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We present the second data release of the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS), consisting of wideband continuum catalogues of 391 pointings observed at L~band. The full wideband catalogue covers 4344 deg$^2$ of sky, reaches a depth of 10 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$, and contains 971,980 sources. With its balance between survey depth and sky coverage, MALS DR2 covers five orders of magnitude of flux density, presenting a robust view of the extragalactic radio source population down to 200 $\mu$Jy. Using this catalogue, we perform a measurement of the cosmic radio dipole, an anisotropy in the number counts of radio sources with respect to the cosmic background, analogous to the dipole found in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). For this measurement, we present the characterisation of completeness and noise properties of the catalogue, and show that a declination-dependent systematic affects the number density of faint sources. In the dipole measurement on the MALS catalogue, we recover reasonable dipole measurements once we model the declination systematic with a linear fit between the size of the major axis of the restoring beam and the amount of sources of each pointing. The final results are consistent with the CMB dipole in terms of direction and amplitude, unlike many recent measurements of the cosmic radio dipole made with other centimetre wavelength catalogues, which generally show a significantly larger amplitude. This result demonstrates the value of dipole measurements with deeper and more sparse radio surveys, as the population of faint sources probed may have had a significant impact on the measured dipole., Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. The MALS wideband catalogues and images are publicly available at https://mals.iucaa.in

We present the first VLT/MUSE observations of a quasar featuring a proximate molecular absorption system, SDSS J125917.31+030922.5. The proximate damped Ly$\alpha$ absorption acts as a natural coronagraph, removing the quasar emission over $\sim$40 {\AA} in wavelength, and allows us to detect extended Ly$\alpha$ emission without the necessity of subtracting the quasar emission. This natural coronagraph permits the investigation of the quasar environment down to its inner regions ($r < 20$ kpc), where galaxy interactions or feedback processes should have the most noticeable effects. Our observations reveal a dense environment, with a highly asymmetric Ly$\alpha$ emission within $2"$ ($\sim 15$ kpc), possibly shaped by a companion galaxy, and a southern extension of the nebulae at about 50~kpc, with rotation-like kinematic signature. The width of the Ly$\alpha$ emission is broadest closer to the quasar, indicating perturbed kinematics as expected if interactions and significant gas flows are present. The foreground absorbing system itself is redshifted by $\approx $400 km/s relative to the background quasar, and therefore is likely arising from gas moving towards the quasar. Finally two additional Ly$\alpha$ emitters are detected with $>10\,\sigma$ significance at 96 and 223 kpc from the quasar, making this field overdense relative to other similar observations of quasars at $z\sim 3$. Our results support the hypothesis that quasars with proximate neutral/molecular absorption trace rich environments where galaxy interactions are at play and motivates further studies of H$_2$-selected quasars to shed light on feeding and feedback processes., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

We have used the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to search for the OH molecule at several locations in the Smith Cloud, one of the most prominent of the high-velocity clouds that surround the Milky Way. Five positions with a high HI column density were selected as targets for individual pointings, along with a square degree around a molecular cloud detected with the Planck telescope near the tip of the Smith Cloud. Gas in the Galactic disk with similar values of $N_{HI}$ has detectable OH emission. Although we found OH at velocities consistent with the foreground Aquila molecular cloud, nothing was found at the velocity of the Smith Cloud to an rms level of 0.7 mK (T$_b$) in a 1 km $s^1$ channel. The three positions that give the strictest limits on OH are analyzed in detail. Their combined data imply a $5\sigma$ limit on $N(H_2) / N_{HI} \leq 0.03$ scaled by a factor dependent on the OH excitation temperature and background continuum $T_{ex}/(T_{ex}-T_{bg})$. There is no evidence for far-infrared emission from dust within the Smith Cloud. These results are consistent with expectations for a low-metallicity diffuse cloud exposed to the radiation field of the Galactic halo rather than a product of a galactic fountain., Comment: Accepted for The Astrophysical Journal 21 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables

We examine the long-term (rest-frame time scales from a few months to $\sim 20$ years) X-ray variability of a sample of 2344 X-ray bright quasars from the SDSS DR14Q Catalogue, based on the data of the SRG/eROSITA All-Sky Survey complemented for $\sim 7$% of the sample by archival data from the XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue. We characterise variability by a structure function, $SF^2(\Delta t)$. We confirm the previously known anti-correlation of the X-ray variability amplitude with luminosity. We also study the dependence of X-ray variability on black hole mass, $M_{\rm BH}$, and on an X-ray based proxy of the Eddington ratio, $\lambda_{\rm X}$. Less massive black holes prove to be more variable for given Eddington ratio and time scale. X-ray variability also grows with decreasing Eddington ratio and becomes particularly strong at $\lambda_{\rm X}$ of less than a few per cent. We confirm that the X-ray variability amplitude increases with increasing time scale. The $SF^2(\Delta t)$ dependence can be satisfactorily described by a power law, with the slope ranging from $\sim 0$ to $\sim 0.4$ for different ($M_{\rm BH}$, $\lambda_{\rm X}$) subsamples (except for the subsample with the lowest black hole mass and lowest Eddington ratio, where it is equal to $1.1\pm 0.4$), Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 19 pages, 5 tables, 15 figures

The theory of Big Bang nucleosynthesis, coupled with an estimate of the primordial deuterium abundance (D/H)_pr, offers insights into the baryon density of the Universe. Independently, the baryon density can be constrained during a different cosmological era through the analysis of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy. The comparison of these estimates serves as a rigorous test for the self-consistency of the Standard Cosmological Model and stands as a potent tool in the quest for new physics beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics. For a meaningful comparison, a clear understanding of the various systematic errors affecting deuterium measurements is crucial. Given the limited number of D/H measurements, each new estimate carries significant weight. This study presents the detection of DI absorption lines in a metal-poor sub-Damped Lyman-alpha system ([O/H]=-1.71+-0.02, logN(HI)=19.304+-0.004) at z_abs=3.42 towards the quasar J1332+0052. Through simultaneous fitting of HI and DI Lyman-series lines, as well as low-ionization metal lines, observed at high spectral resolution and high signal-to-noise using VLT/UVES and Keck/HIRES, we derive log(DI/HI)=-4.622+-0.014, accounting for statistical and systematic uncertainties of 0.008dex and 0.012dex, respectively. Thanks to negligible ionization corrections and minimal deuterium astration at low metallicity, this D/H ratio provides a robust measurement of the primordial deuterium abundance, consistent and competitive with previous works. Incorporating all prior measurements, the best estimate of the primordial deuterium abundance is constrained as: (D/H)_pr=(2.533+-0.024)*10^-5. This represents a 5% improvement in precision over previous studies and reveals a moderate tension with the expectation from the Standard Model (~2.2sig). This discrepancy underscores the importance of further measurements in the pursuit of new physics., Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

State-of-the-art 19th century spectroscopy led to the discovery of quantum mechanics, and 20th century spectroscopy led to the confirmation of quantum electrodynamics. State-of-the-art 21st century astrophysical spectrographs, especially ANDES at ESO's ELT, have another opportunity to play a key role in the search for, and characterization of, the new physics which is known to be out there, waiting to be discovered. We rely on detailed simulations and forecast techniques to discuss four important examples of this point: big bang nucleosynthesis, the evolution of the cosmic microwave background temperature, tests of the universality of physical laws, and a real-time model-independent mapping of the expansion history of the universe (also known as the redshift drift). The last two are among the flagship science drivers for the ELT. We also highlight what is required for the ESO community to be able to play a meaningful role in 2030s fundamental cosmology and show that, even if ANDES only provides null results, such `minimum guaranteed science' will be in the form of constraints on key cosmological paradigms: these are independent from, and can be competitive with, those obtained from traditional cosmological probes., Comment: 31 pages, 6 figures; submitted to Experimental Astronomy on behalf of the ANDES Science Team; v2: matches accepted version

