Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

A New H I 21 Centimeter Absorber Associated with the H I Deficient Interacting Galaxies G0248+430

FREE

Chorng-Yuan Hwang1 and Shwu-Huey Chiou1

Show affiliations


We present high-resolution (~2'') H I 21 cm and CO(1-0) observations of the quasar (QSO) galaxy pair 0248+430. The QSO Q0248+430 (zem = 1.313) has been found to show two metal absorption-line systems at redshifts za ~ 0.052, which are consistent with the redshift of a foreground luminous infrared galaxy 15'' (~11 h-1 kpc) away. In our observations, the CO emission of this foreground galaxy, G0248+430, shows broad velocity distribution (~173 km s-1) but is spatially confined to a small unresolved region less than 1.5 × 1.5 h-1 kpc; the H2 mass based on the traditional conversion factor is ≈1010 Msun, which is approximately 30 times the H2 mass within a similar region of the Milky Way. On the other hand, no significant H I 21 cm emission is found in the foreground galaxy; the mass of the neutral atomic hydrogen is less than 6 × 108 Msun. Toward the QSO we discover a new H I 21 cm absorber with img1.gif τ dv ~ 0.26 km s-1 at the redshift of one of the metal absorption components; however, we did not detect significant CO(1-0) absorption toward the QSO. The H I column density is large enough for the absorber to be classified as a damped Lyα system. We also derive the H I mass and spin temperature for this metal-line absorption system. We discuss the relation of this H I absorber and the depletion of the H I in the foreground galaxy. We find that this H I absorber has very high metal abundance and is intrinsically different from the normal damped Lyα absorption systems, although both have similar spin temperatures and hydrogen column densities.


Subject headings

galaxies: interactions; galaxies: starburst; quasars: absorption lines; quasars: individual (Q0248+430); radio lines: galaxies


Dates

Issue 1 (2004 January 1)

Received 2003 May 21, accepted for publication 2003 September 12



View by subject




Export






Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.