Abstract
We have completed spectroscopic observations using LRIS on the Keck 1 telescope of 30 very high redshift quasars, 11 selected for the presence of damped Lyα absorption systems and 19 with redshifts z > 3.5 not previously surveyed for absorption systems. We have surveyed an additional 10 QSOs with the Lick 120'' and the Anglo-Australian Telescope. We have combined these with previous data, resulting in a statistical sample of 646 QSOs and 85 damped Lyα absorbers with column densities N
≥ 2 × 1020 atoms cm-2 covering the redshift range 0.008 ≤ z ≤ 4.694. Four main features of how the neutral gas in the universe evolves with redshift are evident from these data.
Export citation and abstract BibTeX RIS
Footnotes
- *
Some of the observations presented here were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. Observations were also made using the 3.9 m Anglo-Australian Telescope at the Anglo-Australian Observatory and the Shane 3 m Telescope at the Lick Observatory.
References
- Fukugita, M., Hogan, C. J., & Peebles, P. J. E. 1998, ApJ, 503, 518
- Haehnelt, M. G., Steinmetz, M., & Rauch, M. 1998, ApJ, 495, 647
- Jannuzi, B. T., et al. 1998, ApJS, 118, 1
- Le Brun, V., Bergeron, J., Boisse, P., & Deharveng, J. M. 1997, A&A, 321, 733
- Lu, L., Sargent, W. L. W., Womble, D. S., & Barlow, T. A. 1996, ApJ, 457, L1
- Oke, J. B., et al. 1995, PASP, 107, 375
- Pei, Y. C., Fall, S. M., & Hauser, M. G. 1999, ApJ, 522, 604
- Pettini, M., Ellison, S. L., Steidel, C. C., & Bowen, D. V. 1999, ApJ, 510, 576
- Pettini, M., Smith, L. J., King, D. L., & Hunstead, R. W. 1997, ApJ, 486, 665
- Prochaska, J. X., & Wolfe, A. M. 1997, ApJ, 487, 73
- Prochaska, J. X., & Wolfe, A. M. 1998a, ApJ, 494, L15
- Prochaska, J. X., & Wolfe, A. M. 1998b, ApJ, 507, 113
- Prochaska, J. X., & Wolfe, A. M. 1999, ApJS, 121, 369
- Rao, S. M., & Turnshek, D. A. 1998, ApJ, 500, L115
- Rao, S. M., & Turnshek, D. A. 2000, ApJ, in press
- Savaglio, S., D'Odorico, S., & Moller, P. 1994, A&A, 281, 331
- Storrie-Lombardi, L. J., & Hook, I. M. 2000, ApJS, submitted
- Zwaan, M. A., Briggs, F. H., Sprayberry, D., & Sorar, E. 1997, ApJ, 490, 173
Citations
-
Spitzer's View of the Candidate Cluster and Protocluster Catalog (CCPC)
J. R. Franck and S. S. McGaugh 2017 The Astrophysical Journal 836 136 -
Exploring Damped Lyα System Host Galaxies Using Gamma-Ray Bursts
Vicki L. Toy et al. 2016 The Astrophysical Journal 832 175 -
Discovery of a Damped Ly Absorber at z = 3.3 along a Galaxy Sight-line in the SSA22 Field
K. Mawatari et al. 2016 The Astrophysical Journal 817 161 -
The Candidate Cluster and Protocluster Catalog (CCPC) of Spectroscopically Identified Structures Spanning 2.74 < z < 3.71
J. R. Franck and S. S. McGaugh 2016 The Astrophysical Journal 817 158 -
Dissecting the Gaseous Halos of z ~ Damped Lyα Systems with Close Quasar Pairs
Kate H. R. Rubin et al. 2015 The Astrophysical Journal 808 38 -
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Sub-damped Lyα Absorbers at z < 0.5, and Implications for Galaxy Chemical Evolution
Debopam Som et al. 2015 The Astrophysical Journal 806 25 -
Atomic Data for Zn II: Improving Spectral Diagnostics of Chemical Evolution in High-redshift Galaxies
Romas Kisielius et al. 2015 The Astrophysical Journal 804 76 -
Interstellar Silicate Dust in the z = 0.685 Absorber Toward TXS 0218+357
Monique C. Aller et al. 2014 The Astrophysical Journal 785 36 -
Atomic Data for S II—Toward Better Diagnostics of Chemical Evolution in High-redshift Galaxies
Romas Kisielius et al. 2014 The Astrophysical Journal 780 76 -
The redshift number density evolution of Mg II absorption systems
Zhi-Fu Chen 2013 Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics 13 641 -
On the Origin of the High Column Density Turnover in the H I Column Density Distribution
Denis Erkal et al. 2012 The Astrophysical Journal 761 54 -
Measuring Baryon Acoustic Oscillations on 21 cm Intensity Fluctuations at Moderate Redshifts
Xiao-Chun Mao 2012 The Astrophysical Journal 752 80 -
A Super-damped Lyα Quasi-stellar Object Absorber at z = 2.2
Varsha P. Kulkarni et al. 2012 The Astrophysical Journal 749 176 -
The Nature of Damped Lyα Systems and Their Hosts in the Standard Cold Dark Matter Universe
Renyue Cen 2012 The Astrophysical Journal 748 121 -
Interstellar Silicate Dust in the z = 0.89 Absorber toward PKS 1830-211: Crystalline Silicates at High Redshift?