We report a new, rare detection of HI 21-cm absorption associated with a quasar (only six known at $15$ GHz). The simplest explanation would be that no large HI column (N(HI)$>10^{17}$ cm$^{-2}$) is present towards the radio `core' and the optical AGN. Based on the joint optical and radio analysis of a heterogeneous sample of 16 quasars ($z_{median}$ = 0.7) and 15 radio galaxies ($z_{median}$ = 0.3) with HI 21-cm absorption detection and matched in 1.4 GHz luminosity (L$_{\rm 1.4\,GHz}$), a consistent picture emerges where quasars are primarily tracing the gas in the inner circumnuclear disk and cocoon created by the jet-ISM interaction. These exhibit L$_{1.4\,\rm GHz}$ - $\Delta V_{\rm null}$ correlation, and frequent mismatch between the radio and optical spectral lines. The radio galaxies show no such correlation and likely trace the gas from the cocoon and the galaxy-wide ISM outside the photoionization cone. The analysis presented here demonstrates the potential of radio spectroscopic observations to reveal the origin of the absorbing gas associated with AGN that may be missed in optical observations., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

HD molecule is one the most abundant molecule in the Universe and due to its sensibility to the conditions in the medium, it can be used to constrain physical parameters in the medium where HD resides. Lately we have shown that HD abundance can be enhanced in the low metallicity medium. Large and Small Magellanic Clouds give us an opportunity to study low metallicity galaxies in details towards different sightlines due to their proximity to our Galaxy. We revisited FUSE space telescope archival spectra towards bright stars in Magellanic Clouds to search for HD molecules, associated with the medium of these galaxies. We reanalysed H$_2$ absorption lines and constrained HD column density at the positions of H$_2$ components. We detected HD towards 24 sightlines (including 19 new detections). We try to measure cosmic ray ionization rate for several systems using measured $N({\rm HD})/N({\rm H_2})$, and in most cases get loose constraints due to insufficient quality of the FUSE spectra., Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a comprehensive study of the excitation of CI fine-structure levels along 57 sight lines in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The sight lines were selected by the detection of H$_2$ in FUSE spectra. Using archival HST/COS and HST/STIS spectra we detected absorption of CI fine-structure levels and measured their populations for 29 and 22 sight lines in the LMC and SMC, respectively. The CI column density ranges from $10^{13}$ to $10^{14}\,{\rm cm}^{-2}$ for the LMC and $10^{13}$ to $10^{15.4}\,{\rm cm}^{-2}$ for the SMC. We found excitation of CI fine-structure levels in the LMC and SMC to be 2-3 times higher than typical values in local diffuse ISM. Comparing excitation of both CI fine-structure levels and H$_2$ rotational levels with a grid of PDR Meudon models we find that neutral cold gas in the LMC and SMC is illuminated by stronger UV field than in local ISM ($\chi=5^{+7}_{-3}$ units of Mathis field for the LMC and $2^{+4}_{-1}$ for the SMC) and has on average higher thermal pressure ($\log p/k =4.2\pm0.4$ and $4.3\pm0.5$, respectively). Magellanic Clouds sight lines likely probe region near star-formation sites, which also affects the thermal state and CI/H$_2$ relative abundances. At the same time such high measurements of UV field are consistent with some values obtained at high redshifts. Together with low metallicities this make Magellanic Clouds to be an interesting test case to study of the central parts of high redshift galaxies., Comment: submitted to MNRAS

The MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS) has observed 391 telescope pointings at L-band (900 - 1670 MHz) at $\delta\lesssim$ $+20\deg$. We present radio continuum images and a catalog of 495,325 (240,321) radio sources detected at a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) $>$5 over an area of 2289 deg$^2$ (1132 deg$^2$) at 1006 MHz (1381 MHz). Every MALS pointing contains a central bright radio source ($S_{1\,\mathrm{GHz}} \gtrsim 0.2$ Jy). The median spatial resolution is $12^{\prime\prime}$ ($8^{\prime\prime}$). The median rms noise away from the pointing center is 25 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ (22 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$) and is within $\sim$ 15% of the achievable theoretical sensitivity. The flux density scale ratio and astrometric accuracy deduced from multiply observed sources in MALS are less than 1% (8% scatter) and $1^{\prime\prime}$, respectively. Through comparisons with NVSS and FIRST at 1.4 GHz, we establish the catalog's accuracy in the flux density scale and astrometry to be better than 6% (15% scatter) and $0.8^{\prime\prime}$, respectively. The median flux density offset is higher (9%) for an alternate beam model based on holographic measurements. The MALS radio source counts at 1.4 GHz are in agreement with literature. We estimate spectral indices ($\alpha$) of a subset of 125,621 sources (SNR$>$8), confirm the flattening of spectral indices with decreasing flux density and identify 140 ultra steep-spectrum ($\alpha<-1.3$) sources as prospective high-$z$ radio galaxies ($z>2$). We have identified 1308 variable and 122 transient radio sources comprising primarily of AGN that demonstrate long-term (26 years) variability in their observed flux densities. The MALS catalogs and images are publicly available at https://mals.iucaa.in., Comment: 64 pages, 25 figures, accepted for publication in the ApJS (full version of the paper with complete tables is available at DR1 release notes)

The potential-energy and quadrupole-moment functions of the H$_2$ ground electronic state are well known in literature (Komasa et al., 2019; Wolniewicz et al., 1998), and the line list of the vibrational-rotational transitions was calculated (Roueff et al., 2019). In this paper, we analyze the calculated intensities in order to learn how the intensities will change when analytic quadrupole-moment functions fitted to the ab initio and experimental data are used instead of spline-interpolated functions. We found that the use of splines does not deteriorate the intensities and does not lead to nonphysical saturation, as in heavier molecules, owing to the high precision of the ab initio data and the high density of the grid. The accuracy of the calculated intensities is estimated up to high overtones. Extraction of new spectroscopic information from the observational data that supplements the laboratory measurements is performed. The laboratory and observational data do not help increase the quality of the analytic functions. Numerous anomalies resulting from the destructive interference are identified in the calculated line lists, some of them being situated within the recently observed spectral regions, 1.5-2.5 $\mu$m. The intensities of these anomalies can be sensitive to the form of the molecular functions as well as to the proton-to-electron mass ratio. In this connection, the similar Le Roy anomalies (Brown and LeRoy, 1973; Le Roy and Vrscay, 1975) also arising due to the destructive interference in the Lyman and Werner systems are discussed.

We present high-resolution VLT/UVES spectroscopy and a detailed analysis of the unique Broad Absorption-Line system towards the quasar SDSS J165252.67+265001.96. This system exhibits low-ionization metal absorption lines from the ground states and excited energy levels of Fe II and Mn II, and the meta-stable 2^3S excited state of He I. The extended kinematics of the absorber encompasses three main clumps with velocity offsets of -5680, -4550, and -1770 km s$^{-1}$ from the quasar emission redshift, $z=0.3509\pm0.0003$, derived from [O II] emission. Each clump shows moderate partial covering of the background continuum source, $C_f \approx [0.53; 0.24; 0.81]$. We discuss the excitation mechanisms at play in the gas, which we use to constrain the distance of the clouds from the Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) as well as the density, temperature, and typical sizes of the clouds. The number density is found to be $n_{\rm H} \sim 10^4\rm cm^{-3}$ and the temperature $T_e \sim 10^4\rm\,K$, with longitudinal cloudlet sizes of $\gtrsim0.01$ pc. Cloudy photo-ionization modelling of He I$^{*}$, which is also produced at the interface between the neutral and ionized phases, assuming the number densities derived from Fe II, constrains the ionization parameter to be $\log U \sim -3$. This corresponds to distances of a few 100 pc from the AGN. We discuss these results in the more general context of associated absorption-line systems and propose a connection between FeLoBALs and the recently-identified molecular-rich intrinsic absorbers. Studies of significant samples of FeLoBALs, even though rare per se, will soon be possible thanks to large dedicated surveys paired with high-resolution spectroscopic follow-ups., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 27 pages, 21 Figures

