No Arabic abstract
We measure the neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) gas content of field galaxies at intermediate redshifts of z ~ 0.1 and z ~ 0.2 using hydrogen 21-cm emission lines observed with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT). In order to make high signal-to-noise ratio detections, an HI signal stacking technique is applied: HI emission spectra from multiple galaxies, optically selected by the CNOC2 redshift survey project, are co-added to measure the average HI mass of galaxies in the two redshift bins. We calculate the cosmic HI gas densities ({Omega}_{HI}) at the two redshift regimes and compare those with measurements at other redshifts to investigate the global evolution of the HI gas density over cosmic time. From a total of 59 galaxies at z ~ 0.1 we find {Omega}_{HI} = (0.33 $pm$ 0.05) ~ $times$ 10$^{-3}$, and at z ~ 0.2 we find {Omega}_{HI} = (0.34 $pm$ 0.09) ~ $times$ 10$^{-3}$, based on 96 galaxies. These measurements help bridge the gap between high-z damped Lyman-$alpha$ observations and blind 21-cm surveys at $z=$ 0. We find that our measurements of {Omega}_{HI} at z ~ 0.1 and 0.2 are consistent with the HI gas density at z ~ 0 and that all measurements of {Omega}_{HI} from 21-cm emission observations at $z la$ ~ 0.2 are in agreement with no evolution of the HI gas content in galaxies during the last 2.4 Gyr.
We use observations made with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to probe the neutral hydrogen (HI) gas content of field galaxies in the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey (VVDS) 14h field at $z approx 0.32$. Because the HI emission from individual galaxies is too faint to detect at this redshift, we use an HI spectral stacking technique using the known optical positions and redshifts of the 165 galaxies in our sample to co-add their HI spectra and thus obtain the average HI mass of the galaxies. Stacked HI measurements of 165 galaxies show that 95 per cent of the neutral gas is found in blue, star-forming galaxies. Among these galaxies, those having lower stellar mass are more gas-rich than more massive ones. We apply a volume correction to our HI measurement to evaluate the HI gas density at $z approx 0.32$ as $Omega_{HI}=(0.50pm0.18) times 10^{-3}$ in units of the cosmic critical density. This value is in good agreement with previous results at z < 0.4, suggesting no evolution in the neutral hydrogen gas density over the last $sim 4$ Gyr. However the $z approx 0.32$ gas density is lower than that at $z sim 5$ by at least a factor of two.
We present the results of HI spectral stacking analysis of Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observations targeting the COSMOS field. The GMRT data cube contains 474 field galaxies with redshifts known from the zCOSMOS-bright 10k catalogue. Spectra for the galaxies are co-added and the stacked spectrum allows us to make a $sim 3sigma$ measurement of the average HI mass. Using this average HI mass along with the integral optical $B$-band luminosity of the galaxies and the luminosity density of the COSMOS field, a volume normalisation is applied to obtain the cosmic HI mass density ($Omega_{rm HI}$). We find a cosmic HI mass density of $Omega_{rm HI}$ = (0.42 $pm$ 0.16) $times$ 10$^{-3}$ at $z sim 0.37$, which is the highest-redshift measurement of $Omega_{rm HI}$ ever made using HI spectral stacking. The value we obtained for $Omega_{rm HI}$ at $z sim 0.37$ is consistent with that measured from large blind 21-cm surveys at $z = 0$ as well as measurements from other HI stacking experiments at lower redshifts. Our measurement in conjunction with earlier measurements indicates that there has been no significant evolution of HI gas abundance over the last 4 Gyr. A weighted mean of $Omega_{rm HI}$ from all 21-cm measurements at redshifts $z lesssim 0.4$ gives $Omega_{rm HI}$ = (0.35 $pm$ 0.01) $times$ 10$^{-3}$. The $Omega_{rm HI}$ measured (from HI 21-cm emission measurements) at $z lesssim 0.4$ is however approximately half that measured from Damped Lyman-$alpha$ Absorption (DLA) systems at $z gtrsim 2$. Deeper surveys with existing and upcoming instruments will be critical to understand the evolution of $Omega_{rm HI}$ in the redshift range intermediate between $z sim 0.4$ and the range probed by DLA observations.
We present the first results of a targeted survey carried out with the 305 m Arecibo telescope to detect HI-line emission from galaxies at redshift z>0.16. The targets, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database, are non-interacting disk galaxies in relatively isolated fields. We present here the HI spectra and derived HI parameters for ten objects detected in this pilot program. All are massive disk galaxies in the redshift interval 0.17-0.25 (i.e. 2-3 Gyr look-back time), with HI masses M_HI=3-8 x 10^10 Msun and high gas mass fractions (HI - to - stellar mass ratios ~10-30%). Our results demonstrate the efficacy of exploiting Arecibos large collecting area to measure the HI mass and rotational velocity of galaxies above redshift z=0.2. In particular, this sample includes the highest redshift detections of HI emission from individual galaxies made to date. Extension of this pilot program will allow us to study the HI properties of field galaxies at cosmological distances, thus complementing ongoing radio synthesis observations of cluster samples at z~0.2.
This review summarizes recent studies of the cold neutral hydrogen gas associated with galaxies probed via the HI 21-cm absorption line. HI 21-cm absorption against background radio-loud quasars is a powerful tool to study the neutral gas distribution and kinematics in foreground galaxies from kilo-parsec to parsec scales. At low redshifts (z<0.4), it has been used to characterize the distribution of high column density neutral gas around galaxies and study the connection of this gas with the galaxys optical properties. The neutral gas around galaxies has been found to be patchy in distribution, with variations in optical depth observed at both kilo-parsec and parsec scales. At high redshifts (z>0.5), HI 21-cm absorption has been used to study the neutral gas in metal or Lyman-alpha absorption-selected galaxies. It has been found to be closely linked with the metal and dust content of the gas. Trends of various properties like incidence, spin temperature and velocity width of HI 21-cm absorption with redshift have been studied, which imply evolution of cold gas properties in galaxies with cosmic time. Upcoming large blind surveys of HI 21-cm absorption with next generation radio telescopes are expected to determine accurately the redshift evolution of the number density of HI 21-cm absorbers per unit redshift and hence understand what drives the global star formation rate density evolution.
We use a large N-body simulation to examine the detectability of HI in emission at redshift z ~ 1, and the constraints imposed by current observations on the neutral hydrogen mass function of galaxies at this epoch. We consider three different models for populating dark matter halos with HI, designed to encompass uncertainties at this redshift. These models are consistent with recent observations of the detection of HI in emission at z ~ 0.8. Whilst detection of 21 cm emission from individual halos requires extremely long integrations with existing radio interferometers, such as the Giant Meter Radio Telescope (GMRT), we show that the stacked 21 cm signal from a large number of halos can be easily detected. However, the stacking procedure requires accurate redshifts of galaxies. We show that radio observations of the field of the DEEP2 spectroscopic galaxy redshift survey should allow detection of the HI mass function at the 5-12 sigma level in the mass range 10^(11.4) M_sun/h < M_halo < 10^(12.5)M_sun/h, with a moderate amount of observation time. Assuming a larger noise level that corresponds to an upper bound for the expected noise for the GMRT, the detection significance for the HI mass function is still at the 1.7-3 sigma level. We find that optically undetected satellite galaxies enhance the HI emission profile of the parent halo, leading to broader wings as well as a higher peak signal in the stacked profile of a large number of halos. We show that it is in principle possible to discern the contribution of undetected satellites to the total HI signal, even though cosmic variance limitation make this challenging for some of our models.