Search

In this thesis, we designed an algorithm to provide robust selection criteria in the parameterspace of measured properties of quasars. Our method combines the prior knowledge of an expertobserver with what unsupervised machine learning understands about the underlying structures inthe data to get a data-driven boundary in the multi-dimensional parameter space of quasar physicalproperties. We did that by quantifying the dissimilarity of our target group to the majority of thequasars in our data set. Our versatile method can select a cluster of similar data points that arelocated in statistically significant lower-density regions of the parameter space. We could find morequasars in the class of extremely red quasars and show our new sample has even more exotic outflowbehavior. Our final selection produces three times more quasars with visually verified CIV broadabsorption line feature, which is the signature of outflow, than the previous extremely red quasarsample. Our method is very useful in selecting the most important follow-up targets for observingred quasars.In the second project, we could assemble the largest CIV absorption line catalogue todate. By providing a probability for the existence of absorption systems in a quasar spectrum thatviis a by-product of our Bayesian model selection and Gaussian Processes methods, we removed theneed for visual inspection which is essential in dealing with the upcoming surveys with millions ofspectra. After carefully validating our method by comparing a subset of the spectra inspected inthe largest visually inspected CIV catalog to what our method predicts, we could find 113,775 CIVabsorption systems with at least 95% confidence among 185,425 selected quasar spectra from SDSSDR12. We obtain a posterior distribution for column density, velocity dispersion, and absorptionredshift for each investigated spectrum which can be used to get the maximum a posteriori value andthe credible interval. Our method is specifically useful when we want to obtain information fromlow signal-to-noise ratio data.

We revisit the possibility of redshift evolution in the MBH-σ relation with a sample of 22 Seyfert 1 galaxies with black holes (BHs) in the mass range 6.3-8.3 (log10 MBH) and redshift range 0.03 < z < 0.57 with spectra obtained from spatially resolved Keck Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer observations. Stellar velocity dispersions were measured directly from the MgIb region, taking into consideration the effect of FeII contamination, active galactic nucleus (AGN) dilution, and host-galaxy morphology on our measurements. BH masses are estimated using the H-beta line width, and the luminosity at 5100 Å is estimated from surface brightness decomposition of the AGN from the host galaxy using high-resolution imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope. Our selection criteria allowed us to probe lower-luminosity AGNs and lower-mass BHs in the non-local universe than those measured in previous single-epoch studies. We find that any offset in the MBH-σ relation up to z~0.6 is consistent with the scatter of local BH masses, and address the sources of biases and uncertainties that contribute to this scatter.We also present Bayesian AGN Decomposition Analysis for SDSS Spectra (BADASS), an open source spectral analysis code designed for automatic detailed deconvolution of AGN and host galaxy spectra, implemented in Python, and designed for the next generation of large scale surveys. BADASS simultaneously fits all spectral components, including power-law continuum, stellar line-of-sight velocity distribution, FeII emission, as well as narrow, broad, and outflow emission line features, all performed using Markov Chain Monte Carlo to obtain robust parameter uncertainties and autocorrelation analysis to assess parameter convergence.We use BADASS to perform correlation analysis of 63 SDSS Seyfert 1 galaxies with evidence of strong non-gravitational outflow kinematics in the [OIII]λ5007 emission line. We confirm findings from previous studies that show the core of the [OIII] profile is a suitable surrogate for $\sigma_*$, however there is evidence that the core experiences broadening that scales with outflow velocity. We find sufficient evidence that σ, [OIII] core dispersion, and the non-gravitational outflow dispersion of the [OIII] profile form a plane whose fit results in a scatter of ~0.1 dex. Finally, we discuss the implications, caveats, and recommendations when using the [OIII] dispersion as a surrogate for sigma* for the MBH-σ relation.

