J/ApJ/761/112ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/761/112doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.17610112CDSMatejek M.S.Simcoe R.A.2017-12-05T05:10:56Z2014-09-08T12:45:47ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frline-intensitiesredshiftedquasarsinfrared-astronomyspectroscopyWe present initial results from the first systematic survey for Mg II quasar absorption lines at z>2.5. Using infrared spectra of 46 high-redshift quasars, we discovered 111 Mg II systems over a path covering 1.9<z<6.3. Five systems have z>5, with a maximum of z=5.33 --the most distant Mg II system now known. The comoving Mg II line density for weaker systems (W_r_<1.0{AA}) is statistically consistent with no evolution from z=0.4 to 5.5, while that for stronger systems increases three-fold until z~3 before declining again toward higher redshifts. The equivalent width distribution, which fits an exponential, reflects this evolution by flattening as z-->3 before steepening again. The rise and fall of the strong absorbers suggests a connection to the star formation rate density, as though they trace galactic outflows or other byproducts of star formation. The weaker systems' lack of evolution does not fit within this interpretation, but may be reproduced by extrapolating low redshift scaling relations between host galaxy luminosity and absorbing halo radius to earlier epochs. For the weak systems, luminosity-scaled models match the evolution better than similar models based on Mg II occupation of evolving cold dark matter halo masses, which greatly underpredict dN/dz at early times unless the absorption efficiency of small halos is significantly larger at early times. Taken together, these observations suggest that the general structure of Mg II-bearing halos was put into place early in the process of galaxy assembly. Except for a transient appearance of stronger systems near the peak epoch of cosmic star formation, the basic properties of Mg II absorbers have evolved fairly little even as the (presumably) associated galaxy population grew substantially in stellar mass and half-light radius.2012ApJ...761..112Mhttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/761/112CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicerelated-toV/139 : The SDSS Photometric Catalog, Release 9 (Adelman-McCarthy+, 2012)VII/260 : The SDSS-DR7 quasar catalog (Schneider+, 2010)J/PASJ/65/8 : Catalog of SDSS quasar absorption redshift (Qin+, 2013)J/A+A/546/A67 : Catalog of strong MgII absorbers (Lawther+, 2012)J/ApJ/754/38 : MgII absorption systems for FSRQs (Chand+, 2012)J/ApJ/748/131 : MgII absorbers in SDSS-DR7 quasar catalog (Shen+, 2012)J/ApJ/736/42 : HST QSO Catalog (Ribaudo+, 2011)J/ApJ/727/47 : The MgII cross-section of red galaxies (Bowen+, 2011)J/ApJ/724/L176 : MgII absorbing gas around galaxies (Chen+, 2010)J/ApJ/718/392 : SDSS Lyman limit systems at z~3.5 (Prochaska+, 2010)J/ApJ/714/1521 : Spectroscopy of galaxies around distant QSOs (Chen+, 2010)J/ApJ/698/819 : MgII and LRGs cross-correlation analysis (Lundgren+, 2009)J/ApJ/662/72 : Lyman alpha forest of 55 QSOs (Becker+, 2007)J/ApJ/639/766 : SDSS-DR3 strong MgII absorbers (Prochter+, 2006)J/MNRAS/371/495 : Cat. of 1806 MgII absorbers from SDSS DR3 (Bouche+, 2006)J/MNRAS/354/L25 : MgII absorbers in SDSS QSOs (Bouche+, 2004)J/AJ/127/2002 : Star Formation Rate of NFGS galaxies (Kewley+, 2004)J/A+A/421/41 : FORS Deep Field UV to blue photometry (Gabasch+, 2004)J/A+A/410/33 : MgII/FeII absorbers in 2dF-quasar survey (Menard+, 2003)J/AJ/106/848 : QSO MgII absorption line systems (Drinkwater+, 1993)https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/761/112https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/761/112http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/761/112https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/761/112https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/761/112http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/761/112GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/ApJ/761/112/table1 (FIRE MgII survey sightlines)https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/761/112/table1?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/761/112/table1?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/761/112/table1?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true0.8456489-26.05511080.0055555555555555566/4228 4662 8276 8713 8912 16405 16417 16589 17516 17561 17662 17820 18032 18627 18945 19028 20116 21872 23052 25977 26015 26056 26167 26239 26496 26524 27083 27286 27341 27440 27445 27542 27790 31313 31318 31529 33269 33746 34512 34850 35952 36320 36725 36766 44463https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/ApJ/761/112?format=asciiOpticalInfrareddefaultJ/ApJ/761/112/table1FIRE MgII survey sightlinesSimbadNameSimbad column added by the CDSmeta.idcharrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintNameObject designationmeta.id;meta.maincharprimaryzQSO[3.5/6.3] QSO redshiftsrc.redshift;pos.heliocentricfloatlDz[1.9/2.2] Lower range of pathlength ({Delta}z) (1)src.redshift;arith.difffloatuDz[3.5/6.3] Upper range of pathlength ({Delta}z) (1)src.redshift;arith.difffloatExp[972/19275] Exposure timestime.duration;obs.exposureintS/N[4/47.2] Signal to noise ratio (2)stat.snrfloatSDSSQCross-match with the SDSS-DR7 and -DR10 quasar catalogs within 1"meta.ref.urlintnullableALSNumber of ALS measures for this QSO (link to table 2)meta.numberintnullableSloanDisplay the online SDSS data for the nearest objectmeta.ref.urlchar_RAPositions from SIMBAD database (right ascension part)degpos.eq.ra;meta.main_DEPositions from SIMBAD database (declination part)degpos.eq.dec;meta.mainJ/ApJ/761/112/table2Summary of absorption properties for the FIRE MgII samplerecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintSeq[1/111] Running sequence numbermeta.id;meta.mainintf_SeqFlag on Seq (1)meta.codecharNameSightline designationmeta.idcharz[1.9/5.4] Redshiftsrc.redshiftfloatWr2796[0.08/5.6] Equivalent width of the MgII line at 2796{AA} (in rest-frame)0.1nmspect.line.eqWidthfloate_Wr2796[0.01/0.2] Wr2796 uncertainty0.1nmstat.errorfloatWr2803[0.08/5.1] Equivalent width of the MgII line at 2803{AA} (in rest-frame)0.1nmspect.line.eqWidthfloate_Wr2803[0.008/0.2] Wr2803 uncertainty0.1nmstat.errorfloatDVel[50.8/709.8] Velocity spread ({Delta}V) (2)km/sspect.line.widthfloat