Proximate molecular quasar absorbers (PH2) are an intriguing population of absorption systems recently uncovered through strong H2 absorption at small velocity separation from the background quasars. We performed a multi-wavelength spectroscopic follow-up of thirteen such systems with VLT/X-Shooter. Here, we present the observations and study the overall chemical enrichment measured from the HI, H2 and metal lines. We combine this with an investigation of the neutral gas kinematics with respect to the quasar host. We find gas-phase metallicities in the range 2% to 40% of the Solar value, i.e. in the upper-half range of HI-selected proximate damped Lyman-alpha systems, but similar to what is seen in intervening H2-bearing systems. This is likely driven by similar selection effects that play against the detection of most metal and molecular rich systems in absorption. Differences are however seen in the abundance of dust (from [Zn/Fe]) and its depletion pattern, when compared to intervening systems, possibly indicating different dust production or destruction close to the AGN. We also note the almost-ubiquitous presence of a high-ionisation phase traced by NV in proximate systems. In spite of the hard UV field from the quasars, we found no strong overall deficit of neutral argon, at least when compared to intervening DLAs. This likely results from argon being mostly neutral in the H2 phase, which actually accounts for a large fraction of the total amount of metals. We measure the quasar systemic redshifts through emission lines from both ionised gas and CO(3-2) emission, the latter being detected in all 6 cases for which we obtained 3-mm data from complementary NOEMA observations. For the first time, we observe a trend between line-of-sight velocity with respect to systemic redshift and metallicity of the absorbing gas. [truncated], Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

The number counts of homogeneous samples of radio sources are a tried and true method of probing the large scale structure of the Universe, as most radio sources outside the galactic plane are at cosmological distances. As such they are expected to trace the cosmic radio dipole, an anisotropy analogous to the dipole seen in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Results have shown that although the cosmic radio dipole matches the direction of the CMB dipole, it has a significantly larger amplitude. This result challenges our assumption of the Universe being isotropic, which can have large repercussions for the current cosmological paradigm. Though significant measurements have been made, sensitivity to the radio dipole is generally hampered by systematic effects that can cause large biases in the measurement. Here we assess these systematics with data from the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS). We present the analysis of ten MALS pointings, focusing on systematic effects that could lead to an inhomogeneous catalogue. We describe the calibration and creation of full band continuum images and catalogues, producing a combined catalogue containing 16,313 sources and covering 37.5 square degrees of sky down to a sensitivity of 10 $\mu$Jy/beam. We measure the completeness, purity, and flux recovery statistics for these catalogues using simulated data. We investigate different source populations in the catalogues by looking at flux densities and spectral indices, and how they might influence source counts. Using the noise characteristics of the pointings, we find global measures that can be used to correct for the incompleteness of the catalogue, producing corrected number counts down to 100 - 200 $\mu$Jy. We show that we can homogenise the catalogues and properly account for systematic effects. We determine that we can measure the dipole to $3\sigma$ significance with 100 MALS pointings., Comment: 30 pages, 25 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

In spite of the advent of extremely large telescopes in the UV/optical/NIR range, the current generation of 8-10m facilities is likely to remain competitive at ground-UV wavelengths for the foreseeable future. The Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) has been designed to provide high-efficiency (>40%) observations in the near UV (305-400 nm requirement, 300-420 nm goal) at a spectral resolving power of R>20,000, although a lower-resolution, sky-limited mode of R ~ 7,000 is also planned. CUBES will offer new possibilities in many fields of astrophysics, providing access to key lines of stellar spectra: a tremendous diversity of iron-peak and heavy elements, lighter elements (in particular Beryllium) and light-element molecules (CO, CN, OH), as well as Balmer lines and the Balmer jump (particularly important for young stellar objects). The UV range is also critical in extragalactic studies: the circumgalactic medium of distant galaxies, the contribution of different types of sources to the cosmic UV background, the measurement of H2 and primordial Deuterium in a regime of relatively transparent intergalactic medium, and follow-up of explosive transients. The CUBES project completed a Phase A conceptual design in June 2021 and has now entered the Phase B dedicated to detailed design and construction. First science operations are planned for 2028. In this paper, we briefly describe the CUBES project development and goals, the main science cases, the instrument design and the project organization and management., Comment: Proceedings for the HACK100 conference, Trieste, June 2022. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2208.01672

The BL Lac PKS 1413+135 was observed by the Large Survey Project "MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey" (MALS) in the L-band, at 1139 MHz and 1293-1379 MHz, targeting the HI and OH lines in absorption at z = 0.24671. The radio continuum is thought to come from a background object at redshift lower than 0.5, as suggested by the absence of gravitational images. The HI absorption line is detected at high signal-to-noise, with a narrow central component, and a red wing, confirming previous results. The OH 1720 MHz line is clearly detected in (maser) emission, peaking at a velocity shifted by -10 to -15 km/s with respect to the HI peak. The 1612 MHz line is lost due to radio interferences. The OH 1667 MHz main line is tentatively detected in absorption, but not the 1665 MHz one. Over 30 years, a high variability is observed in optical depths, due to the rapid changes of the line of sight, caused by the superluminal motions of the radio knots. The HI line has varied by 20 per cent in depth, while the OH-1720 MHz depth has varied by a factor 4. The position of the central velocity and the widths also varied. The absorbing galaxy is an early-type spiral (maybe S0) seen edge-on, with a prominent dust lane, covering the whole disk. Given the measured mass concentration, and the radio continuum size at centimeter wavelengths (100 mas corresponding to 400 pc at z = 0.25), the width of absorption lines from the nuclear regions are expected up to 250 km/S. The narrowness of the observed lines (< 15 km/s) suggest that the absorption comes from an outer gas ring, as frequently observed in S0 galaxies. The millimetric lines are even narrower (< 1 km/s), which corresponds to the continuum size restricted to the core. The core source is covered by individual 1 pc molecular clouds, of column density a few 10^22 cm-2, which is compatible with the gas screen detected in X-rays., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted in A&A

In the era of Extremely Large Telescopes, the current generation of 8-10m facilities are likely to remain competitive at ground-UV wavelengths for the foreseeable future. The Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) has been designed to provide high-efficiency (>40%) observations in the near UV (305-400 nm requirement, 300-420 nm goal) at a spectral resolving power of R>20,000 (with a lower-resolution, sky-limited mode of R ~ 7,000). With the design focusing on maximizing the instrument throughput (ensuring a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) ~20 per high-resolution element at 313 nm for U ~18.5 mag objects in 1h of observations), it will offer new possibilities in many fields of astrophysics, providing access to key lines of stellar spectra: a tremendous diversity of iron-peak and heavy elements, lighter elements (in particular Beryllium) and light-element molecules (CO, CN, OH), as well as Balmer lines and the Balmer jump (particularly important for young stellar objects). The UV range is also critical in extragalactic studies: the circumgalactic medium of distant galaxies, the contribution of different types of sources to the cosmic UV background, the measurement of H2 and primordial Deuterium in a regime of relatively transparent intergalactic medium, and follow-up of explosive transients. The CUBES project completed a Phase A conceptual design in June 2021 and has now entered the detailed design and construction phase. First science operations are planned for 2028., Comment: SPIE proceedings, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2022, Montr\'eal, Canada; 20 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables

We present MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS) observations of the HI gas in the Klemola31 galaxy group ($z=0.029$), located along the line of sight to the radio-loud quasar PKS2020-370 ($z=1.048$). Four galaxies of the group are detected in HI emission, and HI absorption is also detected in front of PKS2020-370 in Klemola31A. The emission and absorption are somewhat compensating on the line of sight of the quasar, and the derived column density of the absorption appears under-estimated, with respect to the neighbouring emission. A symmetric tilted-ring model of Klemola31A, assuming the absorbing gas in regular rotation in the plane, yields a rather high spin temperature of 530K. An alternative interpretation is that the absorbing gas is extra-planar, which will also account for its non-circular motion. The NaI/CaII ratio also suggests that the absorbing gas is unrelated to cold HI disk. Two of the galaxies in the Klemola group are interacting with a small companion, and reveal typical tidal tails, and velocity perturbations. Only one of the galaxies, ESO400-13, reveals a strong HI deficiency, and a characteristic ram-pressure stripping, with a total asymmetry in the distribution of its gas. Since a small galaxy group as Klemola31 is not expected to host a dense intra-group gas, this galaxy must be crossing the group at a very high velocity, mostly in the sky plane., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted in MNRAS (minor corrections)

We present the discovery of neutral gas detected in both damped Ly$\alpha$ absorption (DLA) and HI 21-cm emission outside of the stellar body of a galaxy, the first such detection in the literature. A joint analysis between the Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey and the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey reveals an HI bridge connecting two interacting dwarf galaxies (log$(M_{\text{star}}/\text{M}_{\odot}) = 8.5 \pm 0.2$) that host a $z = 0.026$ DLA with log[$N$(HI)/cm$^{-2}$]$ = 20.60 \pm 0.05$ toward the QSO J2339-5523 ($z_{\text{QSO}} = 1.35$). At impact parameters of $d = 6$ and $33$ kpc, the dwarf galaxies have no companions more luminous than $\approx 0.05L_{*}$ within at least $\Delta v = \pm 300$ km s$^{-1}$ and $d \approx 350$ kpc. HI 21-cm emission is spatially coincident with the DLA at the 2-3$\sigma$ level per spectral channel over several adjacent beams. However, HI 21-cm absorption is not detected against the radio-bright QSO; if the background UV and radio sources are spatially aligned, the gas is either warm or clumpy (with spin temperature to covering factor ratio $T_{s}/f_{c} > 1880$ K). VLT-MUSE observations demonstrate that the $\alpha$-element abundance of the ionized ISM is consistent with the DLA ($\approx 10$% solar), suggesting that the neutral gas envelope is perturbed ISM gas. This study showcases the impact of dwarf-dwarf interactions on the physical and chemical state of neutral gas outside of star-forming regions. In the SKA era, joint UV and HI 21-cm analyses will be critical for connecting the cosmic neutral gas content to galaxy environments., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL. 16 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

We present the results of a spectroscopic analysis of extremely strong damped Lyman-{\alpha} absorbers (ESDLAs, log N(Hi)>=21.7) observed with VLT-XShooter. ESDLAs probe gas from within the star-forming disk of the associated galaxies and thus ESDLAs provide a unique opportunity to study the interstellar medium of galaxies at high-redshift. We report column densities (N), equivalent widths (w), and the kinematic spread ({\Delta} v90) of species from neutral, singly ionised, and higher ionisation species. We find that, using the dust correction prescription, the measured metallicities are consistent for singly ionised gas species such as Pii, S ii, Si ii, Mnii and Crii, and Znii in all ESDLAs within 3-sigma uncertainty. We find that the distributions of N(Ari)/N(Hi) ratio in DLAs and ESDLAs are similar. We further report that ESDLAs do not show a strong deficiency of Ari relative to other {\alpha}-capture elements as is seen in DLAs. This supports the idea that the mentioned under-abundance of Ari in DLAs is possibly caused by the presence of background UV photons that penetrate the low N(Hi) clouds to ionise Ari, but they cannot penetrate deep enough in the high N(Hi) ESDLA environment. The w(Mgii lambda2796) distribution in ESDLAs is found to be similar to that of metal-rich Ci-selected absorbers, but the velocity spread of their Mgii profile is different. For higher ionisation species (such as C iv and Si iv), {\Delta} v90 is similar in the two populations, while the {\Delta} v90 of singly ionised species is smaller for ESDLAs. This suggests that the ESDLAs sample a different Hi region of their associated galaxy compared to the general DLA population. We further study the N(Cl i) distribution in high-redshift DLA and ESDLA sightlines, as Cl i is a good tracer of H2 gas. The N(Cl i)-N(H2) correlation is followed by all the clouds (ESDLAs and otherwise) having log N(H2)<22., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, 16 page appendix, 14 figures in appendix

We present a spectroscopic investigation with VLT/X-shooter of seven candidate extremely strong damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorption systems (ESDLAs, $N(\text{HI})\ge 5\times 10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$) observed along quasar sightlines. We confirm the extremely high column densities, albeit slightly (0.1~dex) lower than the original ESDLA definition for four systems. We measured low-ionisation metal abundances and dust extinction for all systems. For two systems we also found strong associated H$_2$ absorption $\log N(\text{H$_2$)[cm$^{-2}$]}=18.16\pm0.03$ and $19.28\pm0.06$ at $z=3.26$ and $2.25$ towards J2205+1021 and J2359+1354, respectively), while for the remaining five we measured conservative upper limits on the H$_2$ column densities of typically $\log N(\text{H$_2$)[cm$^{-2}$]}<17.3$. The increased H$_2$ detection rate ($10-55$% at 68% confidence level) at high HI column density compared to the overall damped Lyman-$\alpha$ population ($\sim 5-10$%) confirms previous works. We find that these seven ESDLAs have similar observed properties as those previously studied towards quasars and gamma-ray burst afterglows, suggesting they probe inner regions of galaxies. We use the abundance of ionised carbon in excited fine-structure level to calculate the cooling rates through the CII $\lambda$158$\mu$m emission, and compare them with the cooling rates from damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems in the literature. We find that the cooling rates distribution of ESDLAs also presents the same bimodality as previously observed for the general (mostly lower HI column density) damped Lyman-$\alpha$ population., Comment: 34 pages, 30 figures, 11 tables; accepted for publication in MNRAS

We discuss observations of CII*/CII ratios and cooling rates due to [CII]$\,$158$\mu$m emission in high-redshift intervening damped Lyman-$\alpha$ 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-z 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. Finally, we also discuss the importance of the ionized medium, which, if also present along the line of sight, can significantly increase the average CII*/CII ratio., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

We present a high-resolution (R=140,000) spectrum of the bright quasar HE0001-2340 (z=2.26), obtained with ESPRESSO at the Very Large Telescope. We analyse three systems at z=0.45, z=1.65, and z=2.19 using multiple-component Voigt-profile fitting. We also compare our spectrum with those obtained with VLT/UVES, covering a total period of 17 years. We disentangle turbulent and thermal broadening in many components spread over about 400 km/s in the z~2.19 sub-DLA system. We derive an average temperature of 16000+/-1300 K, i.e., about twice the canonical value of the warm neutral medium in the Galactic interstellar medium. A comparison with other high-z, low-metallicity absorbers reveals an anti-correlation between gas temperature and total HI column density. Although requiring confirmation, this could be the first observational evidence of a thermal decrease with galacto-centric distance, i.e., we may be witnessing a thermal transition between the circum-galactic medium and the cooler ISM. We revisit the Mg isotopic ratios at z=0.45 and z=1.65 and constrain them to be xi = (26Mg+25Mg)/24Mg <0.6 and <1.4 in these two systems, respectively. These values are consistent with the standard Solar ratio, i.e., we do not confirm strong enhancement of heavy isotopes previously inferred from UVES data. Finally, we confirm the partial coverage of the quasar emission-line region by a FeI-bearing cloud in the z=0.45 system and present evidence for velocity sub-structure of the gas that has Doppler parameters of the order of only ~0.3 km/s. This work demonstrates the uniqueness of high-fidelity, high-resolution optical spectrographs on large telescopes as tools to investigate the thermal state of the gas in and around galaxies as well as its spatial and velocity structure on small scales, and to constrain the associated stellar nucleosynthetic history. [abridged], Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy \& Astrophysics

