Damped Lyα absorption systems in semi-analytic models with multiphase gas

We investigate the properties of damped Lyman α absorption systems (DLAs) in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation, including new modelling of the partitioning of cold gas into atomic, molecular, and ionized phases, and a star formation recipe based on the density of molecular gas. We use three approaches for partitioning gas into atomic and molecular constituents: a pressure-based recipe and metallicity-based recipes with fixed and varying ultraviolet (UV) radiation fields. We identify DLAs by adopting an assumed gas density profile for galactic discs and passing lines of sight through our simulations to compute H I column densities. We find that models with `standard' gas radial profiles - computed assuming that the average specific angular momentum of the gas disc is equal to that of the host dark matter halo - fail to reproduce the observed column density distribution of DLAs, regardless of the assumed gas partitioning. These models also fail to reproduce the distribution of velocity widths Δv of low-ionization state metal systems, overproducing low-Δv relative to high-Δv systems. Models with `extended' radial gas profiles - corresponding to gas discs with higher specific angular momentum, or gas in an alternate extended configuration - are able to reproduce quite well the column density distribution of absorbers over the column density range 19 < log N_{H I} < 22.5 in the redshift range 2 < z < 3.5. The model with pressure-based gas partitioning and the metallicity-based recipe with a varying UV radiation field also reproduce the observed line density of DLAs, H I gas density, and Δv distribution at z < 3 well. However all of the models investigated here underproduce DLAs and the H I gas density at z > 3. This may indicate that DLAs at high redshift arise from a different physical phenomenon, such as outflows or filaments. If this is the case, the flatness in the number of DLAs and H I gas density over the redshift interval 0 < z < 5 may be due to a cosmic coincidence where the majority of DLAs at z > 3 arise from intergalactic gas in filaments or streams while those at z < 3 arise predominantly in galactic discs. We further investigate the dependence of DLA metallicity on redshift and Δv in our favoured models, and find good agreement with the observations, particularly when we include the effects of metallicity gradients.