Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T19:12:27.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Damped Lyα systems as probes of chemical evolution over cosmological timescales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2008

Miroslava Dessauges-Zavadsky
Miroslava Dessauges-Zavadsky*
Affiliation:
Geneva Observatory, University of Geneva, 51, Ch. des Maillettes, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland email: miroslava.dessauges@unige.ch
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We review the current state of knowledge of damped Lyα systems (DLAs) selected in absorption on quasar sightlines. These objects are extremely useful to study the interstellar medium of high-redshift galaxies and the nucleosynthesis in the early Universe. The characteristics of this galaxy population has been investigated for years and slowly we are getting information on their puzzling nature. Imaging at z <1 shows that DLAs are associated with a mixing bag of galaxies with no especially large contribution from dwarf galaxies. Evidence for a mild evolution of the cosmic mean metallicity with time is observed. The star formation histories of these high-redshift galaxies begin to be accessible and indicate that DLAs tend to be young, gas-dominated galaxies with low star formation rates per unit area. Finally, indirect estimation of the DLA stellar masses from the mass-metallicity relations observed for emission-selected star-forming galaxies at z = 2−3 points to intermediate-mass galaxies with M* < 109M⊙.

Keywords

ISM: abundancesgalaxies: evolutiongalaxies: high-redshiftquasars: absorption lines
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 4 , Issue S255: Low-Metallicity Star Formation: From the First Stars to Dwarf Galaxies , June 2008 , pp. 121 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2008

References

Akerman, C. J., Ellison, S. L., Pettini, M., & Steidel, C. C. 2005, A&A, 440, 499Google Scholar
Bouché, N., Murphy, M. T., Péroux, C., Csabai, I., & Wild, V. 2006, MNRAS, 371, 495CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradamante, F., Matteucci, F., & D'Ercole, A. 1998, A&A, 337, 338Google Scholar
Chen, H.-W. & Lanzetta, K. M. 2003, ApJ, 597, 706Google Scholar
Chen, H.-W., Kennicutt, R. C. Jr., & Rauch, M. 2005, ApJ, 620, 703CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiappini, C., Matteucci, F., & Gratton, R. 1997, ApJ, 477, 765CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dessauges-Zavadsky, M., Calura, F., Prochaska, J. X., D'Odorico, S., & Matteucci, F. 2004, A&A, 416, 79Google Scholar
Dessauges-Zavadsky, M., Prochaska, J. X., D'Odorico, S., Calura, F., & Matteucci, F. 2006, A&A, 445, 93Google Scholar
Dessauges-Zavadsky, M., Calura, F., Prochaska, J. X., D'Odorico, S., & Matteucci, F. 2007, A&A, 470, 431Google Scholar
Ellison, S. L., Yan, L., Hook, I. M., Pettini, M., Wall, J. V., & Shaver, P. 2001, A&A, 379, 393Google Scholar
Ellison, S. L., Churchill, C. W., Rix, S., & Pettini, M. 2004, ApJ, 615, 118Google Scholar
Erb, D. K., Shapley, A. E., Pettini, M., Steidel, C. C., Reddy, N. A., & Adelberger, K.L. 2006, ApJ, 644, 813CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erb, D. K., Steidel, C. C., Shapley, A. E., Pettini, M., Reddy, N. A., & Adelberger, K. L. 2006, ApJ, 647, 128CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haehnelt, M. G., Steinmetz, M., & Rauch, M. 1998, ApJ, 495, 647Google Scholar
Hou, J. L., Boissier, S., & Prantzos, N. 2001, A&A, 370, 23Google Scholar
Howk, J. C. & Sembach, K. R. 1999, ApJ, 523, L141CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kulkarni, V. P. & Fall, S. M. 2002, 580, 732Google Scholar
Kulkarni, V. P., Fall, S. M., Lauroesch, J. T., York, D. G., Welty, D. E., Khare, P., & Truran, J. W. 2005, ApJ, 618, 68Google Scholar
Le Brun, V., Bergeron, J., Boissé, P., & Deharveng, J. M. 1997, A&A, 321, 733Google Scholar
Ledoux, C., Petitjean, P., Fynbo, J. P., Møller, P., & Srianand, R. 2006, A&A, 457, 71Google Scholar
Maiolino, R., et al. , 2008, A&A, submitted [arXiv:0806.2410]Google Scholar
Maller, A. H., Prochaska, J. X., Somerville, R. S., & Primack, J. R. 2001, MNRAS, 326, 1475CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Møller, P., Warren, S. J., Fall, S. M., Fynbo, J. U., & Jakobsen, P. 2002, ApJ, 574, 51Google Scholar
Møller, P., Fynbo, J. P. U., & Fall, S. M. 2004, A&A, 422, L33Google Scholar
Murphy, M. T. & Liske, J. 2004, MNRAS, 354, L31CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pei, Y. C., Fall, S. M., & Bechtold, J. 1991, ApJ, 378, 6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettini, M., Ellison, S. L., Steidel, C. C., & Bowen, D. V. 1999, ApJ, 510, 576Google Scholar
Pettini, M. 1999, in: Walsch, J. R., Rosa, M. R. (eds), ESO Workshop, Springer-Verlag, p. 233Google Scholar
Prochaska, J. X. & Wolfe, A. M. 2000, ApJ, 533, L5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prochaska, J. X., Henry, R. B. C., O'Meara, J. M., Tytler, D., Wolfe, A. M., Kirkman, D., Lubin, D., & Suzuki, N. 2002, PASP, 114, 933Google Scholar
Prochaska, J. X. & Wolfe, A. M. 2002, ApJ, 566, 68CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prochaska, J. X., Gawiser, E., Wolfe, A. M., Castro, S., & Djorgovski, S. G. 2003, ApJ, 595, L9Google Scholar
Prochaska, J. X., Herbert-Fort, S., & Wolfe, A. M. 2005, ApJ, 635, 123Google Scholar
Prochaska, J. X., Chen, H.-W., Wolfe, A. M., Dessauges-Zavadsky, M., & Bloom, J. S. 2008, ApJ, 672, 59Google Scholar
Rao, S. M., Nestor, D. B., Turnshek, D. A., Lane, W. M., Mornier, E. M., & Bergeron, J. 2003, ApJ, 595, 94CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, S. M., Turnshek, D. A., & Nestor, D. B. 2006, 636, 610Google Scholar
Savaglio, S., et al. , 2004, ApJ, 602, 51Google Scholar
Savaglio, S., et al. , 2005, ApJ, 635, 260Google Scholar
Storrie-Lombardi, L. J. & Wolfe, A. M. 2000, ApJ, 543, 552Google Scholar
Tremonti, C. A., et al. 2004, ApJ, 613, 898Google Scholar
Viegas, S. M. 1995, MNRAS, 276, 268Google Scholar
Vladilo, G., Bonifacio, P., Centurión, M., & Molaro, P. 2000, ApJ, 543, 24Google Scholar
Vladilo, G., Centurión, M., Bonifacio, P., & Howk, J. C. 2001, ApJ, 557, 1007Google Scholar
Vladilo, G. 2002, A&A, 391, 407Google Scholar
Warren, S. J., Møller, P., Fall, S. M., & Jakobsen, P. 2001, MNRAS, 326, 759CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weatherley, S. J., Warren, S. J., Møller, P., Fall, S. M., Fynbo, J. U., & Croom, S. M. 2005, MNRAS, 358, 985Google Scholar
Wolfe, A. M., Turnshek, D. A., Smith, H. E., & Cohen, R. D. 1986, ApJS, 61, 249Google Scholar
Wolfe, A. M., Gawiser, E., & Prochaska, J. X. 2003, ApJ, 593, 235Google Scholar
Wolfe, A. M., Gawiser, E., & Prochaska, J. X. 2003, ARA&A, 43, 861Google Scholar