The Distribution of High‐Redshift Galaxy Colors: Line‐of‐Sight Variations in Neutral Hydrogen Absorption

1999 ◽  
Vol 518 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Bershady ◽  
Jane C. Charlton ◽  
Janet M. Geoffroy
2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Francis ◽  
Greg M. Wilson ◽  
Bruce E. Woodgate

AbstractFrancis & Hewett (1993) identified two 10 Mpc-scale regions of the high-redshift universe that were seemingly very overdense in neutral hydrogen. Subsequent observations showed that at least one of these gas-rich regions enveloped a cluster of galaxies at redshift 2 ·38. We present improved observations of the three background QSOs with sightlines passing within a few Mpc of this cluster of galaxies. All three QSOs show strong neutral hydrogen absorption at the cluster redshift, suggesting that this cluster (and perhaps all high-redshift clusters) may be surrounded by a ~5 Mpc-scale region containing ~10 12 Mʘ of neutral gas. We show that if most high-redshift clusters are surrounded by such regions, the gas must be in the form of many small (<1 kpc), dense (> 0·03 cm ˗3 ) clouds, each of mass <10 6 Mʘ . These clouds are themselves probably gathered into >20 kpc-sized clumps, which may be galaxy halos or protogalaxies. If this gas exists, it will be partially photoionised by the UV background. We predict the diffuse Lyα flux from this photoionisation, and place observational limits on its intensity.


1990 ◽  
Vol 124 ◽  
pp. 473-477
Author(s):  
C.L. Carilli ◽  
J.H. van Gorkom ◽  
E.M. Hauxthausen ◽  
J.T. Stocke ◽  
J. Salzer

There are a number of known quasars for which our line of sight to the high redshift quasar passes within a few Holmberg radii of a low redshift galaxy. In a few of these cases, spectra of the quasar reveal absorption by gas associated with the low redshift galaxy. A number of these pairs imply absorption by gas which lies well outside the optical disk of the associated galaxy, leading to models of galaxies with ‘halos’ or ‘disks’ of gas extending to large radii. We present observations of 4 such pairs. In three of the four cases, we find that the associated galaxy is highly disturbed, typically due to a gravitational interaction with a companion galaxy, while in the fourth case the absorption can be explained by clouds in the optical disk of the associated galaxy. We are led to an alternative hypothesis concerning the origin of the low redshift absorption line systems: the absorption is by gas clouds which have been gravitationally stripped from the associated galaxy. These galaxies are rapidly evolving, and should not be used as examples of absorption by clouds in halos of field spirals. We conclude by considering the role extended gas in interacting systems plays in the origin of higher redshift quasar absorption line systems.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S352) ◽  
pp. 69-69
Author(s):  
Anne Hutter

AbstractReionization represents an important epoch in the history in the Universe, when the first stars and galaxies gradually ionize the neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM). Understanding the nature of the ionizing sources, the associated ionization of the IGM, and its impact on subsequent structure formation and galaxy evolution by means of radiative feedback effects, represent key outstanding questions in current astrophysics. High-redshift galaxy observations and simulations have significantly extended our knowledge on the nature of high-redshift galaxies. However, essential properties such as the escape fraction of ionizing photons from galaxies into the IGM and their dependency on galactic properties remain essentially unknown, but determine significantly the distribution and time evolution of the ionized regions during reionization. Analyzing this ionization topology by means of the neutral hydrogen sensitive 21cm signal with radio interferometers such as SKA offers a complementary and unique opportunity to determine the nature of these first galaxies. I will show results from a self-consistent semi-numerical model of galaxy evolution and reionization, and discuss the potential of inferring galactic properties with the 21cm signal as well as the impact of reionization on the high-redshift galaxy population and its evolution.


2018 ◽  
Vol 619 ◽  
pp. A142 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-K. Krogager ◽  
P. Noterdaeme ◽  
J. M. O’Meara ◽  
M. Fumagalli ◽  
J. P. U. Fynbo ◽  
...  

