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Register a new userThe Distribution of Metallicity in the IGM at z~2.5: OVI and CIV Absorption in the Spectra of 7 QSOs
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Robert A. Simcoe
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We present a direct measurement of the metallicity distribution function for the high redshift intergalactic medium. We determine the shape of this function using survival statistics, which account for both detections and non-detections of OVI and CIV associated with HI absorption in quasar spectra. Our OVI sample probes the metal content of ~50% of all baryons at z~2.5. We find a median intergalactic abundance of [O,C/H]=-2.82; the differential abundance distribution is approximately lognormal with mean <[C,O/H]>~-2.85 and sigma=0.75 dex. Some 60-70% the Lya forest lines are enriched to observable levels ([O,C/H]>-3.5) while the remaining ~30% of the lines have even lower abundances. Thus we have not detected a universal metallicity floor as has been suggested for some Population III enrichment scenaria. In fact, we argue that the bulk of the intergalactic metals formed later than the first stars that are thought to have triggered reionization. We do not observe a significant trend of decreasing metallicity toward the lower density IGM, at least within regions that would be characterized as filaments in numerical simulations. However, an [O/H] enhancement may be present at somewhat high densities. We estimate that roughly half of all baryons at these redshifts have been enriched to [O/H]>=-3.5. We develop a simple model for the metallicity evolution of the IGM, to estimate the chemical yield of galaxies formed prior to z~2.5. We find that the typical galaxy recycled 0.1-0.4% of its mass back into the IGM as heavy elements in the first 3 Gyr after the Big Bang.
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We present IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer observations of the 12CO(3-2) emission from two far-infrared luminous QSOs at z ~ 2.5 selected from the Herschel-ATLAS survey. These far-infrared bright QSOs were selected to have supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses similar to those thought to reside in sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs) at z ~ 2.5; making them ideal candidates as systems in transition from an ultraluminous infrared galaxy phase to a sub-mm faint, unobscured, QSO. We detect 12CO(3-2) emission from both QSOs and we compare their baryonic, dynamical and SMBH masses to those of SMGs at the same epoch. We find that these far-infrared bright QSOs have similar dynamical but lower gas masses than SMGs. In particular we find that far-infrared bright QSOs have ~50+-23% less warm/dense gas than SMGs, which combined with previous results showing the QSOs lack the extended, cool reservoir of gas seen in SMGs, suggests that they are at a different evolutionary stage. This is consistent with the hypothesis that far-infrared bright QSOs represent a short (~1Myr) but ubiquitous phase in the transformation of dust obscured, gas-rich, starburst-dominated SMGs into unobscured, gas-poor, QSOs.
For the sample from Ge et al. of 87 low-$z$ Palomar--Green (PG) quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) and 130 high-$z$ QSOs ($0<z<5$) with $hb$-based single-epoch supermassive black hole (SMBH) masses, we performed a uniform decomposition of the civ $lambda$1549 broad-line profile. Based on the rest frame defined by the oiii $lambda$5007 narrow emission line, a medium-strong positive correlation is found between the civ blueshift and the luminosity at 5100AA or the Eddington ratio leddR. A medium-strong negative relationship is found between the civ blueshift and civ equivalent width. These results support the postulation where the radiation pressure may be the driver of civ blueshift. There is a medium strong correlation between the mass ratio of civ-based to $hb$-based mbh and the civ blueshift, which indicates that the bias for civ-based mbh is affected by the civ profile.
Broad emission lines is a prominent property of type I quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). The origin of the Baldwin effect for civ $lambda1549~$AA broad emission lines, i.e., the luminosity dependence of the civ equivalent width (EW), is not clearly established. Using a sample of 87 low-$z$ Palomar-Green (PG) QSOs and 126 high-$z$ QSOs across the widest possible ranges of redshift ($0<z<5$), we consistently calculate hb-based single-epoch supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass and the Eddington ratio to investigate the underlying driver of the civ Baldwin effect. An empirical formula to estimate the host fraction in the continuum luminosity at 5100 AA is presented and used in hb-based mbh calculation for low-$z$ PG QSOs. It is found that, for low-$z$ PG QSOs, the Eddington ratio has strong correlations with PC1 and PC2 from the principal component analysis, and civ EW has a strong correlation with the optical feii strength or PC1. Expanding the luminosity range with high-$z$ QSOs, it is found that civ Baldwin effect exists in our QSOs sample. Using hb-based single-epoch SMBH mass for our QSOs sample, it is found that civ EW has a strong correlation with the Eddington ratio, which is stronger than that with the SMBH mass. It implies that the Eddington ratio seems to be a better underlying parameter than the SMBH mass to drive the civ Baldwin effect.
We present FUSE observations of OVI absorption in a sample of 100 extragalactic targets and 2 distant halo stars. We describe the details of the calibration, alignment in velocity, continuum fitting, and manner in which contaminants were removed (Galactic H2, absorption intrinsic to the background target and intergalactic Ly-beta lines). We searched for OVI absorption in the velocity range -1200 to 1200 km/s. With a few exceptions, we only find OVI between -400 and 400 km/s; the exceptions may be intergalactic OVI. We discuss the separation of the observed OVI absorption into components associated with the Galactic halo and components at high-velocity, which are probably located in the neighborhood of the Galaxy. We describe the measurements of equivalent width and column density, and we analyze the different contributions to the errors. We conclude that low-velocity Galactic OVI absorption occurs along all sightlines - the few non-detections only occur in noisy spectra. We further show that high-velocity OVI is very common, having equivalent width >65 mAA in 50% of the sightlines and >30 mAA in 70% of the high-quality sightlines. The high-velocity OVI absorption has velocities relative to the LSR of +/-(100--330) km/s; there is no correlation between velocity and absorption strength. We present 50 km/s wide OVI channel maps. These show evidence for the imprint of Galactic rotation. They also highlight two known HI high-velocity clouds (complex~C and the Magellanic Stream). The channel maps further show that OVI at velocities <-200 km/s occurs along all sightlines in the region l=20-150, b<-30, while OVI at velocities >200 km/s occurs along all sightlines in the region l=180-300, b>20 (abbreviated).
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