arXiv subjects

Arthur M. Wolfe

Publications and source records attributed to Arthur M. Wolfe.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

Metal-Enriched Plasma in Protogalactic Halos: A Survey of N V Absorption in High-z Damped & Sub-Damped Lyman-alpha Systems

We continue our recent work to characterize the plasma content of high-redshift damped and sub-damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs/sub-DLAs), which represent multi-phase gaseous (proto)galactic disks and halos seen toward a background source. We survey N V absorption in a sample of 91 DLAs and 18 sub-DLAs in the redshift range 1.67 -2.3. The N V and CIV component b-value distributions in DLAs are statistically similar, but the median b(N V) of 18 km/s is lower than the median b(O VI) of 25 km/s. Some ~20% of the N V components have b<10 km/s and thus arise in warm photoionized plasma at log (T/K)<4.92; local sources of ionizing radiation (as opposed to the extragalactic background) are required to keep the cloud sizes physically reasonable. The nature of the remaining ~80% of (broad) N V components is unclear; models of radiatively-cooling collisionally-ionized plasma at log(T/K)=5.2-5.4 are fairly successful in reproducing the observed integrated high-ion column density ratios and the component line widths, but we cannot rule out photoionization by local sources. Finally, we identify several unusual DLAs with extremely low metallicity (<0.01 solar) but strong high-ion absorption [log N(N V)>14 or log N(O VI)>14.2] that present challenges to either galactic inflow or outflow models.

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arXiv2008

An 84 microGauss Magnetic Field in a Galaxy at Redshift z=0.692

The magnetic field pervading our Galaxy is a crucial constituent of the interstellar medium: it mediates the dynamics of interstellar clouds, the energy density of cosmic rays, and the formation of stars. The field associated with ionized interstellar gas has been determined through observations of pulsars in our Galaxy. Radio-frequency measurements of pulse dispersion and the rotation of the plane of linear polarization, i.e., Faraday rotation, yield an average value B ~ 3 microGauss. The possible detection of Faraday rotation of linearly polarized photons emitted by high-redshift quasars suggests similar magnetic fields are present in foreground galaxies with redshifts z > 1. As Faraday rotation alone, however, determines neither the magnitude nor the redshift of the magnetic field, the strength of galactic magnetic fields at redshifts z > 0 remains uncertain. Here we report a measurement of a magnetic field of B ~ 84 microGauss in a galaxy at z =0.692, using the same Zeeman-splitting technique that revealed an average value of B = 6 microGauss in the neutral interstellar gas of our Galaxy. This is unexpected, as the leading theory of magnetic field generation, the mean-field dynamo model, predicts large-scale magnetic fields to be weaker in the past rather than stronger.

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arXiv2008

On the (Non)Evolution of HI Disks over Cosmic Time

We present new results on the frequency distribution of projected HI column densities f(N,X), total comoving covering fraction, and integrated mass densities rho_HI of high redshift, HI `disks' from a survey of damped Lya systems (DLAs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Data Release 5. For the full sample spanning z=2.2 to 5 [738 DLAs], f(N,X) is well fitted by a double power-law with a break column density N_d = 10^(21.55 +/- 0.04) and low/high-end exponents alpha = -2.00 +/- 0.05, -6.4^{+1.1}_{-1.6}. The shape of f(N,X) is invariant during this redshift interval and also follows the projected surface density distribution of present-day HI disks as inferred from 21cm observations. We conclude that HI gas has been distributed in a self-similar fashion for the past 12Gyr. The normalization of f(N,X), in contrast, decreases by a factor of two during the ~2Gyr interval from z=4 to 2.2 giving corresponding decreases in both the total covering fraction and rho_HI. At z~2, these quantities match the present-day values suggesting no evolution during the past ~10Gyr. We argue that the evolution at early times is driven by `violent' processes that removes gas from nearly half the galaxies at z~3 establishing the antecedants of current early-type galaxies. The perceived constancy of rho_HI, meanwhile, implies that HI gas is a necessary but insufficient pre-condition for star formation and that the global star-formation rate is driven by the accretion and condensation of fresh gas from the intergalactic medium.

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arXiv2008

Can gravitational infall energy lead to the observed velocity dispersion in DLAs?