We discuss observations of CII*/CII ratios and cooling rates due to [CII] 158µm emission in high-redshift intervening damped Lyman-\(\alpha\) (DLA) systems towards quasars. We show that the observed bimodality in the CII cooling rates actually reflects a bimodality in the CII*/CII-metallicity plane that can be naturally explained by phase segregation of the neutral medium, without invoking differences in star-formation scenarios. Assuming realistic distributions of the physical parameters to calculate the phase diagrams, we also reproduce qualitatively the metallicity dependence of this bimodality. We emphasize that high-redshift DLAs mostly probe low-metallicity gas (\(Z\lesssim 0.1 Z_{\odot}\)), where heating is dominated by cosmic rays (and/or turbulence), and not by photoelectric heating. Therefore even if the gas of DLA is predominantly cold (where the cooling is dominated by [CII]), the excitation of CII can be used to derive the cosmic ray ionization rate (and/or turbulent heating), but not the UV field, as was previously considered. Alternatively, if the gas in DLA is predominantly warm, CII*/CII can be used to constrain its number density. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slab119, SB and KT are supported by RSF grant 18-12-00301. PN is supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche under grant No. 17-CE31-0011-01 ("HIH2").

The presence of excess scatter in the Ly-$\alpha$ forest at $z\sim 5.5$, together with the existence of sporadic extended opaque Gunn-Peterson troughs, has started to provide robust evidence for a late end of hydrogen reionisation. However, low data quality and systematic uncertainties complicate the use of Ly-$\alpha$ transmission as a precision probe of reionisation's end stages. In this paper, we assemble a sample of 67 quasar sightlines at $z>5.5$ with high signal-to-noise ratios of $>10$ per $\leq 15$ km s$^{-1}$ spectral pixel, relying largely on the new XQR-30 quasar sample. XQR-30 is a large program on VLT/X-Shooter which obtained deep (SNR $>20$ per pixel) spectra of 30 quasars at $z>5.7$. We carefully account for systematics in continuum reconstruction, instrumentation, and contamination by damped Ly-$\alpha$ systems. We present improved measurements of the mean Ly-$\alpha$ transmission over $4.93.5 \sigma$). Our results indicate that reionisation-related fluctuations, whether in the UVB, residual neutral hydrogen fraction, and/or IGM temperature, persist in the intergalactic medium until at least $z=5.3$ ($t=1.1$ Gyr after the Big Bang). This is further evidence for a late end to reionisation., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Full measurement datasets are available on the first author's website

Hyper-luminous Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSOs) represent the ideal laboratory to investigate Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) feedback mechanism since their formidable energy release causes powerful winds at all scales and thus the maximum feedback is expected. We aim at deriving the mean Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) of a sample of 85 WISE-SDSS Selected Hyper-luminous (WISSH) quasars. Since the SED provides a direct way to investigate the AGN structure, our goal is to understand if quasars at the bright end of the luminosity function have peculiar properties compared to the bulk of the population. We built a mean intrinsic SED after correcting for the dust extinction, absorption and emission lines and intergalactic medium absorption. We also derived bolometric, IR band and monochromatic luminosities together with bolometric corrections at lambda = 5100 A and 3 micron. We define a new relation for the 3 micron bolometric correction. We find that the mean SED of hyper-luminous WISSH QSOs is different from that of less luminous sources, i.e. a relatively lower X-ray emission and a near and mid IR excess which can be explained assuming a larger dust contribution. WISSH QSOs have stronger emission from both warm and very hot dust, the latter being responsible for shifting the typical dip of the AGN SED from 1.3 to 1.1 micron. We also derived the mean SEDs of two sub-samples created according to the presence of Broad Absorption Lines and equivalent width of CIV line. We confirm that BALs are X-ray weak and that they have a reddened UV-optical continuum. We also find that BALs tend to have stronger emission from the hot dust component. This analysis suggests that hyper-luminous QSOs have a peculiar SED compared to less luminous objects. It is therefore critical to use SED templates constructed exclusively from very bright quasars samples when dealing with particularly luminous sources., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 20 pages, 15 figures

