In:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Oxford University Press (OUP), Vol. 502, No. 3 ( 2021-02-23), p. 4009-4025
Abstract:
We present the measured gas-phase metal column densities in 155 sub-damped Ly α systems (subDLAs) with the aim to investigate the contribution of subDLAs to the chemical evolution of the Universe. The sample was identified within the absorber-blind XQ-100 quasar spectroscopic survey over the redshift range 2.4 ≤ zabs ≤ 4.3. Using all available column densities of the ionic species investigated (mainly C iv, Si ii, Mg ii, Si iv, Al ii, Fe ii, C ii, and O i; in order of decreasing detection frequency), we estimate the ionization-corrected gas-phase metallicity of each system using Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques to explore a large grid of cloudy ionization models. Without accounting for ionization and dust depletion effects, we find that the H i-weighted gas-phase metallicity evolution of subDLAs is consistent with damped Ly α systems (DLAs). When ionization corrections are included, subDLAs are systematically more metal poor than DLAs (between ≈0.5σ and ≈3σ significance) by up to ≈1.0 dex over the redshift range 3 ≤ zabs ≤ 4.3. The correlation of gas phase [Si/Fe] with metallicity in subDLAs appears to be consistent with that of DLAs, suggesting that the two classes of absorbers have a similar relative dust depletion pattern. As previously seen for Lyman limit systems, the gas phase [C/O] in subDLAs remains constantly solar for all metallicities indicating that both subDLAs and Lyman limit systems could trace carbon-rich ejecta, potentially in circumgalactic environments.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0035-8711
,
1365-2966
DOI:
10.1093/mnras/stab184
Language:
English
Publisher:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Publication Date:
2021
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2016084-7
SSG:
16,12
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