLAs, we are able to measure the ratio of the upper to lower fine-structure levels of the ground state of C II and Si II. These ratios are determined solely by the physical conditions of the gas. We explore the allowed physical parameter space using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain method to constrain simultaneously the temperature, neutral hydrogen density, and electron density of each DLA. The results indicate that at least 5 % of all DLAs have the bulk of their gas in a dense, cold phase with typical densities of ~100 cm-3 and temperatures below 500 K. We further find that the typical pressure of DLAs in our sample is log(P/k) = 3.4 [K cm-3], which is comparable to the pressure of the local interstellar medium (ISM), and that the components containing the bulk of the neutral gas can be quite small with absorption sizes as small as a few parsec. We show that the majority of the systems are consistent with having densities significantly higher than expected from a purely canonical WNM, indicating that significant quantities of dense gas (i.e. n_H > 0.1 cm-3) are required to match observations. Finally, we identify 8 systems with positive detections of Si II*. These systems have pressures (P/k) in excess of 20000 K cm-3, which suggest that these systems tag a highly turbulent ISM in young, star-forming galaxies.

[C ii] 158-μm emission from the host galaxies of damped Lyman-alpha systems

Gas emission lines from damped Lyman-α systems probe galaxy evolution in the early universe. Identifying the hosts of quasar absorbers If the line of sight from Earth to a distant quasar passes through foreground material, some of the quasars light is absorbed. If a galaxy-sized quantity of gas intervenes, it forms a damped Lyman α system (DLA), visible as absorption lines in the quasar spectrum. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, Neeleman et al. observed two quasars with known DLAs. They detected emission from gas and dust in two foreground galaxies associated with the DLAs and were able to measure their star-formation rates. Combining these different tracers of DLAs will help us understand how galaxies evolved in the early universe. Science, this issue p. 1285 Gas surrounding high-redshift galaxies has been studied through observations of absorption line systems toward background quasars for decades. However, it has proven difficult to identify and characterize the galaxies associated with these absorbers due to the intrinsic faintness of the galaxies compared with the quasars at optical wavelengths. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, we report on detections of [C ii] 158-μm line and dust-continuum emission from two galaxies associated with two such absorbers at a redshift of z ~ 4. Our results indicate that the hosts of these high-metallicity absorbers have physical properties similar to massive star-forming galaxies and are embedded in enriched neutral hydrogen gas reservoirs that extend well beyond the star-forming interstellar medium of these galaxies.

The Most Metal-rich Damped Lyα Systems at z ≳ 1.5 I: The Data

We present HIRES observations for 30 damped Lyman alpha systems, selected on the basis of their large metal column densities from previous, lower resolution data. The measured metal column densities for Fe, Zn, S, Si, Cr, Mn, and Ni are provided for these 30 systems. Combined with previously observed large metal column density damped Lyman alpha systems, we present a sample of 44 damped Lyman alpha systems observed with high resolution spectrographs (R~30000). These damped Lyman alpha systems probe the most chemically evolved systems at redshifts greater than 1.5. We discuss the context of our sample with the general damped Lyman alpha population, demonstrating that we are probing the top 10% of metal column densities with our sample. In a companion paper, we will present an analysis of the samples elemental abundances in the context of galactic chemical enrichment.

The most metal-rich damped Lyman alpha systems at z>1.5 I: The Data

We present HIRES observations for 30 damped Lyman alpha systems, selected on the basis of their large metal column densities from previous, lower resolution data. The measured metal column densities for Fe, Zn, S, Si, Cr, Mn, and Ni are provided for these 30 systems. Combined with previously observed large metal column density damped Lyman alpha systems, we present a sample of 44 damped Lyman alpha systems observed with high resolution spectrographs (R~30000). These damped Lyman alpha systems probe the most chemically evolved systems at redshifts greater than 1.5. We discuss the context of our sample with the general damped Lyman alpha population, demonstrating that we are probing the top 10% of metal column densities with our sample. In a companion paper, we will present an analysis of the samples elemental abundances in the context of galactic chemical enrichment.

FIRST CONNECTION BETWEEN COLD GAS IN EMISSION AND ABSORPTION: CO EMISSION FROM A GALAXY–QUASAR PAIR

We present the first detection of molecular emission from a galaxy selected to be near a projected background quasar using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The ALMA detection of CO(1

ALMA + VLT observations of a damped Lyman-α absorbing galaxy: massive, wide CO emission, gas-rich but with very low SFR

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