The physical properties of the faint and extremely tenuous plasma in the far outskirts of galaxy clusters, the circumgalactic media of normal galaxies, and filaments of the cosmic web, remain one of the biggest unknowns in our story of large-scale structure evolution. Modelling the spectral features due to emission and absorption from this very diffuse plasma poses a challenge, as both collisional and photo-ionisation processes must be accounted for. In this paper, we study the ionisation by photons emitted by the intra-cluster medium in addition to the photo-ionisation by the cosmic UV/X-ray background on gas in the vicinity of galaxy clusters. For near massive clusters such as A2029, the ionisation parameter can no longer describe the ionisation balance uniquely. The ionisation fractions (in particular of C IV, C V, C VI, N VII, O VI, O VII, O VIII, Ne VIII, Ne IX, and Fe XVII) obtained by taking into account the photoionisation by the cosmic background are either an upper or lower limit to the ionisation fraction calculated as a function of distance from the emission from the cluster. Using a toy model of a cosmic web filament, we predict how the cluster illumination changes the column densities for two different orientations of the line of sight. For lines of sight passing close to the cluster outskirts, O VI can be suppressed by a factor of up to $4.5$, O VII by a factor of $2.2$, C V by a factor of $3$, and Ne VIII can be boosted by a factor of $2$, for low density gas., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a new approach to measure the power-law temperature density relationship $T=T_0 (\rho / \bar{\rho})^{\gamma -1}$ and the UV background photoionization rate $\Gamma_{\rm HI}$ of the IGM based on the Voigt profile decomposition of the Ly$\alpha$ forest into a set of discrete absorption lines with Doppler parameter $b$ and the neutral hydrogen column density $N_{\rm HI}$. Previous work demonstrated that the shape of the $b$-$N_{\rm HI}$ distribution is sensitive to the IGM thermal parameters $T_0$ and $\gamma$, whereas our new inference algorithm also takes into account the normalization of the distribution, i.e. the line-density d$N$/d$z$, and we demonstrate that precise constraints can also be obtained on $\Gamma_{\rm HI}$. We use density-estimation likelihood-free inference (DELFI) to emulate the dependence of the $b$-$N_{\rm HI}$ distribution on IGM parameters trained on an ensemble of 624 Nyx hydrodynamical simulations at $z = 0.1$, which we combine with a Gaussian process emulator of the normalization. To demonstrate the efficacy of this approach, we generate hundreds of realizations of realistic mock HST/COS datasets, each comprising 34 quasar sightlines, and forward model the noise and resolution to match the real data. We use this large ensemble of mocks to extensively test our inference and empirically demonstrate that our posterior distributions are robust. Our analysis shows that by applying our new approach to existing Ly$\alpha$ forest spectra at $z\simeq 0.1$, one can measure the thermal and ionization state of the IGM with very high precision ($\sigma_{\log T_0} \sim 0.08$ dex, $\sigma_\gamma \sim 0.06$, and $\sigma_{\log \Gamma_{\rm HI}} \sim 0.07$ dex)., Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The tight correlations between properties of galaxy bulges and their central supermassive black holes have been reproduced successfully in simulations of galaxy collisions if feedback processes are invoked. Mergers of gas-rich galaxies of comparable size have been shown to trigger starbursts, fuel the central black holes, and transform disks into ellipticals. Feedback from the black hole accretion in the form of extreme outflows has need suggested as the mechanism by which the black hole stop its own growth and quenches the star formation in the galaxy by expelling the gas supply. Such winds have been detected in Broad Absorption Line (BAL) QSOs. However, observational evidence that BAL QSOs may be an evolutionary link between mergers and QSO is missing.In this thesis, we provide the first detailed study of the spectral energy distributions and host galaxy morphologies of a statistically significant volume-limited sample of 22 optically-selected low-ionization Broad Absorption Line QSOs (LoBALs) at 0.5 < z < 0.6. By comparing their mid-IR spectral properties and far-IR SEDs with those of a control sample of 35 non-LoBALs (non-LoBALs) matched in M_i, we investigate the differences between the two populations in terms of their infrared emission and star formation activity. We model the SEDs and decouple the AGN and starburst contributions to the far-infrared luminosity in LoBALs and in non-LoBALs. We estimate star formation rates (SFRs) corrected for the AGN contribution to the FIR flux and find that LoBALs have comparable levels of star formation activity to non-LoBALs when considering the entire samples. Overall, our results show that there is no strong evidence from the mid- and far-IR properties that LoBALs are drawn from a different parent population than non-LoBALs. We conducted the first high-resolution morphological analysis of LoBALs using observations obtained with the {Hubble Space Telescope} Wide Field Camera 3 in two channels. Signs of recent or ongoing tidal interaction are seen in 59% of the host galaxies, including interacting companions, tidal tails, bridges, asymmetries, plumes, and boxy isophotes. The presence of a second nucleus within ~1" (6.4 kpc) is revealed in seven of the systems. A detailed two-dimensional surface brightness analysis with GALFIT indicates that the majority (73%) have prominent early-type (bulge, n>4) morphology and only four systems have exponential disk profiles (n

