Journal article
Metals in the z ~ 3 intergalactic medium: Results from an ultra-high signal-to-noise ratio UVES quasar spectrum
V D'Odorico, S Cristiani, E Pomante, RF Carswell, M Viel, P Barai, GD Becker, F Calura, G Cupani, F Fontanot, MG Haehnelt, TS Kim, J Miralda-Escude, A Rorai, E Tescari, E Vanzella
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | Published : 2016
Abstract
In this work, we investigate the abundance and distribution of metals in the intergalactic medium (IGM) at ≃ 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 3a 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 Hi 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 Hi lines has an associated Civ 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..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
This paper is based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope, Cerro Paranal, Chile - Programs 166.A-0106, 079.B-0469, 185.A-0745, 092.A-0170. We are indebted to an anonymous referee for helpful comments that clarified several points in the paper. VD is grateful to Gwen Rudie for sharing and adapting her results on the KBSS for Fig. 9. MV is supported by the ERC Starting Grant 'cosmoIGM' and PD51 IN-DARK grant. TSK acknowledges funding support from the ERC Starting Grant 'cosmoIGM', through grant GA-257670. MH was supported by the ERC Advanced Grant 320596 'The Emergence of Structure during the epoch of Reionisation'. PB is supported by the INAF PRIN-2014 grant 'Windy black holes combing galaxy evolution'. Parts of this research were conducted by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), through project number CE110001020.