The median observed velocity width v_90 of low-ionization species in damped Ly-alpha systems is close to 90 km/s, with approximately 10% of all systems showing v_90 > 210 km/s at z=3. We show that a relative shortage of such high-velocity neutral gas absorbers in state-of-the-art galaxy formation models is a fundamental problem, present both in grid-based and particle-based numerical simulations. Using a series of numerical simulations of varying resolution and box size to cover a wide range of halo masses, we demonstrate that energy from gravitational infall alone is insufficient to produce the velocity dispersion observed in damped Ly-alpha systems, nor does this dispersion arise from an implementation of star formation and feedback in our highest resolution (~ 45 pc) models, if we do not put any galactic winds into our models by hand. We argue that these numerical experiments highlight the need to separate dynamics of different components of the multiphase interstellar medium at z=3.

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arXiv2008

A Candidate Brightest Proto-Cluster Galaxy at z = 3.03

We report the discovery of a very bright (m_R = 22.2) Lyman break galaxy at z = 3.03 that appears to be a massive system in a late stage of merging. Deep imaging reveals multiple peaks in the brightness profile with angular separations of ~0.''8 (~25 h^-1 kpc comoving). In addition, high signal-to-noise ratio rest-frame UV spectroscopy shows evidence for ~5 components based on stellar photospheric and ISM absorption lines with a velocity dispersion of sigma ~460 km s^-1 for the three strongest components. Both the dynamics and high luminosity, as well as our analysis of a LCDM numerical simulation, suggest a very massive system with halo mass M ~ 10^13 M_solar. The simulation finds that all halos at z = 3 of this mass contain sub-halos in agreement with the properties of these observed components and that such systems typically evolve into M ~ 10^14 M_solar halos in groups and clusters by z = 0. This discovery provides a rare opportunity to study the properties and individual components of z ~ 3 systems that are likely to be the progenitors to brightest cluster galaxies.

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arXiv2008

Bimodality in Damped Lyman alpha Systems

We report evidence for a bimodality in damped Ly systems (DLAs). Using [C II] 158 mu cooling rates, lc, we find a distribution with peaks at lc=10^-27.4 and 10^-26.6 ergs s^-1 H^-1 separated by a trough at lc^crit ~= lc < 10^-27.0 ergs s^-1 H^-1. We divide the sample into low cool DLAs with lc < lc^crit and high cool DLAs with lc > lc^crit and find the Kolmogorv-Smirnov probabilities that velocity width, metallicity, dust-to-gas ratio, and Si II equivalent width in the two subsamples are drawn from the same parent population are small. All these quantities are significantly larger in the high cool population, while the H I column densities are indistinguishable in the two populations. We find that heating by X-ray and FUV background radiation is insufficient to balance the cooling rates of either population. Rather, the DLA gas is heated by local radiation fields. The rare appearance of faint, extended objects in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field rules out in situ star formation as the dominant star-formation mode for the high cool population, but is compatible with in situ star formation as the dominant mode for the low cool population. Star formation in the high cool DLAs likely arises in Lyman Break galaxies. We investigate whether these properties of DLAs are analogous to the bimodal properties of nearby galaxies. Using Si II equivalent width as a mass indicator, we construct bivariate distributions of metallicity, lc, and areal SFR versus the mass indicators. Tentative evidence is found for correlations and parallel sequences, which suggest similarities between DLAs and nearby galaxies. We suggest that the transition-mass model provides a plausible scenario for the bimodality we have found. As a result, the bimodality in current galaxies may have originated in DLAs.

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arXiv2007

The color excess of quasars with intervening DLA systems- Analysis of the SDSS data release five