We report on the discovery of a peculiar Broad Absorption Line (BAL) quasar identified in our Gaia-assisted survey of red quasars. The systemic redshift of this quasar was difficult to establish due to the absence of conspicuous emission lines. Based on deep and broad BAL troughs (at least SiIV, CIV, and AlIII), a redshift of z=2.41 was established under the assumption that the systemic redshift can be inferred from the red edge of the BAL troughs. However, we observe a weak and spatially-extended emission line at 4450 AA most likely due to Lyman-alpha emission, which implies a systemic redshift of z=2.66 if correctly identified. There is also evidence for the onset of Lyman-alpha forest absorption bluewards of 4450 AA and evidence for H-alpha emission in the K-band consistent with a systemic redshift of z=2.66. If this redshift is correct, the quasar is an extreme example of a detached low-ionisation BAL quasar. The BAL lines must originate from material moving with very large velocities ranging from 22000 to 40000 km/s. To our knowledge, this is the first case of a systemic-redshift measurement based on extended Lyman-$\alpha$ emission for a BAL quasar, a method that should also be useful in cases of sufficiently distant BL Lac quasars without systemic-redshift information., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

Quasar absorption lines are a powerful tool to study the interstellar medium(ISM) in the galaxies. We study a sample of 66 z >1.5 absorbers selected based on the presence of strong CI absorption lines in SDSS spectra and observed with the ESO-VLT spectrograph X-shooter/UVES. I study 17 systems that are re-observed by X-shooter. I derive metallicities, depletion onto dust, extinction by dust and analyse the absorption from MgII, MgI, CaII and NaI that are redshifted into the near infrared wavelength range. I detect 9 CaII absorptions with W(CaII λ3934) > 0.23 Å out of 14 systems. I detect 10 NaI absorptions in the 11 systems where we could observe this absorption. The median equivalent width (W(NaI λ5891) = 0.68 Å) is larger than what is observed in local clouds with similar HI column densities but also in z 500 km/s. The kinematics is strongly perturbed for most of these systems which probably do not arise in quiet disks and must be close to regions with intense star formation activity. All this suggests that a large fraction of the cold gas at high redshift arises in disturbed environments. We detect molecular hydrogen in all the systems within the detection limit.; Les raies d'absorption de quasars sont des outils efficaces pour étudier le milieu interstellaire dans les galaxies. Dans ce travail, nous étudions un échantillon de soixante-six systèmes absorbants à z0.23Å. Nous détectons dix raies d'absorption de NaI dans quatorze systèmes susceptibles d'en montrer. La largeur équivalente médiane de W(NaI λ5891)=0.68Å est plus grande que celles observées dans des nuages proches ayant des densités-colonnes de HI similaires ou dans des systèmes CaII à z

Quasar absorption lines are a powerful tool to study the interstellar medium(ISM) in the galaxies. We study a sample of 66 z >1.5 absorbers selected based on the presence of strong CI absorption lines in SDSS spectra and observed with the ESO-VLT spectrograph X-shooter/UVES. I study 17 systems that are re-observed by X-shooter. I derive metallicities, depletion onto dust, extinction by dust and analyse the absorption from MgII, MgI, CaII and NaI that are redshifted into the near infrared wavelength range. I detect 9 CaII absorptions with W(CaII λ3934) > 0.23 Å out of 14 systems. I detect 10 NaI absorptions in the 11 systems where we could observe this absorption. The median equivalent width (W(NaI λ5891) = 0.68 Å) is larger than what is observed in local clouds with similar HI column densities but also in z 500 km/s. The kinematics is strongly perturbed for most of these systems which probably do not arise in quiet disks and must be close to regions with intense star formation activity. All this suggests that a large fraction of the cold gas at high redshift arises in disturbed environments. We detect molecular hydrogen in all the systems within the detection limit.; Les raies d'absorption de quasars sont des outils efficaces pour étudier le milieu interstellaire dans les galaxies. Dans ce travail, nous étudions un échantillon de soixante-six systèmes absorbants à z0.23Å. Nous détectons dix raies d'absorption de NaI dans quatorze systèmes susceptibles d'en montrer. La largeur équivalente médiane de W(NaI λ5891)=0.68Å est plus grande que celles observées dans des nuages proches ayant des densités-colonnes de HI similaires ou dans des systèmes CaII à z

