The Fundamental Plane of Damped Lyα Systems
Abstract
Using a sample of 100 H I-selected damped Lyα (DLA) systems, observed with the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer on the Keck I telescope, we present evidence that the scatter in the well-studied correlation between the redshift and metallicity of a DLA is largely due to the existence of a mass-metallicity relationship at each redshift. To describe the fundamental relations that exist between redshift, metallicity, and mass, we use a fundamental plane description, which is described by the following equation: [M/H] = (- 1.9 ± 0.5) + (0.74 ± 0.21) · log Δv 90 - (0.32 ± 0.06) · z. Here, we assert that the velocity width, Δv 90, which is defined as the velocity interval containing 90% of the integrated optical depth, traces the mass of the underlying dark matter halo. This description provides two significant improvements over the individual descriptions of the mass-metallicity correlation and metallicity-redshift correlation. Firstly, the fundamental equation reduces the scatter around both relationships by about 20%, providing a more stringent constraint on numerical simulations modeling DLAs. Secondly, it confirms that the dark matter halos that host DLAs satisfy a mass-metallicity relationship at each redshift between redshifts 2 through 5.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- May 2013
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-637X/769/1/54
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1303.7239
- Bibcode:
- 2013ApJ...769...54N
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: abundances;
- galaxies: evolution;
- galaxies: fundamental parameters;
- galaxies: ISM;
- galaxies: kinematics and dynamics;
- quasars: absorption lines;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Published in ApJ. 18 pages with 10 figures