We analyzed the spectroscopic and photometric database of the 5th data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to search for evidence of the quasar reddening produced by dust embedded in intervening damped Ly alpha (DLA) systems. From a list of 5164 quasars in the interval of emission redshift 2.25 </= z_e </= 3.5 and SDSS spectra with signal-to-noise ratio SNR >/= 4, we built up an "absorption sample" of 248 QSOs with a single DLA system in the interval of absorption redshift 2.2 < z_a </= 3.5 and a "pool" of 1959 control QSOs without DLA systems or strong metal systems. For each QSO of the absorption sample we extracted from the pool a subset of control QSOs that are closest in redshift and magnitude. The mean color of this subset was used as a zero point to measure the "deviation from the mean color" of individual DLA-QSOs, Delta_i. The colors were measured using "BEST" ugriz SDSS imaging data. The mean color excess of the absorption sample, , was estimated by averaging the individual color deviations Delta_i. We find = 27 +/- 9 x 10**(-3) mag and = 54 +/- 12 x 10**(-3) mag. These values are representative of the reddening of DLA systems at z_a ~ 2.7 in SDSS QSOs with limiting magnitude r =/~ 20.2. The detection of the mean reddening is confirmed by several statistical tests. Analysis of the results suggests an origin of the reddening in dust embedded in the DLA systems, with an SMC-type extinction curve. By converting the reddening into rest-frame extinction, we derive a mean dust-to-gas ratio ~ 2 to 4 x 10**(-23) mag cm^2. This value is ~ -1.25 dex lower than the mean dust-to-gas ratio of the Milky Way, in line with the lower level of metallicity in the present DLA sample.

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arXiv2007

On the Nature of Velocity Fields in High z Galaxies

We analyze the gas kinematics of damped Lya systems (DLAs) hosting high z gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and those toward quasars (QSO-DLAs) focusing on threestatistics: (1) dv, the velocity interval encompassing 90% of the totaloptical depth, (2,3) Wsi and Wciv, the rest equivalent widths of the SiII1526 and CIV1548 transitions. The dv distributions of the GRB-DLAs and QSO-DLAs are similar, each has median dv~80km/s and a significant tail to several hundred km/s. This suggests comparable galaxy masses for the parent populations of GRB-DLAs and QSO-DLAs and we infer the average dark matter halo mass of GRB galaxies is <~10^{12} Msol. The unique configuration of GRB-DLA sightlines and the presence (and absence) of fine-structure absorption together give special insight into the nature of high z, protogalactic velocity fields. The data support a scenario where the dv statistic reflects dynamics in the interstellar medium (ISM) and Wsi traces motions outside the ISM (e.g. halo gas, galactic-scale winds). The Wsi statistic and gas metallicity [M/H] are tightly correlated, especially for the QSO-DLAs: [M/H]=a + b log(Wsi/1A) with a=-0.92+/-0.05 and b=-1.41+/-0.10. We argue that the Wsi statistic primarily tracks dynamical motions in the halos of high z galaxies and interpret this correlation as a mass-metallicity relation with very similar slope to the trend observed in local, low-metallicity galaxies. Finally, the GRB-DLAs exhibit systematically larger Wsi values (>0.5A) than the QSO-DLAs ( ~ 0.5A) which may suggest galactic-scale outflows contribute to the largest observed velocity fields.

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arXiv2007

The Ucsd/Keck Damped Lya Abundance Database: A Decade of High Resolution Spectroscopy

We publish the Keck/HIRES and Keck/ESI spectra that we have obtained during the first 10 years of Keck observatory operations. Our full sample includes 42 HIRES spectra and 39 ESI spectra along 65 unique sightlines providing abundance measurements on ~85 damped Lya systems. The normalized data can be downloaded from the journal or from our supporting website: http://www.ucolick.org/~xavier/DLA/. The database includes all of the sightlines that have been included in our papers on the chemical abundances, kinematics, and metallicities of the damped Lya systems. This data has also been used to argue for variations in the fine-structure constant. We present new chemical abundance measurements for 10 damped Lya systems and a summary table of high-resolution metallicity measurements (including values from the literature) for 153 damped Lya systems at z>1.6. We caution, however, that this metallicity sample (and all previous ones) is biased to higher N(HI) values than a random sample.

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arXiv2007

Distribution of Damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers in a Lambda Cold Dark Matter Universe