Monique C. Aller et al. 2012 The Astrophysical Journal 748 19 -
Near-Infrared Imaging of Six Metal-rich Quasar Absorber Galaxy Fields
Lorrie A. Straka et al. 2011 The Astronomical Journal 141 206 -
The First Observations of Low-redshift Damped Lyα Systems with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph
J. D. Meiring et al. 2011 The Astrophysical Journal 732 35 -
GALEX Far-ultraviolet Color Selection of UV-bright High-redshift Quasars
Gábor Worseck and J. Xavier Prochaska 2011 The Astrophysical Journal 728 23 -
Deep 21 cm H I Observations at z 0.1: The Precursor to the Arecibo Ultra Deep Survey
Wolfram Freudling et al. 2011 The Astrophysical Journal 727 40 -
A Search for Galaxies Producing Metal-Rich Quasar Absorbers
Lorrie A. Straka et al. 2010 The Astronomical Journal 139 1144 -
The Evolution of Lyman Limit Absorption Systems to Redshift Six
Antoinette Songaila and Lennox L. Cowie 2010 The Astrophysical Journal 721 1448 -
Host Galaxies of z = 4 Quasars
K. K. McLeod and Jill Bechtold 2009 The Astrophysical Journal 704 415 -
On the (Non)Evolution of H I Gas in Galaxies Over Cosmic Time
J. Xavier Prochaska and Arthur M. Wolfe 2009 The Astrophysical Journal 696 1543 -
Bimodality in Damped Lyα Systems
Arthur M. Wolfe et al. 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 681 881 -
A Population of Faint Extended Line Emitters and the Host Galaxies of Optically Thick QSO Absorption Systems
Michael Rauch et al. 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 681 856 -
Supersolar Metallicity in Weak Mg II Absorption Systems at z ~ 1.7
Toru Misawa et al. 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 679 220 -
The SDSS-DR5 Survey for Proximate Damped Lyα Systems
Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 675 1002 -
High-Redshift QSOs in the SWIRE Survey and the z~3 QSO Luminosity Function
Brian Siana et al. 2008 The Astrophysical Journal 675 49 -
Spectroscopic Analysis of H I Absorption-Line Systems in 40 HIRES Quasars
Toru Misawa et al. 2007 The Astronomical Journal 134 1634 -
New Constraints on the Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction at z ~ 1.3
Brian Siana et al. 2007 The Astrophysical Journal 668 62 -
The Role of Sub-Damped Lyα Absorbers in the Cosmic Evolution of Metals
V. P. Kulkarni et al. 2007 The Astrophysical Journal 661 88 -
Distribution of Damped Lyα Absorbers in a Λ Cold Dark Matter Universe
Kentaro Nagamine et al. 2007 The Astrophysical Journal 660 945 -
Galaxies in Front of Quasars: Markarian 1456 and SDSS J114719.90+522923.2
Brigitte König et al. 2006 The Astronomical Journal 132 1844 -
Survey for Galaxies Associated with z ~ 3 Damped Lyα Systems. II. Galaxy-Absorber Correlation Functions
Jeff Cooke et al. 2006 The Astrophysical Journal 652 994 -
Detectability of [C II] 158 μm Emission from High-Redshift Galaxies: Predictions for ALMA and SPICA
Kentaro Nagamine et al. 2006 The Astrophysical Journal 647 60 -
On the Importance of Local Sources of Radiation for Quasar Absorption Line Systems
Joop Schaye 2006 The Astrophysical Journal 643 59 -
Discovery of Excess O I Absorption toward the z=6.42 QSO SDSS J1148+5251
George D. Becker et al. 2006 The Astrophysical Journal 640 69 -
Damped Lyα Systems at z < 1.65: The Expanded Sloan Digital Sky Survey Hubble Space Telescope Sample
Sandhya M. Rao et al. 2006 The Astrophysical Journal 636 610 -
Cold Neutral Gas in a z = 4.2 Damped Lyα System: Fuel for Star Formation
J. Christopher Howk et al. 2005 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 622 L81 -
On the Importance of Local Sources of Radiation in Cosmological Absorption Systems
Jordi Miralda-Escudé 2005 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 620 L91 -
Elemental Abundances in Two High Column Density Damped Lyα Systems at z < 1.5
Sandhya M. Rao et al. 2005 The Astronomical Journal 129 9 -
The SDSS Damped Lyα Survey: Data Release 3
Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 635 123 -
Molecular Hydrogen in the Damped Lyα Absorber of Q1331+170
Jun Cui et al. 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 633 649 -