We present the analysis of the rest-frame optical-to-UV spectrum of APM 08279+5255, a well-known lensed broad absorption line (BAL) quasar at $z = 3.911$. The spectroscopic data are taken with the optical DOLoRes and near-IR NICS instruments at TNG, and include the previously unexplored range between C III] $\lambda$1910 and [O III] $\lambda\lambda$4959,5007. We investigate the possible presence of multiple BALs by computing "balnicity" and absorption indexes (i.e. BI, BI$_0$ and AI) for the transitions Si IV $\lambda$1400, C IV $\lambda$1549, Al III $\lambda$1860 and Mg II $\lambda$2800. No clear evidence for the presence of absorption features is found in addition to the already known, prominent BAL associated to C IV, which supports a high-ionization BAL classification for APM 08279+5255. We also study the properties of the [O III], H$\beta$ and Mg II emission lines. We find that [O III] is intrinsically weak ($F_{\rm [OIII]}/F_{\rm H\beta} \lesssim 0.04$), as it is typically found in luminous quasars with a strongly blueshifted C IV emission line ($\sim$2500 km s$^{-1}$ for APM 08279+5255). We compute the single-epoch black hole mass based on Mg II and H$\beta$ broad emission lines, finding $M_{\rm BH} = (2 \div 3) \times 10^{10}\mu^{-1}$ M$_\odot$, with the magnification factor $\mu$ that can vary between 4 and 100 according to CO and rest-frame UV-to-mid-IR imaging respectively. Using a Mg II equivalent width (EW)-to-Eddington ratio relation, the EW$_{\rm MgII} \sim 27$ \AA\ measured for APM 08279+5255 translates into an Eddington ratio of $\sim$0.4, which is more consistent with $\mu=4$. This magnification factor also provides a value of $M_{\rm BH}$ that is consistent with recent reverberation-mapping measurements derived from C IV and Si IV., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

We present the detection analysis of a diffuse molecular cloud at z$_{abs}$=2.4636 towards the quasar SDSS J1513+0352(z$_{em}\,\simeq$ 2.68) observed with the X-shooter spectrograph(VLT). We measure very high column densities of atomic and molecular hydrogen, with log N(HI,H$_2$)$\simeq$21.8,21.3. This is the highest H$_2$ column density ever measured in an intervening damped Lyman-alpha system but we do not detect CO, implying log N(CO)/N(H$_2$) < -7.8, which could be due to a low metallicity of the cloud. From the metal absorption lines, we derive the metallicity to be Z $\simeq$ 0.15 Z$_{\odot}$ and determine the amount of dust by measuring the induced extinction of the background quasar light, A$_V$ $\simeq$ 0.4. We also detect Ly-$\alpha$ emission at the same redshift, with a centroid located at a most probable impact parameter of only $\rho\,\simeq$ 1.4 kpc. We argue that the line of sight is therefore likely passing through the ISM of a galaxy as opposed to the CGM. The relation between the surface density of gas and that of star formation seems to follow the global empirical relation derived in the nearby Universe although our constraints on the star formation rate and on the galaxy extent remain too loose to be conclusive. We study the transition from atomic to molecular hydrogen using a theoretical description based on the microphysics of molecular hydrogen. We use the derived chemical properties of the cloud and physical conditions (T$_k\,\simeq$90 K and n$\simeq$250 cm$^{-3}$ derived through the excitation of H$_2$ rotational levels and neutral carbon fine structure transitions to constrain the fundamental parameters that govern this transition. By comparing the theoretical and observed HI column densities, we are able to bring an independent constraint on the incident UV flux, which we find to be in agreement with that estimated from the observed star formation rate., Comment: accepted for publication in A&A

