The Keck + Magellan Survey for Lyman Limit Absorption. III. Sample Definition and Column Density Measurements
Abstract
We present an absorption-line survey of optically thick gas clouds—Lyman Limit Systems (LLSs)—observed at high dispersion with spectrometers on the Keck and Magellan telescopes. We measure column densities of neutral hydrogen {N}{{H} {{I}}} and associated metal-line transitions for 157 LLSs at {z}{LLS}=1.76-4.39 restricted to {10}17.3 {{cm}}-2≤slant {N}{{H} {{I}}}\lt {10}20.3 {{cm}}-2. An empirical analysis of ionic ratios indicates an increasing ionization state of the gas with decreasing {N}{{H} {{I}}} and that the majority of LLSs are highly ionized, confirming previous expectations. The Si+/H0 ratio spans nearly four orders of magnitude, implying a large dispersion in the gas metallicity. Fewer than 5% of these LLSs have no positive detection of a metal transition; by z∼ 3, nearly all gas that is dense enough to exhibit a very high Lyman limit opacity has previously been polluted by heavy elements. We add new measurements to the small subset of LLS (≈5%-10%) that may have super-solar abundances. High Si+/Fe+ ratios suggest an α-enhanced medium, whereas the Si+/C+ ratios do not exhibit the super-solar enhancement inferred previously for the Lyα forest.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
- Pub Date:
- November 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0067-0049/221/1/2
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1506.08863
- Bibcode:
- 2015ApJS..221....2P
- Keywords:
-
- intergalactic medium;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- Accepted to ApJS. See http://www.ucolick.org/~xavier/HD-LLS/DR1