Improved Constraints on the Neutral Intergalactic Hydrogen Surrounding Quasars at Redshifts z > 6
J. Stuart B. Wyithe et al. 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 628 575 -
Metallicity and H I Column Density Properties of Damped Lyα Systems
J. L. Hou et al. 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 624 561 -
On Detecting the X-Ray Silhouette of a Damped Lyα System
Mark Dijkstra et al. 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 624 85 -
Damped Lyα Absorbing Galaxies at Low Redshifts z ≤ 1 from Hierarchical Galaxy Formation Models
Katsuya Okoshi and Masahiro Nagashima 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 623 99 -
Survey for Galaxies Associated with z ~ 3 Damped Lyα Systems. I. Spectroscopic Calibration of u'BVRI Photometric Selection
Jeff Cooke et al. 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 621 596 -
Radio Afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts and Hypernovae at High Redshift and Their Potential for 21 Centimeter Absorption Studies
Kunihito Ioka and Peter Mészáros 2005 The Astrophysical Journal 619 684 -
Double-damped Lyα Absorption: A Possible Large Neutral Hydrogen Gas Filament near Redshift z = 1
David A. Turnshek et al. 2004 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 609 L53 -
The 1000 Brightest HIPASS Galaxies: H I Properties
B. S. Koribalski et al. 2004 The Astronomical Journal 128 16 -
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Damped Lyα Survey: Data Release 1
Jason X. Prochaska and Stephane Herbert‐Fort 2004 Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 116 622 -
Cosmological Parameters σ8, the Baryon Density Ωb, the Vacuum Energy Density ΩΛ, the Hubble Constant and the UV Background Intensity from a Calibrated Measurement of H I Lyα Absorption at z = 1.9
David Tytler et al. 2004 The Astrophysical Journal 617 1 -
On the Nature of the Heat Source for Damped Lyα Systems
Arthur M. Wolfe et al. 2004 The Astrophysical Journal 615 625 -
The Number Density of 0.6 < z < 1.7 Mg II Systems from CORALS: Observational Biases at Intermediate Redshift
Sara L. Ellison et al. 2004 The Astrophysical Journal 615 118 -
The Distribution of Metallicity in the Intergalactic Medium at z ~ 2.5: O VI and C IV Absorption in the Spectra of Seven QSOs
Robert A. Simcoe et al. 2004 The Astrophysical Journal 606 92 -
Chemical Enrichment in Damped Lyα Systems from Hierarchical Galaxy Formation Models
Katsuya Okoshi et al. 2004 The Astrophysical Journal 603 12 -
The Gemini Deep Deep Survey. II. Metals in Star-forming Galaxies at Redshift 1.3 < z < 2
S. Savaglio et al. 2004 The Astrophysical Journal 602 51 -
The Age-Metallicity Relation of the Universe in Neutral Gas: The First 100 Damped Lyα Systems
Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 595 L9 -
Damped Lyα Gas Metallicities at Redshifts z = 0.9-2.0 from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Spectra
Daniel B. Nestor et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 595 L5 -
Imaging and Spectroscopy of Galaxies Associated with Two z ~ 0.7 Damped Lyα Absorption Systems
Mark Lacy et al. 2003 The Astronomical Journal 126 2230 -
The 1000 Brightest HIPASS Galaxies: The H I Mass Function and ΩH I
M. A. Zwaan et al. 2003 The Astronomical Journal 125 2842 -
New Damped Lyα Metallicities from Echellette Spectrograph and Imager Spectroscopy of Five Palomar Sky Survey Quasars
Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 148 317 -
The ESI/Keck II Damped Lyα Abundance Database
Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 147 227 -
Metallicity Evolution of Damped Lyα Systems in ΛCDM Cosmology
Renyue Cen et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal 598 741 -
The Nature of Damped Lyα Absorbing Galaxies at z ≤ 1: A Photometric Redshift Survey of Damped Lyα Absorbers
Hsiao-Wen Chen and Kenneth M. Lanzetta 2003 The Astrophysical Journal 597 706 -
Very High Column Density and Small Reddening toward GRB 020124 at z = 3.20
J. Hjorth et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal 597 699 -