The XQ-100 survey has provided high signal-noise spectra of 100 redshift 3-4.5 quasars with the X-Shooter spectrograph. The metal abundances for 13 elements in the 41 damped Ly ¿ systems (DLAs) identified in the XQ-100 sample are presented, and an investigation into abundances of a variety of DLA classes is conducted. The XQ-100 DLA sample contains five DLAs within 5000 km s-1 of their host quasar (proximate DLAs; PDLAs) as well as three sightlines which contain two DLAs within 10 000 km s-1 of each other along the same line of sight (multiple DLAs; MDLAs). Combined with previous observations in the literature, we demonstrate that PDLAs with log N(H I) ¿ 21.0 show lower [S/H] and [Fe/H] [relative to intervening systems with similar redshift and N(H I)], whilst higher [S/H] and [Si/H] are seen in PDLAs with log N(H I) ¿ 21.0. These abundance discrepancies are independent of their line-of-sight velocity separation from the host quasar, and the velocity width of the metal lines (v90). Contrary to previous studies, MDLAs show no difference in [¿/Fe] relative to single DLAs matched in metallicity and redshift. In addition, we present follow-up UVES data of J0034+1639, a sightline containing three DLAs, including a metal-poor DLA with [Fe/H] = -2.82 (the third lowest [Fe/H] in DLAs identified to date) at zabs = 4.25. Lastly we study the dust-corrected [Zn/Fe], emphasizing that near-IR coverage of X-Shooter provides unprecedented access to Mg II, Ca II and Ti II lines (at redshifts 3-4) to provide additional evidence for subsolar [Zn/Fe] ratio in DLAs. © 2016, The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society., SLE acknowledges the receipt of an NSERC Discovery Grant which supported this research. JXP is supported by NSF grant AST-1109447. SL has been supported by FONDECYT grant number 1140838 and partially by PFB-06 CATA. KDD is supported by an NSF AAPF fellowship awarded under NSF grant AST-1302093.

The region immediately surrounding an actively accreting supermassive black hole at the centre of a massive galaxy, the accretion disk, produces an enormous amount of radiation resulting in a luminous, short-lived phenomenon called a quasar. About 20% of quasars show broad, blue-shifted absorption features in their UV spectra, indicative of an outflowing wind from the accretion disk. These winds can remove angular momentum from the accretion disk, thereby contributing to the growth of the central black hole. Understanding these winds will help us to better constrain the details of how black holes grow during the quasar phase. The structures of the absorption features are sensitive to the properties (ionization state, velocity profile, and thickness) of the winds. Consequently, the broad absorption line profiles of these objects show great diversity in depth and velocity width. Using a sample of 1,084 broad absorption line quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we apply an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm to group spectra by similar C IV absorption line shapes. For each cluster, we compose median spectra and compare the shapes of the C IV broad absorption lines with the properties of prominent, broad emission lines. In agreement with results in the literature, low-velocity, deep troughs are found preferentially in objects for which the radiation from the accretion disk is more energetic. The link between broad absorption line properties and those of emission lines holds promise for allowing us to constrain the structure and dynamics of the outflowing winds.

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com., We have produced a catalogue of line identifications and equivalent width measurements for all absorption features in eight ultraviolet echelle quasar spectra. These spectra were selected as having the highest signal-to-noise ratio among the Hubble Space Telescope/STIS spectra obtained with the E230M grating. We identify 56 metal-line systems towards the eight quasars, and present plots of detected transitions, aligned in velocity space. We found that about 1/4–1/3 of the features in the Lyα forest region, redward of the incidence of the Lyβ forest, are metal lines. High-ionization transitions are common. At the redshift range we study, z < 1.7 , we see both O vi and C iv in 88–90 per cent of the metal-line systems for which the spectra cover the expected wavelength. Si iii is seen in 58 per cent, while low-ionization absorption in C ii, Si ii and/or Al ii is detected in 50 per cent of the systems for which they are covered. This catalogue will facilitate future studies of the Lyα forest and of metal-line systems of various types., Article, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 382(3):1094-1104 (2007)

