An integral field spectroscopic survey for high redshift damped Lyman-<i>α</i> galaxies

Christensen, L.; Wisotzki, L.; Roth, Martin; Sanchez, Sebastian Francisco Sanchez; Kelz, Andreas; Jahnke, K.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066410

Cited by 42 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 91 publications

(163 reference statements)

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“…Evidence for an anticorrelation between the impact parameter and the H i column density has been obtained by previous studies aimed to identify DLA host galaxies (Møller & Warren 1998; Christensen et al 2007). Similar results emerge from absorption‐line studies in QSO pairs or multiple images of lensed quasars (Monier, Turnshek & Rao 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Narrow‐band images from integral field unit (IFU) observations have the great advantage of providing both spatial and redshift information at the same time. Unfortunately, current instruments do not provide very high sensitivity at the short wavelengths needed to detect the Lyα line at z ∼ 2 (see Christensen et al 2007). A very promising technique to image high‐ z absorbers was proposed by O'Meara, Chen & Kaplan (2006), who considered imaging Mg ii absorbers at z ∼ 2.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Directly imaging damped Lyman α galaxies at z > 2 - I. Methodology and first results★

Fumagalli

O’Meara

Prochaska

et al. 2010

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We present the methodology for, and the first results from, a new imaging programme aimed at identifying and characterizing the host galaxies of damped Lyman α absorbers (DLAs) at z≳ 2. We target quasar sightlines with multiple optically thick H i absorbers and use the higher redshift system as a ‘blocking filter’ (via its Lyman‐limit absorption) to eliminate all far‐ultraviolet (FUV) emission from the quasar. This allows us to directly image the rest‐frame FUV continuum emission of the lower redshift DLA, without any quasar contamination and with no bias towards large impact parameters. We introduce a formalism based on galaxy number counts and Bayesian statistics with which we quantify the probability that a candidate is the DLA host galaxy. This method will allow the identification of a bona fide sample of DLAs that are too faint to be spectroscopically confirmed. The same formalism can be adopted to the study of other quasar absorption‐line systems (e.g. Mg ii absorbers). We have applied this imaging technique to two quasi‐stellar object sightlines. For the z∼ 2.69 DLA towards J073149+285449, a galaxy with impact parameter b= 1.54 arcsec = 11.89 h−172 kpc and an implied star formation rate (SFR) of ∼5 h−272 M⊙ yr−1 is identified as the most reliable candidate. In the case of the z∼ 2.92 DLA towards J211444−005533, no likely host is found down to a 3σ SFR limit of 1.4 h−272 M⊙ yr−1. Studying the H i column density as a function of the impact parameter, including six DLAs with known hosts from the literature, we find evidence that the observed H i distribution is more extended than what is generally predicted from numerical simulation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Directly imaging damped Lyman α galaxies at z > 2 - I. Methodology and first results★

Fumagalli

O’Meara

Prochaska

et al. 2010

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…Smith, Cohen & Bradley 1986;Møller & Warren 1993;Kulkarni et al 2001;Fumagalli et al 2014) and integral field spectroscopy (e.g. Christensen et al 2007;Péroux et al 2011;Bouché et al 2012;Jorgenson & Wolfe 2014). Despite the much larger number of systems being observed, between 1986 and 2010 the galaxy counterparts of only two bona fide DLAs were identified (Møller, Fynbo & Fall 2004; but see also Krogager et al 2012;Christensen et al 2014).…”

Section: Galaxy Counterparts Of Metal-rich Dlas 2739mentioning

confidence: 99%

Galaxy counterparts of metal-rich damped Lyα absorbers: the case of J205922.4−052842★