We present a systematic study of deuterated molecular hydrogen (HD) at high redshift, detected in absorption in the spectra of quasars. We present four new identifications of HD lines associated with known $\rm H_2$-bearing Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems. In addition, we measure upper limits on the $\rm HD$ column density in twelve recently identified $\rm H_2$-bearing DLAs. We find that the new $\rm HD$ detections have similar $N({\rm HD})/N(\rm H_2)$ ratios as previously found, further strengthening a marked difference with measurements through the Galaxy. This is likely due to differences in physical conditions and metallicity between the local and the high-redshift interstellar media. Using the measured $N({\rm HD})/N({\rm H_2})$ ratios together with priors on the UV flux ($\chi$) and number densities ($n$), obtained from analysis of $\rm H_2$ and associated CI lines, we are able to constrain the cosmic-ray ionization rate (CRIR, $\zeta$) for the new $\rm HD$ detections and for eight known HD-bearing systems where priors on $n$ and $\chi$ are available. We find significant dispersion in $\zeta$, from a few $\times 10^{-18}$ s$^{-1}$ to a few $\times 10^{-15}$ s$^{-1}$. We also find that $\zeta$ strongly correlates with $\chi$ -- showing almost quadratic dependence, slightly correlates with $Z$, and does not correlate with $n$, which probably reflects a physical connection between cosmic rays and star-forming regions., Comment: 40 pages, 51 figures, submitted to MNRAS

We present 3-mm observations of the quasar J0015+1842 at z=2.63 with the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA). Our data reveals molecular gas, traced via a Gaussian CO(3-2) line, with a remarkably large velocity dispersion (FWHM=1010+/-120 km/s) and corresponding to a total molecular mass MH2~(3.4-17)x10^10 Msun, depending on the adopted CO-to-H2 conversion factor alphaCO=(0.8-4.0) Msun (km/s pc^2)^-1. Assuming the 3-mm continuum emission is thermal, we derive a dust mass of the order of Mdust ~5x10^8 Msun. J0015+1842 is located in the molecular gas-rich region in the IR vs CO line luminosity diagram, in-between the main locus of main-sequence and sub-millimetre galaxies and that of most other AGNs targeted so far for CO measurements. While the large velocity dispersion of the CO line suggests a merging system, J0015+1842 is observed to be a regular, only very moderately dust-reddened (Av~0.3-0.4) type-I quasar from its UV-optical spectrum, from which we infer a mass of the super-massive black hole be around MBH~6x10^8 Msun. We suggest that J0015+1842 is observed at a galaxy evolutionary stage where a massive merger has brought significant amounts of gas towards an actively accreting super-massive black hole (quasar). While the host still contains a large amount of dust and molecular gas with high velocity dispersion, the quasar has already cleared the way towards the observer, likely through powerful outflows as recently revealed by optical observations of the same object. High angular resolution observations of this and similar systems} should help determining better the respective importance of evolution and orientation in the appearance of quasars and their host galaxies and have the potential to investigate early feedback and star-formation processes in galaxies in their quasar phases., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A\&A

The precision measurement of the primordial helium abundance $Y_p$ is a powerful probe of the early Universe. The most common way to determine $Y_p$ is analyses of observations of metal-poor \HII regions found in blue compact dwarf galaxies. We present the spectroscopic sample of 100 \HII regions collected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The final analysed sample consists of our sample and HeBCD database from Izotov et al. 2007. We use a self-consistent procedure to determine physical conditions, current helium abundances, and metallicities of the \HII regions. From a regression to zero metallicity, we have obtained $Y_p = 0.2462 \pm 0.0022$ which is one of the most stringent constraints obtained with such methods up to date and is in a good agreement with the Planck result $Y_{\rm p}^{\it {Planck}} = 0.2471 \pm 0.0003$. Using the determined value of $Y_p$ and the primordial deuterium abundance taken from Particle Data Group (Zyla et al. 2020) we put a constraint on the effective number of neutrino species $N_{\rm eff} = 2.95 \pm 0.16$ which is consistent with the Planck one $N_{\rm eff} = 2.99 \pm 0.17$. Further increase of statistics potentially allows us to achieve Planck accuracy, which in turn will become a powerful tool for studying the self-consistency of the Standard Cosmological Model and/or physics beyond., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