C II* Absorption in Damped Lyα Systems. II. A New Window on the Star Formation History of the Universe
Arthur M. Wolfe et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal 593 235 -
C II* Absorption in Damped Lyα Systems. I. Star Formation Rates in a Two-Phase Medium
Arthur M. Wolfe et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal 593 215 -
The Influence of Ωb on High-Redshift Structure
Jeffrey P. Gardner et al. 2003 The Astrophysical Journal 587 1 -
The Contribution of H I-rich Galaxies to the Damped Lyα Absorber Population at z = 0
Jessica L. Rosenberg and Stephen E. Schneider 2003 The Astrophysical Journal 585 256 -
The Nondamped Nature of 12 Low-Redshift Damped Lyα Candidate Systems
David A. Turnshek and Sandhya M. Rao 2002 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 572 L7 -
Self-shielding Effects on the Column Density Distribution of Damped Lyα Systems
Zheng Zheng and Jordi Miralda-Escudé 2002 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 568 L71 -
Galaxies Associated with z ~ 4 Damped Lyα Systems. I. Imaging and Photometric Selection
Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2002 The Astronomical Journal 123 2206 -
C IV and other Metal Absorption Line Systems in 18 z = 4 Quasars
Toru Misawa et al. 2002 The Astronomical Journal 123 1847 -
The UCSD HIRES/Keck I Damped Lyα Abundance Database. IV. Probing Galactic Enrichment Histories with Nitrogen
Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2002 Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 114 933 -
Astrophysics in 2001
Virginia Trimble and Markus J. Aschwanden 2002 Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 114 475 -
H I 21 Centimeter Absorption beyond the Epoch of Reionization
C. L. Carilli et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 577 22 -
Mg II Absorption Lines in z=2.974 Damped Lyα System toward Gravitationally Lensed QSO APM 08279+5255: Detection of Small-Scale Structure in Mg II Absorbing Clouds
Naoto Kobayashi et al. 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 569 676 -
The Effects of an Ionizing Background on the H I Column Density Distribution in the Local Universe
Edvige Corbelli and Rino Bandiera 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 567 712 -
The UCSD HIRES/Keck I Damped Lyα Abundance Database. II. The Implications
Jason X. Prochaska and Arthur M. Wolfe 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 566 68 -
NICMOS Snapshot Survey of Damped Lyα Quasars
James W. Colbert and Matthew A. Malkan 2002 The Astrophysical Journal 566 51 -
On the Relation between High-Redshift Starburst Galaxies and Damped Lyα Systems
Joop Schaye 2001 The Astrophysical Journal Letters 559 L1 -
Absorption Systems in the Spectra of 66 z 4 Quasars
Céline Péroux et al. 2001 The Astronomical Journal 121 1799 -
The UCSD HIRES/Keck I Damped Lyα Abundance Database. I. The Data
Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2001 The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 137 21 -
First Investigation of the Clustering Environment of Damped Lyα Absorbers at z 4
Eric Gawiser et al. 2001 The Astrophysical Journal 562 628 -
Chandra Detection of X-Ray Absorption Associated with a Damped Lyα System
Jill Bechtold et al. 2001 The Astrophysical Journal 562 133 -
Simulations of Damped Lyα and Lyman Limit Absorbers in Different Cosmologies: Implications for Structure Formation at High Redshift
Jeffrey P. Gardner et al. 2001 The Astrophysical Journal 559 131 -
Using Gravitational Lensing to Study H I Clouds at High Redshift
Tarun Deep Saini et al. 2001 The Astrophysical Journal 557 421 -
Galactic Chemical Abundances at z > 3. I. First Results from the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager
Jason X. Prochaska et al. 2001 The Astrophysical Journal 552 99 -
A Comprehensive Statistical Analysis of the Gas Distribution in Lyman Limit and Damped Lyα Absorption Systems
Rino Bandiera and Edvige Corbelli 2001 The Astrophysical Journal 552 386 -
Sharp H I Edges at High z: The Gas Distribution from Damped Lyα to Lyman Limit Absorption Systems
Edvige Corbelli et al. 2001 The Astrophysical Journal 550 26