Hartoog

Fynbo

Kaper

et al. 2015

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. ABSTRACTWe present observations of three new sources in the European Southern Observatory VLT/Xshooter survey dedicated to the detection of the emitting counterparts of damped Lyα (DLA) systems towards bright quasars (QSOs). The aim is to bridge the observational gap between absorption (i.e. DLAs) and emission-selected galaxies at z ∼ 2.2-2.5, in order to get a more complete picture of (proto)galaxies around this epoch. The hypothesis is that because DLA galaxies fulfil metallicity-velocity width and luminosity-metallicity relations, highmetallicity DLAs are more likely to be detected in emission. The region around each QSO is covered with slits (1. We conclude that focusing on metal-rich DLAs is a good way to find counterparts, but the non-detections at high metallicity (e.g. that of the DLA in J105744.5+062914) show that there is not a one-to-one relationship, and cautions us to not naively apply the properties of the DLA counterparts to all metal-rich DLAs.

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“…Narrow band images have provided a few detections of Lyα emission (Smith et al 1989;Wolfe et al 1992;Møller & Warren 1993) as well as a few upper limits (Grove et al 2009) close to the sight lines of QSOs. Some candidate Lyα emitters are found at the redshift of the DLAs with integral field spectroscopy (Christensen et al 2007), while strong limits on the Lyα flux from DLA galaxies have been obtained with Fabry-Perot images (Kulkarni et al 2006). DLA galaxies are fainter and have smaller SFRs than typical LBGs (Fynbo et al 1999;Colbert & Malkan 2002;Wolfe & Chen 2006;Fynbo et al 2008).…”

Section: Strong H I Absorption Lines With Column Densities In the Dampedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering strong MgII absorbing galaxies

Christensen

Noterdaeme

Petitjean

et al. 2009

A&A

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Context. The nature of the galaxies that give rise to absorption lines, such as damped Lyman-α systems (DLAs) or strong Mg ii lines, in quasar spectra is difficult to investigate in emission. These galaxies can be very faint and located close to the lines of sight of the much brighter background quasars. Aims. Taking advantage of the total absorption of the QSO light bluewards of the Lyman limit of two DLAs at z > 3.4, we look for the continuum emission from intervening galaxies at z ≈ 2 that are identified via strong metal absorption lines. The Mg ii absorbers have equivalent width large enough to be potential DLA systems. Methods. Deep images are obtained with the FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph (FORS1) on the Very Large Telescope for the fields towards SDSS J110855+120953 and SDSS J140850+020522. These quasars have Mg ii absorption lines at z = 1.87 (W r (Mg ii) = 2.46 Å) and z = 1.98 (W r (Mg ii) = 1.89 Å), respectively, and each QSO has two intervening higher redshift DLAs at z > 3. The U and R bands of FORS1 lie blue and redwards of the Lyman limit of the background DLAs, allowing us to search for emission from the foreground galaxies directly along the lines of sight to the QSOs. Results. No galaxies are found close to the sight line of the QSO to a point source limit of U AB ∼ 28.0. In both fields, the closest objects lie at an impact parameter of ∼5 corresponding to ∼40 kpc in projection at z = 2, and have typical colours of star forming galaxies at that redshift. However, the currently available data do not allow us to confirm if the galaxies lie at the same redshifts as the absorption systems. A more extended structure is visible in the SDSS J14085+020522 field at an impact parameter of 0. 8 or 7 kpc. If these objects are at z ≈ 2 their luminosities are 0.03-0.04 L * in both fields. The star formation rates estimated from the UV flux are 0.5-0.6 M yr −1 , while the SFRs are half these values if the U band flux is due to Lyα emission alone. Conclusions. The non-detection of galaxies near to the line of sight is most likely explained by low metallicities and luminosities of the Mg ii galaxies. Alternatively, the Mg ii clouds are part of extended halos or in outflows from low-metallicity galaxies.

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An integral field spectroscopic survey for high redshift damped Lyman-α galaxies

Cited by 42 publications

References 91 publications

Directly imaging damped Lyman α galaxies at z > 2 - I. Methodology and first results★

Directly imaging damped Lyman α galaxies at z > 2 - I. Methodology and first results★

Galaxy counterparts of metal-rich damped Lyα absorbers: the case of J205922.4−052842★

Uncovering strong MgII absorbing galaxies

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