We present the results of a numerical study of a galactic wind model and its implications on the properties of damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs) using cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. We vary both the wind strength and the internal parameters of the the wind model in a series of cosmological SPH simulations that include radiative cooling and heating by a UV background, star formation, and feedback from supernovae and galactic winds. To test our simulations, we examine the DLA `rate-of-incidence' as a function of halo mass, galaxy apparent magnitude, and impact parameter. We find that the statistical distribution of DLAs does not depend on the exact values of internal numerical parameters that control the decoupling of hydrodynamic forces when the gas is ejected from starforming regions. The DLA rate-of-incidence in our simulations at z=3 is dominated by the faint galaxies with apparent magnitude R_AB < 25.5. However, interestingly in a `strong wind' run, the differential distribution of DLA sight-lines is peaked at Mhalo = 10^{12} Msun/h (R_AB~27), and the mean DLA halo mass is Mmean=10^{12.4} Msun/h (R_AB ~ 26). These mass-scales are much larger than those if we ignore winds, because galactic wind feedback suppresses the DLA cross section in low-mass halos and increases the relative contribution to the DLA incidence from more massive halos. The DLAs in our simulations are more compact than the present-day disk galaxies, and the impact parameter distribution is very narrow unless we limit the search for the host galaxy to only bright LBGs. The comoving number density of DLAs is higher than that of LBGs down to R_AB=30 mag if the physical radius of each DLA is smaller than 5 kpc/h_70. We discuss conflicts between current simulations and observations, and potential problems with simulations based on the CDM model.

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arXiv2006

Searching for Low Surface-brightness Galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Implications for the Star Formation Efficiency in Neutral Gas at z ~ 3

(Abridged) The Kennicutt--Schmidt law relates the face-on star formation rate (SFR) per unit area with the face-on gaseous column density in nearby galaxies. Applying this relation to damped Lya absorption systems (DLAs) of neutral hydrogen column density N > 1.6x10^21 cm^-2 leads to an estimate that three percent of the sky should be covered with extended sources brighter than mu_V~28.4 mag arcsec^-2, if DLAs at redshift z=[2.5,3.5] undergo in situ star formation. We test this hypothesis by searching the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF) F606W image for low surface-brightness features of angular sizes, ranging between theta_dla=0.25" and 4.0". Our search yields upper limits on the comoving SFR densities that are between factors of 30 and 100 lower than predictions, suggesting a reduction by more than a factor of 10 in star formation efficiency at z~3. We consider several mechanisms that could reduce star formation efficiency at high redshift. We find that the cosmological increase with redshift of the critical surface density for the Toomre instability may be sufficient to suppress star formation to the levels implied by the UDF observations. However, the uncertainties are such that Toomre instabilities may still exist. In that case star formation at column densities less than 10^22 cm^-2 may be suppressed by the low molecular content of the DLA gas. The upper limits on in situ star formation reduce the predicted metallicities at z~3 to be significantly lower than observed, and reduce the heat input in the gas to be substantially lower than the inferred cooling rates. In contrast, the radiative output from compact Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) with R<27 is sufficient to balance the comoving cooling rate.

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arXiv2006

The Metal-Strong Damped Lyman-alpha Systems

We have identified a metal-strong (logN(Zn+) > 13.15 or logN(Si+) > 15.95) DLA (MSDLA) population from an automated quasar (QSO) absorber search in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3 (SDSS-DR3) quasar sample, and find that MSDLAs comprise ~5% of the entire DLA population with z_abs > 2.2 found in QSO sightlines with r < 19.5. We have also acquired 27 Keck ESI follow-up spectra of metal-strong candidates to evaluate our automated technique and examine the MSDLA candidates at higher resolution. We demonstrate that the rest equivalent widths of strong ZnII 2026 and SiII 1808 lines in low-resolution SDSS spectra are accurate metal-strong indicators for higher-resolution spectra, and predict the observed equivalent widths and signal-to-noise ratios needed to detect certain extremely weak lines with high-resolution instruments. We investigate how the MSDLAs may affect previous studies concerning a dust-obscuration bias and the N(HI)-weighted cosmic mean metallicity . Finally, we include a brief discussion of abundance ratios in our ESI sample and find that underlying mostly Type II supernovae enrichment are differential depletion effects due to dust (and in a few cases quite strong); we present here a handful of new Ti and Mn measurements, both of which are useful probes of depletion in DLAs. Future papers will present detailed examinations of particularly metal-strong DLAs from high-resolution KeckI/HIRES and VLT/UVES spectra.

