A catalogue of absorption lines in eight Hubble Space Telescope/STIS E230M 1.0 < z < 1.7 quasar spectra
Abstract
We have produced a catalogue of line identifications and equivalent width measurements for all absorption features in eight ultraviolet echelle quasar spectra. These spectra were selected as having the highest signal-to-noise ratio among the Hubble Space Telescope/STIS spectra obtained with the E230M grating. We identify 56 metal-line systems towards the eight quasars, and present plots of detected transitions, aligned in velocity space. We found that about 1/4-1/3 of the features in the Lyα forest region, redward of the incidence of the Lyβ forest, are metal lines. High-ionization transitions are common. At the redshift range we study, z < 1.7, we see both OVI and CIV in 88-90 per cent of the metal-line systems for which the spectra cover the expected wavelength. SiIII is seen in 58 per cent, while low-ionization absorption in CII, SiII and/or AlII is detected in 50 per cent of the systems for which they are covered. This catalogue will facilitate future studies of the Lyα forest and of metal-line systems of various types.
Based on observations obtained with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) for the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5D26555. E-mail: milni@uvic.ca (NM); misawa@astro.psu.edu (TM); rsl4v@ virginia.edu (RSL); masiero@ifa.hawaii.edu (JRM); cpalma@astro.psu.edu (CP); charlton@astro.psu.edu (JCC); dkirkman@ucsd.edu (DK); sbockenhauer@wisc.edu (SB): tytler@ucsd.edu (DT)- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- DOI:
- 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.12097.x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0705.1353
- Bibcode:
- 2007MNRAS.382.1094M
- Keywords:
-
- intergalactic medium;
- quasars: absorption lines;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 13 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, a complete version with the appendix and all figures is available at http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/misawa/pub/Paper/qalcat.pdf.gz