The Large Survey Project (LSP) "MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey" (MALS) is a blind HI 21-cm and OH 18-cm absorption line survey in the L- and UHF-bands, with the primary goal to better determine the occurrence of atomic and molecular gas in the circum-galactic and inter-galactic medium, and its redshift evolution. Here we present the first results using the UHF-band, obtained towards the strongly lensed radio source PKS1830, detecting absorption in the lens galaxy. With merely 90min of data acquired on-source for science verification and processed using the Automated Radio Telescope Imaging Pipeline (ARTIP), we detect in absorption the known HI 21-cm and OH 18-cm main lines at z=0.89 at an unprecedented signal-to-noise ratio (4000 in the continuum, with 6km/s channels). For the first time we report the detection at z=0.89 of OH satellite lines, so far not detected at z $>$ 0.25. We decompose the OH lines into a thermal and a stimulated contribution, where the 1612 and 1720MHz lines are conjugate. The total OH 1720MHz emission line luminosity is 6100Lsun. This is the most luminous known 1720MHz maser line. The absorption components of the different images of the background source sample different light paths in the lensing galaxy, and their weights in the total absorption spectrum are expected to vary in time, on daily and monthly time scales. We compare our normalized spectra with those obtained more than 20 yrs ago, and find no variation. We interpret the absorption spectra with the help of a lens galaxy model, derived from an N-body hydro-dynamical simulation, with a morphology similar to its optical HST image. It is possible to reproduce the observations without invoking any central gas outflows. There are, however, distinct and faint high-velocity features, most likely high-velocity clouds. These clouds may contribute to broaden the HI and OH spectra., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We present UV to NIR spectroscopic observations of the quasar J0015+1842 and its proximate molecular absorber at z=2.631. The [OIII] emission line of the quasar is composed of a broad (FWHM~1600 km/s), spatially-unresolved component, blueshifted by ~600 km/s from a narrow, spatially-resolved component (FWHM~650 km/s). The wide, blueshifted, unresolved component is consistent with the presence of outflowing gas in the nuclear region. The narrow component can be further decomposed into a blue and a red blob with velocity width of several hundred km/s each, seen ~5 pkpc on opposite spatial locations from the nuclear emission, indicating outflows over galactic scales. The presence of ionised gas over kpc-scales is also seen from a weak CIV emission component, detected in the trough of a saturated CIV absorption that removes the strong nuclear emission from the quasar. Towards the nuclear emission, we observe absorption lines from atomic species in various ionisation and excitation stages and confirm the presence of strong H2 lines. The overall absorption profile is very wide, spread over ~600 km/s, roughly matching in velocities the blue narrow [OIII] blob. From detailed investigation of the chemical and physical conditions in the absorbing gas, we infer densities of about nH ~ 10^4-10^5 cm^-3 in the cold (T~100 K) H2-bearing gas, which we find to be located at ~10 kpc distances from the central UV source. We conjecture that we are witnessing different manifestations of a same AGN-driven multi-phase outflow, where approaching gas is intercepted by the line of sight to the nucleus. We corroborate this picture by modelling the scattering of Ly-a photons from the central source through the outflowing gas, reproducing the peculiar Ly-a absorption-emission profile, with a damped Ly-a absorption in which red-peaked, spatially offset and extended Ly-a emission is seen. [abridged], Comment: Minor updates to match the published version in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We present results of analysis of physical conditions (number density, intensity of UV field, kinetic temperature) in the cold H$_2$-bearing interstellar medium of local and high redshift galaxies. Our measurements based on the fit to the observed population of H$_2$ rotational levels and CI fine-structure levels with the help of grids of numerical models calculated with the PDR Meudon code. A joint analysis of low H$_2$ rotational levels and CI fine-structure levels allows to break the degeneracy in the $I_{UV}-n_{\rm{H}}$ plane and provides significantly tighter constraints on the number density and intensity of UV field. Using archive data from the VLT/UVES, KECK/HIRES, HST/STIS and FUSE telescopes we selected 12 high redshift damped Ly$\alpha$ systems (DLAs) in quasar spectra and 14 H$_2$ absorption systems along the lines of sight towards stars in the Milky-Way and the Magellanic Clouds galaxies. These systems have strong H$_2$ components with the column density $\log N({\rm{H_2}})/{\rm{cm}}^{-2}>18$ and associated CI absorptions. We find that H$_2$-bearing medium in high redshift DLAs and in local galaxies has similar values of the kinetic temperatures $T_{\rm{kin}}\sim100$K and number density $10-500$ cm$^{-3}$. However, the intensity of incident UV radiation in DLAs is varied in the wide range ($0.1-100$ units of Mathis field), while it is $\sim0.1-3$ units of Mathis field for H$_2$ systems in Milky-Way and LMC and SMC galaxies. The large dispersion of measured UV flux in DLAs is probably a consequence that DLA sample probes the galaxies selected from the overall galaxy population at high-z and therefore corresponds to the wide range of the physical conditions., Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present the detection of excited fine-structure energy levels of singly-ionized silicon and neutral carbon associated with the proximate damped Lyman-$\alpha$ system at $z_{\rm abs}=2.811$ towards \qso. This absorber has an apparent relative velocity that is inconsistent with the Hubble flow indicating motion along the line-of-sight towards the quasar, i.e., $z_{\rm abs}>z_{\rm em}$. We measure the metallicity of the system to be ${\rm [Zn/H]}=-0.68\pm 0.02$. Using the relative populations of the fine-structure levels of SiII and CI, as well as the populations of H$_2$ rotational levels, we constrain the physical conditions of the gas. We derive hydrogen number densities of $n_{\rm H}=190^{+70}_{-50}$ cm$^{-3}$ and $260^{+30}_{-20}$ cm$^{-3}$ in two velocity components where both CI and H$_2$ are detected. Taking into account the kinetic temperature in each component, $\sim 150$K, we infer high values of thermal pressure in the cold neutral medium probed by the observations. The strengths of the UV field in Draine's unit are $I_{\rm UV} = 10^{+5}_{-3}$ and $14^{+3}_{-3}$ in each of these two components, respectively. Such enhanced UV fluxes and thermal pressure compared to intervening DLAs are likely due to the proximity of the quasar. The typical size of the absorber is $\sim 10^4$ a.u. Assuming the UV flux is dominated by the quasar, we constrain the distance between the quasar and the absorber to be $\sim 150-200$ kpc. This favours a scenario where the absorption occurs in a companion galaxy located in the group where the quasar-host galaxy resides. This is in line with studies in emission that revealed the presence of several galaxies around the quasar., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present details of the Automated Radio Telescope Imaging Pipeline (ARTIP) and results of a sensitive blind search for HI and OH absorbers at $z<0.4$ and $z<0.7$, respectively. ARTIP is written in Python 3.6, extensively uses the Common Astronomy Software Application (CASA) tools and tasks, and is designed to enable the geographically-distributed MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS) team to collaboratively process large volumes of radio interferometric data. We apply it to the first MALS dataset obtained using the 64-dish MeerKAT radio telescope and 32K channel mode of the correlator. With merely 40 minutes on target, we present the most sensitive spectrum of PKS1830-211 ever obtained and characterize the known HI ($z=0.19$) and OH ($z=0.89$) absorbers. We further demonstrate ARTIP's capabilities to handle realistic observing scenarios by applying it to a sample of 72 bright radio sources observed with the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) to blindly search for HI and OH absorbers. We estimate the numbers of HI and OH absorbers per unit redshift to be $n_{21}(z\sim0.18)<$0.14 and $n_{\rm OH}(z\sim0.40)<$0.12, respectively, and constrain the cold gas covering factor of galaxies at large impact parameters (50 kpc $<\rho<$ 150 kpc) to be less than 0.022. Due to the small redshift path, $\Delta z\sim$13 for HI with column density$>5.4\times10^{19}$ cm$^{-2}$, the survey has probed only the outskirts of star-forming galaxies at $\rho>30$ kpc. MALS with the expected $\Delta z\sim10^{3-4}$ will overcome this limitation and provide stringent constraints on the cold gas fraction of galaxies in diverse environments over $0

We present a semi-analytical description of the relative HD/H2 abundance in the diffuse interstellar medium. We found three asymptotics of the relative HD/H$_2$ abundance for different parts of the medium and their dependence on the physical parameters, namely, number density, intensity of the ultraviolet field, cosmic-ray ionization rate and metallicity. Our calculations are in a good agreement with the full network calculations using Meudon PDR code. We found that in the case of low metallicity and/or higher cosmic ray ionization rate, HD formation rate is significantly enhanced, HD/H2 ratio increases, and the DI/HD transition occurs at a lower penetration depth of UV radiation than the HI/H$_2$ transition. This can explain the observed difference in the HD/H$_2$ abundance between the local and high-redshift measurements., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS letters

We present the results from VLT/X-shooter spectroscopic observations of 11 extremely strong intervening damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (ESDLAs) initially selected as high N(Hi) (i.e.>=5x10^21 cm-2) candidates from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We confirm the high Hi column densities which we measure to be in the range log N(Hi) = 21.6-22.4. Molecular hydrogen is detected with high column densities (N(H_2)>=10^18 cm-2) in five out of eleven systems, three of which are reported here for the first time. We compare the chemical properties of this sample of ESDLAs, supplemented with literature measurements, to that of DLAs located at the redshift of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRB-DLAs). We confirm that the two populations are almost indistinguishable in terms of chemical enrichment, H_2 column density and gas kinematics. All this suggests that ESDLAs and GRB-DLAs probe similar galactic environments. We search for the galaxy counterparts of ESDLAs and find associated emission lines in three out of eleven systems, two of which are reported here for the first time (towards the quasars SDSS J002503.03+114547.80 and SDSS J114347.21+142021.60, respectively). The measured separations between the quasar sightlines and the emission associated with the ESDLA galaxy are all very small (rho < 3 kpc). While the small impact parameters are similar to what is observed for GRB-DLAs, the associated star-formation rates are on average lower than seen for GRB host galaxies. This is explained by long-duration GRBs being associated with the death of massive stars, hence pinpointing regions of active star formation in the GRB host galaxies. Our observations support the suggestion from the literature that ESDLAs could act as blind analogues of GRB-DLAs, probing high column density neutral gas in the heart of high-redshift galaxies, without any prior on the instantaneous star-formation rate., Comment: 13 page paper with 8 additional appendix pages, 10 main figures with 23 figures in appendix

We investigate a contribution of the Jeans smoothing to the minimal width of Ly$\alpha$ forest lines and discuss how the accounting for this additional broadening affects the inferred parameters of the intergalactic matter equation of state. We estimate a power-law index $\gamma$ of the equation of state, a temperature at the mean density $T_0$ and a hydrogen photoionization rate $\Gamma$ within 4 redshift bins. Furthermore, in each bin we obtain an upper limit on the scale-parameter $f_{\rm J}$, which sets the relation between the Jeans length and the characteristic physical size of the absorber clouds., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; to appear in proceedings of the International Conference PhysicA.Spb/2019, St. Petersburg, October 22-24, 2019