We present a study of cold gas absorption from a damped Lyman-α absorber (DLA) at redshift zabs = 1.946 toward two lensed images of the quasar J144254.78+405535.5 at redshift zQSO = 2.590. The physical separation of the two lines of sight at the absorber redshift is dabs = 0.7 kpc according to our lens model. We observe absorption lines from neutral carbon and H2 along both lines of sight, indicating that cold gas is present on scales larger than dabs. We measure the column densities of H I to be log N(HI) = 20.27 ± 0.02 and 20.34 ± 0.05 and those of H2 to be log N(H2) = 19.7 ± 0.1 and 19.9 ± 0.2. The metallicity inferred from sulphur is consistent with solar metallicity for both sightlines: [S/H]A = 0.0 ± 0.1 and [S/H]B = −0.1 ± 0.1. Based on the excitation of low rotational levels of H2, we constrain the temperature of the cold gas phase to be T = 109 ± 20 and T = 89 ± 25 K for the two lines of sight. From the relative excitation of fine-structure levels of C I, we constrain the hydrogen volumetric densities to lie in the range of 40 − 110 cm−3. Based on the ratio of observed column density and volumetric density, we infer the average individual “cloud” size along the line of sight to be l ≈ 0.1 pc. Using the transverse line-of-sight separation of 0.7 kpc together with the individual cloud size, we are able to place an upper limit to the volume filling factor of cold gas of fvol < 0.1%. Nonetheless, the projected covering fraction of cold gas must be large (close to unity) over scales of a few kpc in order to explain the presence of cold gas in both lines of sight. Compared to the typical extent of DLAs (∼10 − 30 kpc), this is consistent with the relative incidence rate of C I absorbers and DLAs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (4) ◽  
pp. 3602-3613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lily R Whitler ◽  
Charlotte A Mason ◽  
Keven Ren ◽  
Mark Dijkstra ◽  
Andrei Mesinger ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The reionization of hydrogen is closely linked to the first structures in the Universe, so understanding the timeline of reionization promises to shed light on the nature of these early objects. In particular, transmission of Lyman alpha (Ly α) from galaxies through the intergalactic medium (IGM) is sensitive to neutral hydrogen in the IGM, so can be used to probe the reionization timeline. In this work, we implement an improved model of the galaxy UV luminosity to dark matter halo mass relation to infer the volume-averaged fraction of neutral hydrogen in the IGM from Ly α observations. Many models assume that UV-bright galaxies are hosted by massive dark matter haloes in overdense regions of the IGM, so reside in relatively large ionized regions. However, observations and N-body simulations indicate that scatter in the UV luminosity–halo mass relation is expected. Here, we model the scatter (though we assume the IGM topology is unaffected) and assess the impact on Ly α visibility during reionization. We show that UV luminosity–halo mass scatter reduces Ly α visibility compared to models without scatter, and that this is most significant for UV-bright galaxies. We then use our model with scatter to infer the neutral fraction, $\overline{x}_{\mathrm{ H}\,{\small I}}$, at z ∼ 7 using a sample of Lyman-break galaxies in legacy fields. We infer $\overline{x}_{\mathrm{ H}\,{\small I}} = 0.55_{-0.13}^{+0.11}$ with scatter, compared to $\overline{x}_{\mathrm{ H}\,{\small I}} = 0.59_{-0.14}^{+0.12}$ without scatter, a very slight decrease and consistent within the uncertainties. Finally, we place our results in the context of other constraints on the reionization timeline and discuss implications for future high-redshift galaxy studies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 491 (4) ◽  
pp. 4884-4893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avery Meiksin

ABSTRACT Under the assumption that galaxies and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) dominate the metagalactic ultraviolet (UV) background, it is shown that at high redshifts, fluctuations in the UV background are dominated by QSO shot noise and have an autocorrelation length of a few to several comoving Mpcs, depending on the bright end of the QSO luminosity function. The correlations create long-range spatial coherence in the neutral hydrogen fraction. Using a semi-analytic model, it is demonstrated that the coherence may account for the broad distribution in effective optical depths measured in the Lyα forest spectra of background QSOs, for line-of-sight segments of comoving length $50\, h^{-1}$ Mpc at redshifts 5 &lt; z &lt; 6. Capturing the fluctuations in a numerical simulation requires a comoving box size of ∼1 Gpc, although a box half this size may be adequate if sufficient random realizations of the QSO population are performed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 643 ◽  
pp. A6 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Cassata ◽  
L. Morselli ◽  
A. Faisst ◽  
M. Ginolfi ◽  
M. Béthermin ◽  
...  