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arXiv2006

Survey for Galaxies Associated with z~3 Damped Lyman alpha Systems II: Galaxy-Absorber Correlation Functions

We use 211 galaxy spectra from our survey for Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) associated with 11 damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) to measure the three-dimensional LBG auto-correlation and DLA-LBG cross-correlation functions with the primary goal of inferring the mass of DLAs at z~3. Conventional binning of the data while varying both r_0 and gamma parameters of the fiducial model of the correlation function xi(r)=(r/r_0)^{-gamma} resulted in the best fit values and 1 sigma uncertainties of r_0=2.65+/-0.48, gamma=1.55+/-0.40 for the LBG auto-correlation and r_0=3.32+/-1.25, gamma=1.74+/-0.36 for DLA-LBG cross-correlation function. To circumvent shortcomings found in binning small datasets, we perform a maximum likelihood analysis based on Poisson statistics. The best fit values and 1 sigma confidence levels from this analysis were found to be r_0=2.91(+1.0,-1.0), gamma=1.21(+0.6,-0.3) for the LBG auto-correlation and r_0=2.81(+1.4,-2.0), gamma=2.11(+1.3,-1.4) for the DLA-LBG cross-correlation function. We report a redshift spike of five LBGs with Delta z = 0.015 of the z=2.936 DLA in the PSS0808+5215 field and find that the DLA-LBG clustering signal survives when omitting this field from the analysis. Using the correlation functions measurements and uncertainties, we compute the z~3 LBG galaxy bias b_LBG to be 1.5<b_LBG<3 corresponding to an average halo mass of 10^(9.7)<M_LBG<10^(11.6) M_odot and the z~3 DLA galaxy bias b_DLA to be 1.3<b_DLA<4 corresponding to an average halo mass of 10^(9)<M_LBG<10^(12) M_odot. Lastly, two of the six QSOs discovered in this survey were found to lie within Delta z = 0.0125 of two of the survey DLAs. We estimate the probability of this occurring by chance is 1 in 940 and may indicate a possible relationship between the distribution of QSOs and DLAs at z~3.

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arXiv2006

Detectability of [CII] 158 micron emission from high-redshift galaxies: predictions for ALMA and SPICA

We discuss the detectability of high-redshift galaxies via [CII] 158 micron line emission by coupling an analytic model with cosmological Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations that are based on the concordance Lambda cold dark matter (CDM) model. Our analytic model describes a multiphase interstellar medium irradiated by the far ultra-violet radiation from local star-forming regions, and it calculates thermal and ionization equilibrium between cooling and heating. The model allows us to predict the mass fraction of a cold neutral medium (CNM) embedded in a warm neutral medium (WNM). Our cosmological SPH simulations include a treatment of radiative cooling/heating, star formation, and feedback effects from supernovae and galactic winds. Using our method, we make predictions for the [CII] luminosity from high-redshift galaxies which can be directly compared with upcoming observations by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA). We find that the number density of high-redshift galaxies detectable by ALMA and SPICA via [CII] emission depends significantly on the amount of neutral gas which is highly uncertain. Our calculations suggest that, in a CDM universe, most [CII] sources at z=3 are faint objects with \Snu < 0.01 mJy. Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) brighter than R_AB=23.5 mag are expected to have flux densities \Snu = 1-3 mJy depending on the strength of galactic wind feedback. The recommended observing strategy for ALMA and SPICA is to aim at very bright LBGs or star-forming DRG/BzK galaxies.

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arXiv2006

The UCSD Radio-Selected Quasar Survey for Damped Lyman alpha System

As large optical quasar surveys for damped Lya become a reality and the study of star forming gas in the early Universe achieves statistical robustness, it is now vital to identify and quantify the sources of systematic error. Because the nature of optically-selected quasar surveys makes them vulnerable to dust obscuration, we have undertaken a radio-selected quasar survey for damped Lya systems to address this bias. We present the definition and results of this survey. We then combine our sample with the CORALS dataset to investigate the HI column density distribution function f(N) of damped Lya systems toward radio-selected quasars. We find that f(N) is well fit by a power-law f(N) = k_1 N^alpha_1, with log k_1 = 22.90 and alpha_1 = -2.18. This power-law is in excellent agreement with that of optically-selected samples at low N(HI), an important yet expected result given that obscuration should have negligible effect at these gas columns. However, because of the relatively small size of the radio-selected sample, 26 damped Lya systems in 119 quasars, f(N) is not well constrained at large N(HI) and the first moment of the HI distribution function, Omega_g, is, strictly speaking, a lower limit. The power-law is steep enough, however, that extrapolating it to higher column densities implies only a modest, logarithmic increase in Omega_g. The radio-selected value of Omega_g = 1.15 x 10^-3, agrees well with the results of optically-selected surveys. While our results indicate that dust obscuration is likely not a major issue for surveys of damped Lya systems, we estimate that a radio-selected sample of approximately 100 damped Lya systems will be required to obtain the precision necessary to absolutely confirm an absence of dust bias.

