Probing the IGM/Galaxy Connection Toward PKS0405-123 I: UV Spectroscopy and Metal-Line Systems

Abstract

We present results from an analysis of FUSE and HST/STIS spectroscopy of the z_em=0.57 quasar PKS0405-123. We focus on the intervening metal-line systems identified along the sightline and investigate their ionization mechanism, ionization state, and chemical abundances. We identify six OVI absorbers to a 3sigma equivalent width (EW) limit of 60mA. This implies an incidence dN/dz = 16^{+9}_{-6} consistent with previous OVI studies. In half of the OVI systems we report positive detections of CIII suggesting the gas is predominantly photoionized, has multiple ionization phases, or is in a non-equilibrium state. This contrasts with the general description of the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) as described by numerical simulations where the gas is predominantly in collisional ionization equilibrium. We have also searched the sightline for the NeVIII doublet (a better probe of WHIM gas with T>10^6K) over the redshift range 0.2 10^14 cm^-2 is [M/H] ~> -1.5 with large scatter. This significantly exceeds the median metallicity of CIV and OVI systems at z~3 and indicates enrichment of the intergalactic medium over the past 10Gyr. [abriged]