We investigate the relative distribution of the gaseous contents of the Universe (as traced by a sample of Lyman alpha (lya) absorbers), and the luminous baryonic matter (as traced by a redshift survey of galaxies in the same volume searched for lya absorbers), along 16 lines-of-sight (LOS) between redshifts 0 and 1. Our galaxy redshift survey was made with the Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) on Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and, when combined with galaxies from the literature in the same LOS, gives us a galaxy sample of 636 objects. By combining this with an absorption line sample of 406 absorbing systems drawn from published works, we are able to study the relationship between gas and galaxies over the latter half of the age of the Universe. A correlation between absorbers and galaxies is detected out to separation of 1.5 Mpc. This correlation is weaker than the galaxy-galaxy correlation. There is also some evidence that the absorbing systems seen in CIV are more closely related to galaxies, although this correlation could be with column density rather than metallicity. The above results are all consistent with the absorbing gas and the galaxies co-existing in dark matter filaments and knots as predicted by current models, where the column density of the absorbing gas is correlated with the underlying matter density., Comment: 26 pages, 32 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

We collect different groups of data of the variation of the fine structure constant to compare and verify the consistency between them using the Student test and Confidence Intervals. We separate data sets in smaller intervals based on a proposed criterion. Another statistical analysis is proposed that considers phenomenological models for the variation in α. The results show consistency for a certain amount of reduced intervals, in contrast to those obtained considering the mean values from the entire interval., Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas

We present new measurements of the thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at $z\sim2.4$ derived from absorption line profiles in the Ly$\alpha$ forest. We use a large set of high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations to calibrate the relationship between the temperature-density ($T$--$\Delta$) relation in the IGM and the distribution of HI column densities, $N_{\rm HI}$, and velocity widths, $b_{\rm HI}$, of discrete Ly$\alpha$ forest absorbers. This calibration is then applied to the measurement of the lower cut-off of the $b_{\rm HI}$--$N_{\rm HI}$ distribution recently presented by Rudie et al. (2012). We infer a power-law $T$--$\Delta$ relation, $T=T_{0}\Delta^{\gamma-1}$, with a temperature at mean density, $T_{0}=[1.00^{+0.32}_{-0.21}]\times10^{4}\rm\,K$ and slope $(\gamma-1)=0.54\pm0.11$. The slope is fully consistent with that advocated by the analysis of Rudie et al (2012); however, the temperature at mean density is lower by almost a factor of two, primarily due to an adjustment in the relationship between column density and physical density assumed by these authors. These new results are in excellent agreement with the recent temperature measurements of Becker et al. (2011), based on the curvature of the transmitted flux in the Ly$\alpha$ forest. This suggests that the thermal state of the IGM at this redshift is reasonably well characterised over the range of densities probed by these methods., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted to MNRAS

We report on the detection of a z(gal) = 0.101 galaxy projected on the sky at 4.2 arcsec (or 5.2 h(100)(-1) kpc for q(o) = 0.5) from the quasar Q 0439-433 (z(em) = 0.594). The HST spectrum of the quasar shows strong Mg II, Fe II, Si II, Al II and C IV absorption lines at the same redshift as the galaxy. The equivalent width ratios of the low ionization lines indicate that this system is probably damped with a neutral hydrogen column density of N (H I) similar to 10(20) cm(-2). The C IV doublet presents a complex structure, and in particular a satellite with a velocity v = 1100 km s(-1) relative to the galaxy. Additional HST and redshifted 21 cm observations of this QSO-galaxy pair would offer an ideal opportunity to study the morphology of a damped absorber and the kinematics of the halo of a low-redshift galaxy.

We present NuSTAR hard X-ray observations of two X-ray weak broad absorption line (BAL) quasars, PG 1004+130 (radio loud) and PG 1700+518 (radio quiet). Many BAL quasars appear X-ray weak, probably due to absorption by the shielding gas between the nucleus and the accretion-disk wind. The two targets are among the optically brightest BAL quasars, yet they are known to be significantly X-ray weak at rest-frame 2-10 keV (16-120 times fainter than typical quasars). We would expect to obtain ~400-600 hard X-ray (>10 keV) photons with NuSTAR, provided that these photons are not significantly absorbed (NH, 18 pages, 9 figures. ApJ in press