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arXiv2006

Adaptive Mesh Refinement Simulations of the Ionization Structure and Kinematics of Damped Ly$α$ Systems with Self-consistent Radiative Transfer

We use high resolution Eulerian hydrodynamics simulations to study kinematic properties of the low ionization species in damped Ly-alpha systems at redshift z=3. Our adaptive mesh refinement simulations include most key ingredients relevant for modeling neutral gas in high-column density absorbers: hydrodynamics, gravitational collapse, continuum radiative transfer and gas chemistry, but no star formation. We model high-resolution Keck spectra with unsaturated low ion transitions in two Si II lines (1526 and 1808 A), and compare simulated line profiles to the data from the SDSS DLA survey. We find that with increasing grid resolution the models show a trend in convergence towards the observed distribution of HI column densities. While in our highest resolution model we recover the cumulative number of DLAs per unit absorption distance, none of our models predicts DLA velocity widths as high as indicated by the data, suggesting that feedback from star formation might be important. At z=3 a non-negligible fraction of DLAs with column densities below 10^21 cm^-2 is caused by tidal tails due to galaxy-galaxy interactions in more massive halo environments. Lower column density absorbers with N_HI < 10^21.4 cm^-2 are sensitive to changes in the UV background resulting in a 10% reduction of the cumulative number of DLAs for twice the quasar background relative to the fiducial value. We find that the mass cut-off below which a large fraction of dwarf galaxies cannot retain gas after reionization is 7*10^7 msun, lower than the previous estimates. Finally, we show that models with self-shielding commonly used in the literature produce significantly lower DLA velocity widths than the full radiative transfer runs.

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arXiv2005

Damped Lyman alpha Systems

Observations of damped Lyman alpha systems offer a unique window on the neutral-gas reservoirs that gave rise to galaxies at high redshifts. This review focuses on critical properties such as the H I and metal content of the gas and on independent evidence for star formation. Together, these provide an emerging picture of gravitationally bound objects in which accretion of gas from the IGM replenishes gas consumed by star formation. Other properties such as dust content, molecular content, ionized-gas content, gas kinematics, and galaxy identifications are also reviewed. These properties point to a multiphase ISM in which radiative and hydrodynamic feedback processes are present. Numerical simulations and other types of models used to describe damped Lyman alpha systems within the context of galaxy formation are also discussed.

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arXiv2005

The SDSS Damped Lya Survey: Data Release 3

We present the results from a damped Lya survey of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Data Release 3 based on over 500 new damped Lya systems at z>2.2. We measure the HI column density distribution f(N) and its zeroth and first moments (the incidence l(X) and gas mass-density O_dla of damped Lya systems, respectively) as a function of redshift. The key results include: (1) the f(N) distribution is well fit by a Gamma-function with `break' column density log N_g=10^21.5 and `faint-end' slope alpha=-1.8; (2) the shape of the f(N) distributions do not show evolution with redshift; (3) l(X) and O_dla decrease by 35% and 50% during ~1Gyr between redshift z=[3.,3.5] to z=[2.2,2.5]; and (4) l(X) and O_dla in the lowest SDSS redshift bin (z=2.2) are consistent with the current values. We investigate systematic errors in damped Lya analysis and identify only one important effect: we measure 40 +/- 20% higher O_dla values toward a subset of brighter quasars than toward a faint subset. This effect runs contrary to the bias associated with dust obscuration and suggests that gravitational lensing may be important. Comparing the results against models of galaxy formation, we find all of the models significantly underpredict l(X) at z=3 and only SPH models with significant feedback may reproduce O_dla at high redshift. We argue that the Lyman limit systems contribute ~1/3 of the universe's HI atoms at all redshifts z=2 to 5 and that the f(N) distribution for N(HI)<10^20 has an inflection with slope >-1. We advocate a new mass density definition -- the mass density of predominantly neutral gas O_neut -- to be contrasted with the mass density of gas associated with HI atoms. We contend the damped Lya systems contribute >80% of O_neut at all redshifts and therefore are the main reservoirs for star formation. [abridged]

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