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Title: | Metals in the z ∼ 3 intergalactic medium: results from an ultra-high signal-to-noise ratio UVES quasar spectrum |
Author: | D'Odorico, V. Cristiani, S. Pomante, E. Carswell, R. F. Viel, Matteo Barai, P. Becker, G. D. Calura, F. Cupani, G. Fontanot, F. Haehnelt, M. G. Kim, T.-S. Miralda Escudé, Jordi Rorai, A. Tescari, E. Vanzella, E. |
Keywords: | Galàxies Quàsars Cosmologia Galaxies Quasars Cosmology |
Issue Date: | 26-Aug-2016 |
Publisher: | Royal Astronomical Society |
Abstract: | In this work, we investigate the abundance and distribution of metals in the intergalactic medium (IGM) at 〈z〉 ≃ 2.8 through the analysis of an ultra-high signal-to-noise ratio UVES spectrum of the quasar HE0940-1050. In the C IV forest, our deep spectrum is sensitive at 3σ to lines with column density down to log NCIV ≃ 11.4 and in 60 per cent of the considered redshift range down to ≃11.1. In our sample, all H I lines with log NHI ≥ 14.8 show an associated C IV absorption. In the range 14.0 ≤ log NHI < 14.8, 43 per cent of H I lines has an associated C IV absorption. At log NHI < 14.0, the detection rates drop to <10 per cent, possibly due to our sensitivity limits and not to an actual variation of the gas abundance properties. In the range log NHI ≥ 14, we observe a fraction of H I lines with detected C IV a factor of 2 larger than the fraction of H I lines lying in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of relatively bright Lyman-break galaxies hosted by dark matter haloes with 〈M〉 ∼ 1012 M⊙. The comparison of our results with the output of a grid of photoionization models and of two cosmological simulations implies that the volume filling factor of the IGM gas enriched to a metallicity logZ/Z⊙≳−3 logZ/Z⊙≳−3 should be of the order of ∼10-13 per cent. In conclusion, our results favour a scenario in which metals are found also outside the CGM of bright star-forming galaxies, possibly due to pollution by lower mass objects and/or to an early enrichment by the first sources. |
Note: | Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2161 |
It is part of: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2016, vol. 463, num. 3, p. 2690-2707 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2445/119259 |
Related resource: | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2161 |
ISSN: | 0035-8711 |
Appears in Collections: | Articles publicats en revistes (Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB)) Publicacions de projectes de recerca finançats per la UE |
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669447.pdf | 1.97 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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