We present a new method to infer parameters of the temperature-density relation in the intergalactic medium in the post-reionization epoch at $z\sim 2-4$. This method is based on the analysis of the Ly$\alpha$ absorbers distribution over column densities and Doppler parameters by the model joint probability density function. This approach allows us to measure the power-law index $\gamma$ of the temperature-density relation and a certain combination of the temperature at the mean density $T_0$ and hydrogen photoionization rate $\Gamma$. To estimate $T_0$ and $\Gamma$ separately, we employ measurements of the Ly$\alpha$ forest effective opacity and the model gas probability density function. We show that $\gamma$ tends to be lower than 1.6 and reaches 1.3 at redshift $\sim3$. The inferred temperatures at the mean density are $\sim(2\pm0.5)\times10^4$ K in the studied redshift range. Both these estimates favour HeII reionization at $z\gtrsim3$. We find that the hydrogen photoionization rate is $\sim0.6\times10^{-12}$ s$^{-1}$, which is consistent with previous measurements., Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables. Accepted to ApJ

We present results from spectroscopic observations with X-shooter at the Very Large Telescope of seven H2-bearing DLAs at high redshifts (z$_{\rm abs}\sim 2.5-3$). These DLAs were originally selected from the presence of strong H$_2$ lines directly seen at the DLA redshift in low-resolution, low S/N SDSS spectra. We confirm the detection of molecular hydrogen in all of them. We measure the column densities of HI, H$_2$ in various rotational levels, and metal species, and associated dust extinction. The metallicities, obtained from undepleted species, are in the range logZ=-0.8 to -0.2. We discuss the chemical enrichment in these clouds and compare their properties with that of other molecular-rich systems selected by other means. In particular, we show that three different methods of pre-selection of H$_2$-bearing DLAs in the SDSS have their own biases but complement each other mostly in terms of chemical enrichment. We use the rotational excitation of H$_2$ molecules together with the fine-structure energy levels of neutral carbon to constrain the physical conditions in the gas with the help of numerical modeling as well as analytical expressions for the surface density at which atomic to molecular conversion happens. We find that the H$_2$-bearing medium revealed by the studied DLAs has typical values for the kinetic temperature, hydrogen density, and UV radiation field of, respectively, T$\sim$100K, $n_{\rm H}\sim 100$ cm$^{-3}$, and I$_{\rm UV}$ about twice the intensity of the Draine field. Detailed studies combining different selections should, therefore, bring important clues to understand the HI-H$_2$ transition at high redshift., Comment: 42 pages, 50 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present results from a search for strong H2 absorption systems proximate to quasars (zabs~zem) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 14. The search is based on the Lyman-Werner band signature of damped H2 absorption lines without any prior on the associated metal or neutral hydrogen content. This has resulted in the detection of 81 systems with log N(H2)~19-20 located within a few thousand km/s from the quasar. Compared to a control sample of intervening systems, this implies an excess of proximate H2 systems by about a factor of 4 to 5. The incidence of H2 systems increases steeply with decreasing relative velocity, reaching an order of magnitude higher than expected from intervening statistics at Delta_v<1000 km/s. The most striking feature of the proximate systems compared to the intervening ones is the presence of Ly-alpha emission in the core of the associated damped HI absorption line in about half of the sample. This puts constraints on the relative projected sizes of the absorbing clouds to those of the quasar line emitting regions. Using the SDSS spectra, we estimate the HI, metal and dust content of the systems, which are found to have typical metallicities of one tenth Solar, albeit with a large spread among individual systems. We observe trends between the fraction of leaking Ly-alpha emission and the relative absorber-quasar velocity as well as with the excitation of several metal species, similar to what has been seen in metal-selected proximate DLAs. With the help of theoretical HI-H2 transition relations, we show that the presence of H2 helps to break the degeneracy between density and strength of the UV field as main sources of excitation and hence provides unique constraints on the possible origin and location of the absorbing clouds. We suggest that most of these systems originate from galaxies in the quasar group. [truncated], Comment: accepted for publication in A&A

We present a study of cold gas absorption from a damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorber (DLA) at redshift $z_{\rm abs}=1.946$ towards two lensed images of the quasar J144254.78+405535.5 at redshift $z_{\rm QSO} = 2.590$. The physical separation of the two lines of sight at the absorber redshift is $d_{\rm abs}=0.7$~kpc based on our lens model. We observe absorption lines from neutral carbon and H$_2$ along both lines of sight indicating that cold gas is present on scales larger than $d_{\rm abs}$. We measure column densities of HI to be $\log N(\rm H\,\i) = 20.27\pm0.02$ and $20.34\pm0.05$ and of H$_2$ to be $\log N(\rm H_2) = 19.7\pm0.1$ and $19.9\pm0.2$. The metallicity inferred from sulphur is consistent with Solar metallicity for both sightlines: $[{\rm S/H}]_A = 0.0\pm0.1$ and $[{\rm S/H}]_B = -0.1\pm0.1$. Based on the excitation of low rotational levels of H$_2$, we constrain the temperature of the cold gas phase to be $T=109\pm20$ and $T=89\pm25$ K for the two lines of sight. From the relative excitation of fine-structure levels of CI, we constrain the hydrogen volumetric densities 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 $l\approx0.1$ pc. Using the transverse line-of-sight separation of 0.7 kpc together with the individual cloud size, we are able to put an upper limit to the volume filling factor of cold gas of $f_{\rm vol} < 0.2$ %. 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 CI absorbers and DLAs., Comment: 12 pages + 5 pages of appendix. 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

Quasar spectra provide a unique opportunity to investigate the intergalactic medium at high redshifts. The spectral analysis of the Ly$\alpha$ forest allows us to constrain the effective equation of state of the intergalactic medium and its changes during the evolution of the Universe. Based on the Voigt profile fitting of Ly$\alpha$ forest lines in 50 high-resolution QSO spectra obtained at Keck telescope we present new measurements of the power-law index $\gamma$ of temperature-density relation in IGM for six redshift bins in the range $z=1.6-3.7$. We find that the IGM state is close to isothermal ($\gamma\approx 1$) at $z\sim 3$ which may indicate that HeII reionization occurred at this redshift., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; submitted to the International Conference PhysicA.SPb/2018, Saint Petersburg, Russia, October 23-25, 2018

Spectroscopy of the Ly$\alpha$ forest in quasar spectra proved to be a useful tool for probing the intergalactic gas. We developed the automatic program for Voigt profile fitting of Ly$\alpha$ forest lines. We run this code on 9 high resolution ($\sim 50000$) quasars spectra with a high signal-to-noise ratio ($\sim 50 -100$) from the Keck telescope archive and obtained the sample of single well-fitted Ly$\alpha$ lines. Fitting the joint 2d distribution of column density and Doppler parameter from this sample by physically reasonable model we estimate a power law index $\gamma$ of the equation of state of the intergalactic medium in the redshift range $z\sim 2-3$. We found that our measurement is in an agreement with measurements by other groups obtained with Voigt profile fitting technique., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in proceedings of the International Conference PhysicA.Spb, St. Petersburg, October 24-26, 2017

