We have performed an analysis of over 34,000 MgII doublets at 0.36 < z < 2.29 in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data-Release 7 quasar spectra; the catalog, advanced data products, and tools for analysis are publicly available. The catalog was divide
d into 14 small redshift bins with roughly 2500 doublets in each, and from Monte-Carlo simulations, we estimate 50% completeness at rest equivalent width W_r ~ 0.8 Angstrom. The equivalent-width frequency distribution is described well by an exponential model at all redshifts, and the distribution becomes flatter with increasing redshift, i.e., there are more strong systems relative to weak ones. Direct comparison with previous SDSS MgII surveys reveal that we recover at least 70% of the doublets in these other catalogs, in addition to detecting thousands of new systems. We discuss how these surveys come by their different results, which qualitatively agree but, due to the very small uncertainties, differ by a statistically significant amount. The estimated physical cross-section of MgII-absorbing galaxy halos increased three-fold, approximately, from z = 0.4 --> 2.3, while the W_r >= 1 Angstrom absorber line density grew, dN_MgII/dX, by roughly 45%. Finally, we explore the different evolution of various absorber populations - damped Lyman-alpha absorbers, Lyman-limit systems, strong CIV absorbers, and strong and weaker MgII systems - across cosmic time (0 < z < 6).
We have vastly increased the CIV statistics at intermediate redshift by surveying the thousands of quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data-Release 7. We visually verified over 16,000 CIV systems with 1.46 < z < 4.55---a sample size that renders
Poisson error negligible. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations show we are approximately 50% complete down to rest equivalent widths W_r ~ 0.6 AA. We analyzed the sample as a whole and in ten small redshift bins with approximately 1500 doublets each. The equivalent width frequency distributions f(W_r) were well modeled by an exponential, with little evolution in shape. In contrast with previous studies that modeled the frequency distribution as a single power law, the fitted exponential gives a finite mass density for the CIV ions. The co-moving line density dN_CIV/dX evolved smoothly with redshift, increasing by a factor of 2.37+/-0.09 from z = 4.55 to 1.96, then plateauing at dN_CIV/dX ~ 0.34 for z = 1.96 to 1.46. Comparing our SDSS sample with z < 1 (ultraviolet) and z > 5 (infrared) surveys, we see an approximately 10-fold increase in dN_CIV/dX over z ~ 6 --> 0, for W_r >= 0.6 AA. This suggests a monotonic and significant increase in the enrichment of gas outside galaxies over the 12 Gyr lifetime of the universe.
We present a new determination of the intergalactic CIV mass density at 4.3 < z < 6.3. Our constraints are derived from high signal-to-noise spectra of seven quasars at z > 5.8 obtained with the newly commissioned FIRE spectrograph on the Magellan Ba
ade telescope, coupled with six observations of northern objects taken from the literature. We confirm the presence of a downturn in the CIV abundance at <z>=5.66 by a factor of 4.1 relative to its value at <z>=4.96, as measured in the same sightlines. In the FIRE sample, a strong system previously reported in the literature as CIV at z=5.82 is re-identified as MgII at z=2.78, leading to a substantial downward revision in $Omega_{CIV}$ for these prior studies. Additionally we confirm the presence of at least two systems with low-ionization CII, SiII, and OI absorption but relatively weak signal from CIV. The latter systems systems may be of interest if the downward trend in $Omega_{CIV}$ at high redshift is driven in part by ionization effects.
From 2001 to 2007, COSMOS provided a teaching and outreach venue for the Center for Adaptive Optics Professional Development Program (CfAO PDP). COSMOS is a four-week residential mathematics and science summer program for high-school students organiz
ed by the University of California on four of its campuses. Two topical science courses comprised each COSMOS cluster. An astronomy course has always formed a basis for the CfAO PDP-affiliated cluster. The course included a variety of pedagogical techniques to address a diversity of learners and goals. We outline the astronomy course---lectures, activities, etc.---and provide the rationale for what was taught, how it was aught, and when it was taught.
We identified 24 SiIV absorption systems with z <~ 1 from a blind survey of 49 low-redshift quasars with archival Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet spectra. We relied solely on the characteristic wavelength separation of the doublet to automatically
detect candidates. After visual inspection, we defined a sample of 20 definite (group G = 1) and 4 highly-likely (G = 2) doublets with rest equivalent widths W_r for both lines detected at > 3 sigma. The absorber line density of the G = 1 doublets was dN_SiIV/dX = 1.4+0.4/-0.3 for log N(Si+3) > 12.9. The best-fit power law to the G = 1 frequency distribution of column densities f(N(Si+3)) had normalization k = (1.2+0.5/-0.4) x 10^-14 cm2 and slope alpha = -1.6+0.3/-0.3. Using the power-law model of f(N(Si+3)), we measured the Si+3 mass density relative to the critical density: Omega(Si+3) = (3.7+2.8/-1.7) x 10^-8 for 13 < log N(Si+3) < 15. From Monte Carlo sampling of the distributions, we estimated our value to be a factor of 4.8+3.0/-1.9 higher than the 2 < z < 4.5 <Omega(Si+3)>. From a simple linear fit to Omega(Si+3) over the age of the Universe, we estimated a slow and steady increase from z = 5.5 --> 0 with dOmega/dt_age = (0.61+/-0.23) x 10^-8 Gyr^-1. We compared our ionic ratios N(Si+3)/N(C+3) to a 2 < z < 4.5 sample and concluded, from survival analysis, that the two populations are similar, with median <N(Si+3)/N(C+3)> = 0.16.
We present a detailed analysis of the intergalactic metal-line absorption systems in the archival HST/STIS and FUSE ultraviolet spectra of the low-redshift quasar PKS1302-102 (z_QSO = 0.2784). We supplement the archive data with CLOUDY ionization mod
els and a survey of galaxies in the quasar field. There are 15 strong Lya absorbers with column densities logN_HI > 14. Of these, six are associated with at least CIII 977 absorption (logN(C^++) > 13); this implies a redshift density dN_CIII/dz = 36+13/-9 (68% confidence limits) for the five detections with rest equivalent width W_r > 50 mA. Two systems show OVI 1031,1037 absorption in addition to CIII (logN(O^+5) > 14). One is a partial Lyman limit system (logN_HI = 17) with associated CIII, OVI, and SiIII 1206 absorption. There are three tentative OVI systems that do not have CIII detected. For one OVI doublet with both lines detected at 3 sigma with W_r > 50 mA, dN_OVI/dz = 7+9/-4. We also search for OVI doublets without Lya absorption but identify none. From CLOUDY modeling, these metal-line systems have metallicities spanning the range -4 < [M/H] < -0.3. The two OVI systems with associated CIII absorption cannot be single-phase, collisionally-ionized media based on the relative abundances of the metals and kinematic arguments. From the galaxy survey, we discover that the absorption systems are in a diverse set of galactic environments. Each metal-line system has at least one galaxy within 500 km/s and 600 h^-1 kpc with L > 0.1 L_*.
