Column density distribution and cosmological mass density of neutral gas: Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III Data Release 9

P. Noterdaeme; P. Petitjean; W. C. Carithers; I. Pâris; A. Font-Ribera; S. Bailey; E. Aubourg; D. Bizyaev; G. Ebelke; H. Finley; J. Ge; E. Malanushenko; V. Malanushenko; J. Miralda-Escudé; A. D. Myers; D. Oravetz; K. Pan; M. M. Pieri; N. P. Ross; D. P. Schneider; A. Simmons; D. G. York

HAL: in2p3-00742973, version 1

arXiv: 1210.1213

ADS Bibliographic id: 2012A&A...547L...1N

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201220259

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Astronomy and Astrophysics 547 (2012) L1

Column density distribution and cosmological mass density of neutral gas: Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III Data Release 9

P. Noterdaeme, P. Petitjean¹, W. C. Carithers, I. Pâris¹, A. Font-Ribera, S. Bailey, E. Aubourg^{2, 3}, D. Bizyaev, G. Ebelke, H. Finley, J. Ge, E. Malanushenko, V. Malanushenko, J. Miralda-Escudé, A. D. Myers, D. Oravetz, K. Pan, M. M. Pieri, N. P. Ross, D. P. Schneider, A. Simmons, D. G. York

For the SDSS-III collaboration(s)

(2012-10)

We present the first results from an ongoing survey for Damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) in the spectra of z>2 quasars observed in the course of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III. Our full (non-statistical) sample, based on Data Release 9, comprises 12,081 systems with log N(HI)>=20, out of which 6,839 have log N(HI)>=20.3. This is the largest DLA sample ever compiled, superseding that from SDSS-II by a factor of seven. Using a statistical sub-sample and estimating systematics from realistic mock data, we probe the N(HI) distribution at = 2.5. Contrary to what is generally believed, the distribution extends beyond 10^22 cm^-2 with a moderate slope of index\approx-3.5. This result matches surprisingly well the opacity-corrected distribution observed at z = 0. The cosmological mass density of neutral gas in DLAs is found to be Omega_g_DLA~10^-3, evolving only mildly over the past 12 billion years.

1:	IAP - Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris

2:	APC - AstroParticule et Cosmologie

3:	IRFU - Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (ex DAPNIA)

Research team: APC - Cosmologie et Gravitation

Subject(s)

Physics/Astrophysics/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics

Sciences of the Universe/Astrophysics/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics

Keyword(s) : Astrophysics - Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

Fulltext link:

http://fr.arXiv.org/abs/1210.1213


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From: Eric Aubourg <>
Submitted on: Wednesday, 17 October 2012 17:29:09
Updated on: Monday, 12 November 2012 17:49:11