Velocity-metallicity correlation for high-z DLA galaxies: evidence of a mass-metallicity relation?

By C. Ledoux, P. Petitjean, Johan Peter Uldall Fynbo, P. Møller, R. Srianand. 2006

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We used our database of VLT-UVES quasar spectra to build up a sample of 70 Damped Lyman- α (DLA) or strong sub-DLA systems with total neutral hydrogen column densities of $\log N($H i$)\ga 20$ and redshifts in the range $1.7 -1 . The slope of the DLA velocity-metallicity relation is the same within uncertainties between the higher ($z_{\rm abs}>2.43$) and the lower ($z_{\rm abs}\le 2.43$) redshift halves of our sample. However, the two populations of systems are statistically different. There is a strong redshift evolution in the sense that the median metallicity and median velocity width increase with decreasing redshift. We argue that the existence of a DLA velocity-metallicity correlation, over more than a factor of 100 spread in metallicity, is probably the consequence of an underlying mass-metallicity relation for the galaxies responsible for DLA absorption lines. Assuming a simple linear scaling of the galaxy luminosity with the mass of the dark-matter halo, we find that the slope of the DLA velocity-metallicity relation is consistent with that of the luminosity-metallicity relation derived for local galaxies. If the galaxy dynamical mass is indeed the dominant factor setting up the observed DLA velocity-metallicity correlation, then the DLA systems exhibiting the lowest metallicities among the DLA population should, on average, be associated with galaxies of lower masses (e.g., gas-rich dwarf galaxies). In turn, these galaxies should have the lowest luminosities among the DLA galaxy population. This could explain the difficulties of detecting high-redshift DLA galaxies in emission.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5762192f7daf4d52da7541d106d2413d68f6f5a2

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Citations in the corpus

The most metal-poor damped Lyα systems: insights into chemical evolution in the very metal-poor regime★ (2011, background): “For DLAs with a metallicity below 1/100 Z⊙, the metal line absorption is typically concentrated in only a few clouds of low velocity dispersion (Ledoux et al. 2006; Murphy et al. 2007; Prochaska et al. 2008).”
One Percent Determination of the Primordial Deuterium Abundance (2017, background): “Empirically, it has been noted by several authors that DLAs with simple kinematics tend to be more common at the lowest metallicity (Ledoux et al. 2006; Murphy et al. 2007; Prochaska et al. 2008; Jorgenson, Murphy, & Thompson 2013; Neeleman et al. 2013; Cooke, Pettini, & Jorgenson 2015).”
C, N, O abundances in the most metal-poor damped Lyman alpha systems★ (2007, background): “Ledoux et al. (2006b).”
Damped Lyman α systems in galaxy formation simulations (2008, background): “The origin of our relation between velocity widths and metallicity is the underlying mass-metallicity relation, as suggested by Ledoux et al. (2006).”
The physics of the intergalactic medium (2007, background): “Molecular hydrogen is present in about 15–20% of the systems (Ledoux et al., 2006b), with the metallicity and depletion factor increasing with the amount of H2 (Ledoux et al., 2003).”
Probing the Interstellar Medium near Star-forming Regions with Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Spectroscopy: Gas, Metals, and Dust (2007, background): “The high-resolution sample (HR-A) is summarized in these papers: Herbert-Fort et al. (2006); Ledoux et al. (2006); Dessauges-Zavadsky et al. (2006); Prochaska et al. (2007).”
The ESO UVES advanced data products quasar sample: II. Cosmological evolution of the neutral gas mass density (2013, background): “Hence, the redshift path and an additional sub-DLA reported by Ledoux et al. (2006) were included in our statistical sample.”
LOW-RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY OF GAMMA-RAY BURST OPTICAL AFTERGLOWS: BIASES IN THE SWIFT SAMPLE AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ABSORBERS (2009, background): “GRB060607A (z = 3.0749)For this burst UVES spe tra were obtained starting only about 7.5 minutes after the burst(Ledoux et al. 2006a).”
First detection of CO in a high-redshift damped Lyman-α system (2008, methodology): “We noticed a strong preference for H2-bearing DLAs being associated with C i absorption (Srianand et al. 2005) and having high metallicities and large depletion factors (Petitjean et al. 2006; Noterdaeme et al. 2008).”
Molecular hydrogen in high-redshift Damped Lyman-alpha systems: The VLT/UVES database (2008, methodology): “Most of the systems in sample S (53 out of 77) come from the sample of Ledoux et al. (2006a).”
Deuterium abundance in the most metal-poor damped Lyman alpha system: converging on Ωb,0h2 (2008, background): “More recently, it has been realized that DLA systems of low metallicity are also likely to have simple kinematics, possibly reflecting an underlying mass–metallicity relation of the host dark-matter haloes (Ledoux et al. 2006; Murphy et al. 2007; Pontzen et al. 2008; Prochaska et al. 2008).”