Context. The Lyman-α line in the ultraviolet (UV) and the [CII] line in the far-infrared (FIR) are widely used tools to identify galaxies in the early Universe and to obtain insights into interstellar medium (ISM) properties in high-redshift galaxies. By combining data obtained with ALMA in band 7 at ∼320 GHz as part of the ALMA Large Program to INvestigate [CII] at Early Times (ALPINE) with spectroscopic data from DEIMOS at the Keck Observatory, VIMOS and FORS2 at the Very Large Telescope, we assembled a unique sample of 53 main-sequence star-forming galaxies at 4.4 <  z <  6 in which we detect both the Lyman-α line in the UV and the [CII] line in the FIR. Aims. The goal of this paper is to constrain the properties of the Lyα emission in these galaxies in relation to other properties of the ISM. Methods. We used [CII], observed with ALMA, as a tracer of the systemic velocity of the galaxies, and we exploited the available optical spectroscopy to obtain the Lyα-[CII] and ISM-[CII] velocity offsets. Results. We find that 90% of the selected objects have Lyα-[CII] velocity offsets in the range 0 <  ΔvLyα − [CII] <  400 km s−1, in line with the few measurements available so far in the early Universe, and significantly smaller than those observed at lower redshifts. At the same time, we observe ISM-[CII] offsets in the range −500 <  ΔvISM−[CII] <  0 km s−1, in line with values at all redshifts, which we interpret as evidence for outflows in these galaxies. We find significant anticorrelations between ΔvLyα−[CII] and the Lyα rest-frame equivalent width EW0(Lyα) (or equivalently, the Lyα escape fraction fesc(Lyα)): galaxies that show smaller ΔvLyα−[CII] have larger EW0(Lyα) and fesc(Lyα). Conclusions. We interpret these results in the framework of available models for the radiative transfer of Lyα photons. According to the models, the escape of Lyα photons would be favored in galaxies with high outflow velocities, producing large EW0(Lyα) and small ΔvLyα-[CII], in agreement with our observations. The uniform shell model would also predict that the Lyα escape in galaxies with slow outflows (0 <  vout <  300 km s−1) is mainly determined by the neutral hydrogen column density (NHI) along the line of sight, while the alternative model by Steidel et al. (2010, ApJ, 717, 289) would more highly favor a combination of NHI at the systemic velocity and covering fraction as driver of the Lyα escape. We suggest that the increase in Lyα escape that is observed in the literature between z ∼ 2 and z ∼ 6 is not due to a higher incidence of fast outflows at high redshift, but rather to a decrease in average NHI along the line of sight, or alternatively, a decrease in HI covering fraction.


1967 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 171-172
Author(s):  
Th. Schmidt-Kaler

The integralNHof neutral-hydrogen density along the line of sight is determined from the Kootwijk and Sydney surveys. The run ofNHwith galactic longitude agrees well with that of thermal continuous radiation and that of the optical surface brightness of the Milky Way.


2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (3) ◽  
pp. 4054-4067
Author(s):  
Steven Cunnington ◽  
Stefano Camera ◽  
Alkistis Pourtsidou

ABSTRACT Potential evidence for primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) is expected to lie in the largest scales mapped by cosmological surveys. Forthcoming 21 cm intensity mapping experiments will aim to probe these scales by surveying neutral hydrogen (H i) within galaxies. However, foreground signals dominate the 21 cm emission, meaning foreground cleaning is required to recover the cosmological signal. The effect this has is to damp the H i power spectrum on the largest scales, especially along the line of sight. Whilst there is agreement that this contamination is potentially problematic for probing PNG, it is yet to be fully explored and quantified. In this work, we carry out the first forecasts on fNL that incorporate simulated foreground maps that are removed using techniques employed in real data. Using an Monte Carlo Markov Chain analysis on an SKA1-MID-like survey, we demonstrate that foreground cleaned data recovers biased values [$f_{\rm NL}= -102.1_{-7.96}^{+8.39}$ (68 per cent CL)] on our fNL = 0 fiducial input. Introducing a model with fixed parameters for the foreground contamination allows us to recover unbiased results ($f_{\rm NL}= -2.94_{-11.9}^{+11.4}$). However, it is not clear that we will have sufficient understanding of foreground contamination to allow for such rigid models. Treating the main parameter $k_\parallel ^\text{FG}$ in our foreground model as a nuisance parameter and marginalizing over it, still recovers unbiased results but at the expense of larger errors ($f_{\rm NL}= 0.75^{+40.2}_{-44.5}$), which can only be reduced by imposing the Planck 2018 prior. Our results show that significant progress on understanding and controlling foreground removal effects is necessary for studying PNG with H i intensity mapping.


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