While molecular quasar absorption systems provide unique probes of the physical and chemical properties of the gas as well as original constraints on fundamental physics and cosmology, their detection remains challenging. Here we present the results from a complete survey for molecular gas in thirty-nine absorption systems selected solely upon the detection of neutral carbon lines in SDSS spectra, without any prior knowledge of the atomic or molecular gas content. H2 is found in all twelve systems (including seven new detections) where the corresponding lines are covered by the instrument setups and measured to have log N(H2)>=18, indicating a self-shielded regime. We also report seven CO detections (7/39) down to log N(CO)~13.5, including a new one, and put stringent constraints on N(CO) for the remaining 32 systems. N(CO) and N(CI) are found to be strongly correlated with N(CO)/N(CI)~1/10. This suggests that the CI-selected absorber population is probing gas deeper than the HI-H2 transition in which a substantial fraction of the total hydrogen in the cloud is in the form of H2. We conclude that targeting CI-bearing absorbers is a very efficient way to find high-metallicity molecular absorbers. However, probing the molecular content in lower metallicity regimes as well as high column density neutral gas remains to be undertaken to unravel the processes of gas conversion in normal high-z galaxies, Comment: accepted for publication in A&A

We present a detailed analysis of a H$_2$-rich, extremely strong intervening Damped Ly-$\alpha$ Absorption system (DLA) at $z_{\rm abs}=2.786$ towards the quasar J$\,$0843+0221, observed with the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope. The total column density of molecular (resp. atomic) hydrogen is $\log N$(H$_2$)=$21.21\pm0.02$ (resp. $\log N$(H$\,$I)=$21.82\pm0.11$), making it to be the first case in quasar absorption lines studies with H$_2$ column density as high as what is seen in $^{13}$CO-selected clouds in the Milky-Way. We find that this system has one of the lowest metallicity detected among H$_2$-bearing DLAs, with $\rm [Zn/H]=-1.52^{+0.08}_{-0.10}$. This can be the reason for the marked differences compared to systems with similar H$_2$ column densities in the local Universe: $(i)$ the kinetic temperature, $T\sim$120~K, derived from the $J=0,1$ H$_2$ rotational levels is at least twice higher than expected; $(ii)$ there is little dust extinction with A$_V < 0.1$; $(iii)$ no CO molecules are detected, putting a constraint on the $X_{\rm CO}$ factor $X_{\rm CO}> 2\times 10^{23} $ cm$^{-2}$/(km/s\,K), in the very low metallicity gas. Low CO and high H$_2$ contents indicate that this system represents "CO-dark/faint" gas. We investigate the physical conditions in the H$_2$-bearing gas using the fine-structure levels of C$\,$I, C$\,$II, Si$\,$II and the rotational levels of HD and H$_2$. We find the number density to be about $n \sim 260-380\,$cm$^{-3}$, implying a high thermal pressure of $(3-5) \times 10^4\,$cm$^{-3}\,$K. We further identify a trend of increasing pressure with increasing total hydrogen column density. This independently supports the suggestion that extremely strong DLAs (with $\log\,$N(H) $\sim 22$) probe high-z galaxies at low impact parameters., Comment: 21 pages, 21 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present the discovery of a molecular cloud at zabs=2.5255 along the line of sight to the quasar J0000+0048. We perform a detailed analysis of the absorption lines from ionic, neutral atomic and molecular species in different excitation levels, as well as the broad-band dust extinction. We find that the absorber classifies as a Damped Lyman-alpha system (DLA) with logN(HI)(cm^-2)=20.8+/-0.1. The DLA has super-Solar metallicity with a depletion pattern typical of cold gas and an overall molecular fraction ~50%. This is the highest f-value observed to date in a high-z intervening system. Most of the molecular hydrogen arises from a clearly identified narrow (b~0.7 km/s), cold component in which CO molecules are also found, with logN(CO)~15. We study the chemical and physical conditions in the cold gas. We find that the line of sight probes the gas deep after the HI-to-H2 transition in a ~4-5 pc-size cloud with volumic density nH~80 cm^-3 and temperature of only 50 K. Our model suggests that the presence of small dust grains (down to about 0.001 {\mu}m) and high cosmic ray ionisation rate (zeta_H a few times 10^-15 s^-1) are needed to explain the observed atomic and molecular abundances. The presence of small grains is also in agreement with the observed steep extinction curve that also features a 2175 A bump. The properties of this cloud are very similar to what is seen in diffuse molecular regions of the nearby Perseus complex. The high excitation temperature of CO rotational levels towards J0000+0048 betrays however the higher temperature of the cosmic microwave background. Using the derived physical conditions, we correct for a small contribution (0.3 K) of collisional excitation and obtain TCMB(z = 2.53)~9.6 K, in perfect agreement with the predicted adiabatic cooling of the Universe. [abridged], Comment: 24 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

An independent analysis of the molecular hydrogen absorption system at z = 2.059 in the spectrum of the quasar J2123-0050 is presented. The H_2 system consists of two components (A and B) with column densities log N^A(H_2) = 17.94+/-0.01 and log N^B(H_2) = 15.16+/-0.02. The spectrum exhibits the lines of HD molecules (log N^A(HD) = 13.87+/-0.06) and the neutral species C I and Cl I associated with the H_2 absorption system. For the molecular hydrogen lines near the quasar's Ly_beta and O VI emission lines, we detect a nonzero residual flux, ~3% of the total flux, caused by the effect of partial coverage of the quasar's broad-line region by an H_2 cloud. The uniqueness of the system being investigated is manifested in a high abundance of the neutral species H_2 and C I at the lowest H I column density, log N(H I) = 19.18+/-0.15, among the high redshift systems. The N(HD)/2N(H_2) ratio for component A has turned out to be also unusually high, (4.26+/-0.60)x10^{-5}. We have investigated the physical conditions in components A and B. Component A represents the optically thick case; the gas has a low number density (n~30 cm^{-3}) and a temperature T~140 K. In component B, the medium is optically thin with n<100 cm^{-3} and T<100 K. The ultraviolet (UV) background intensity in the clouds exceeds the mean intensity in our Galaxy by almost an order of magnitude. A high gas ionization fraction, n(H+)/n(H)~10^{-2}, which can be the result of partial shielding of the system from hard UV radiation, is needed to describe the high HD and C I column densities. Using our simulations with the PDR Meudon code, we can reconstruct the observed column densities of the species within the model with a constant density n(H)=40 cm^{-3}. A high H_2 formation rate (higher than the mean Galactic value by a factor of 10-40) and high gas ionization fraction and UV background intensity are needed in this case., Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables

We report a new detection of neutral deuterium in the sub Damped Lyman Alpha system with low metallicity [O/H]\,=\,$-2.042 \pm 0.005$ at $z_{\rm abs}=2.437$ towards QSO~J\,1444$+$2919. The hydrogen column density in this system is log$N$(H\,{\sc i})~$=19.983\pm0.010$ and the measured value of deuterium abundance is log(D/H)~$=-4.706\pm0.007_{\rm stat}\pm0.067_{\rm syst}$. This system meets the set of strict selection criteria stated recently by Cooke et al. and, therefore, widens the {\it Precision Sample} of D/H. However, possible underestimation of systematic errors can bring bias into the mean D/H value (especially if use a weighted mean). Hence, it might be reasonable to relax these selection criteria and, thus, increase the number of acceptable absorption systems with measured D/H values. In addition, an unweighted mean value might be more appropriate to describe the primordial deuterium abundance. The unweighted mean value of the whole D/H data sample available to date (15 measurements) gives a conservative value of the primordial deuterium abundance (D/H)$_{\rm p}=(2.55\pm 0.19)\times10^{-5}$ which is in good agreement with the prediction of analysis of the cosmic microwave background radiation for the standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis. By means of the derived (D/H)$_{\rm p}$ value the baryon density of the Universe $\Omega_{\rm b}h^2=0.0222\pm0.0013$ and the baryon-to-photon ratio $\eta_{10} = 6.09\pm 0.36$ have been deduced. These values have confident intervals which are less stringent than that obtained for the {\it Precision Sample} and, thus, leave a broader window for new physics. The latter is particularly important in the light of the lithium problem., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS, 10 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables