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CaII Quasar Absorbers: Statistics, Metals, Dust, and Associated Galaxies

Part of: IAU Issue 315 - From Interstellar Clouds...

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2016

David A. Turnshek ,
Gendith M. Sardane  and
Sandhya M. Rao
David A. Turnshek
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, PITTsburgh Particle physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Center (PITT PACC), University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260USA email: turnshek@pitt.edu, gms48@pitt.edu, srao@pitt.edu
Gendith M. Sardane
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, PITTsburgh Particle physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Center (PITT PACC), University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260USA email: turnshek@pitt.edu, gms48@pitt.edu, srao@pitt.edu
Sandhya M. Rao
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, PITTsburgh Particle physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Center (PITT PACC), University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260USA email: turnshek@pitt.edu, gms48@pitt.edu, srao@pitt.edu
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Abstract

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We summarize results from our recent SDSS survey for CaII quasar absorbers. The survey finds 435 absorbers at z<1.34, which corresponds to ~9 Gyrs of the Universe's history. Two CaII absorber populations are identified, which we call weak and strong. Metal abundance ratios derived from normalized composite spectra show that weak absorbers can be identified with halo-like gas, while strong absorbers are a mix of halo+disk-like gas. Consistent with these abundance ratio results, fluxed composites show that strong absorbers are ~6 times more reddened than weak absorbers (i.e., they contain more dust). Four individual examples of galaxies associated with CaII absorption are found in the SDSS images, and three are star forming galaxies (SFGs). Image composites show that galaxies associated with strong absorbers have mean luminosity-weighted impact parameters, b, which are ~2.4 times smaller than the weak absorbers (bstrong ~ 19 kpc versus bweak 45 kpc). Studies of CaII absorbers suggest links to molecular clouds, SFGs, and circumgalactic gas (CGG).

Keywords

surveysgalaxies: abundancesgalaxies: generalgalaxies: quasars: absorption lines
Type
Poster Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 11 , Symposium S315: From Interstellar Clouds to Star-Forming Galaxies: Universal Processes? , August 2015 , E76
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2016 

References

Sardane, G.M., Turnshek, D.A., & Rao, S. M. 2014, MNRAS, 444, 1747 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sardane, G.M., Turnshek, D.A., & Rao, S. M. 2015, MNRAS, 452, 3192 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sardane, G.M., Turnshek, D.A., & Rao, S. M. 2016, MNRAS, submittedGoogle Scholar