arXiv subjects

Bastien Aracil

Publications and source records attributed to Bastien Aracil.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2007

In response to the comments by Murphy et al. (arxiv:0708.3677)

In their comment, Murphy et al. (arxiv:0708.3677) criticize the fitting procedure we used in two previous papers [Srianand et al. 2004(Paper I) and Chand et al. 2004 (Paper II)] and conclude that the above papers offers no stringent test to previous evidence for varying fine structure constant. We think this is a hasty conclusion as (a) our procedure is robust as shown in Paper II; (b) the data used by Murphy et al., in particular the error array, are different from ours and there are differences in the fitting procedure; (c) despite these differences, 70 per cent of their individual measurements are consistent with that quoted in Paper II. Our reanalysis using VPFIT with identical initial guess parameters leads to Δα/α= (0.01+/-0.15)x 10^{-5}$ for 21 systems (excluding two systems that deviate at more than 3$σ$ level) with very little scatter (χ^2_ν~1).

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arXiv2006

High Metallicity, Photoionised Gas in Intergalactic Large-Scale Filaments

We present high-resolution UV spectra of absorption-line systems toward the low-z QSO HS0624+6907 (z=0.3700). Coupled with spectroscopic galaxy redshifts, we find that many of these absorbers are integalactic gas clouds distributed within large-scale structures. The gas is cool (T<10^5 K) and has relatively high metallicity (Z/Z_sol>0.9). STIS data reveal a cluster of 13 HI Lyman alpha lines within a 1000 km/s interval at z=0.0635. We find 10 galaxies at this redshift with impact parameters ranging from 135 h^-1 kpc to 1.37 h^-1 Mpc. We attribute the HI Lya absorptions to intragroup medium gas, possibly from a large-scale filament viewed along its long axis. Remarkably, the metallicity is near-solar, [M/H] = -0.05 +/- 0.4 (2 sigma uncertainty), yet the nearest galaxy which might pollute the IGM is at least 135 h_70^-1 kpc away. Tidal stripping from nearby galaxies appears to be the most likely origin of this highly enriched, cool gas. More than six Abell galaxy clusters are found within 4 degree of the sight line suggesting that the QSO line of sight passes near a node in the cosmic web. At z~0.077, we find absorption systems as well as galaxies at the redshift of the nearby clusters Abell 564 and Abell 559. We conclude that the sight line pierces a filament of gas and galaxies feeding into these clusters. The absorber at z_abs = 0.07573 associated with Abell 564/559 also has a high metallicity with [C/H] > -0.6, but again the closest galaxy is relatively far from the sight line (293 h^-1 kpc).

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arXiv2006

The O VI Absorbers Toward PG0953+415: High Metallicity, Cosmic-Web Gas Far From Luminous Galaxies

The spectrum of the low-redshift QSO PG0953+415 shows two strong, intervening O VI absorption systems. To study the nature of these absorbers, we have used the Gemini Multiobject Spectrograph to conduct a deep spectroscopic galaxy redshift survey in the 5' x 5' field centered on the QSO. This survey is fully complete for r' < 19.7 and is 73% complete for r' < 21.0. We find three galaxies at the redshift of the higher-z O VI system (z = 0.14232) including a galaxy at projected distance rho = 155 kpc. We find no galaxies in the Gemini field at the redshift of the lower-z O VI absorber (z = 0.06807), which indicates that the nearest galaxy is more than 195 kpc away or has L < 0.04 L*. Previous shallower surveys covering a larger field have shown that the z = 0.06807 O VI absorber is affiliated with a group/filament of galaxies, but the nearest known galaxy has rho = 736 kpc. The z = 0.06807 absorber is notable for several reasons. The absorption profiles reveal simple kinematics indicative of quiescent material. The H I line widths and good alignment of the H I and metal lines favor photoionization and, moreover, the column density ratios imply a high metallicity: [M/H] = -0.3 +/- 0.12. The z = 0.14232 O VI system is more complex and less constrained but also indicates a relatively high metallicity. Using galaxy redshifts from SDSS, we show that both of the PG0953+415 O VI absorbers are located in large-scale filaments of the cosmic web. Evidently, some regions of the web filaments are highly metal enriched. We discuss the origin of the high-metallicity gas and suggest that the enrichment might have occurred long ago (at high z).

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arXiv2006

On the variation of the fine-structure constant: Very high resolution spectrum of QSO HE 0515-4414

We present a detailed analysis of a very high resolution (R\approx 112,000) spectrum of the quasar HE 0515-4414 obtained using the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) mounted on the ESO 3.6 m telescope at the La Silla observatory. The HARPS spectrum, of very high wavelength calibration accuracy (better than 1 mÅ), is used to search for possible systematic inaccuracies in the wavelength calibration of the UV Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) mounted on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT). We have carried out cross-correlation analysis between the Th-Ar lamp spectra obtained with HARPS and UVES. The shift between the two spectra has a dispersion around zero of σ\simeq 1 mÅ. This is well within the wavelength calibration accuracy of UVES (i.e σ\simeq 4 mÅ). We show that the uncertainties in the wavelength calibration induce an error of about, Δα/α\le 10^{-6}, in the determination of the variation of the fine-structure constant. Thus, the results of non-evolving Δα/αreported in the literature based on UVES/VLT data should not be heavily influenced by problems related to wavelength calibration uncertainties. Our higher resolution spectrum of the z_{abs}=1.1508 damped Lyman-αsystem toward HE 0515-4414 reveals more components compared to the UVES spectrum. Using the Voigt profile decomposition that simultaneously fits the high resolution HARPS data and the higher signal-to-noise ratio UVES data, we obtain, Δα/α=(0.05\pm0.24)x10^{-5} at z_{abs}=1.1508. This result is consistent with the earlier measurement for this system using the UVES spectrum alone.

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arXiv2004

Discovery of a Primitive Damped Lyman alpha Absorber Near an X-ray Bright Galaxy Group in the Virgo Cluster

We present a new UV echelle spectrum of PG1216+069, obtained with HST+STIS, which reveals damped Lya (DLA) absorption as well as O I, C II, Si II, and Fe II absorption lines at z(abs) = 0.00632 near the NGC4261 group. The absorber shows no evidence of highly-ionized gas, which places constraints on "warm-hot" missing baryons in the NGC4261 group. The well-developed damping wings of the Lya line tightly constrain the H I column density; we find log N(H I) = 19.32+/-0.03. The metallicity of this sub-DLA is remarkably low, [O/H] = -1.60^{+0.09}_{-0.11}, which is comparable to many analogous high-redshift systems, and the iron abundance indicates that this absorber contains little or no dust. Nitrogen is underabundant; we detect neither N I or N II, and we show that this is not due to ionization effects but rather indicates that [N/O] < -0.28 (3sigma). Despite the proximity to NGC4261 group, there are no bright galaxies close to the sight line at the absorption redshift. The nearest known galaxy is a sub-L* galaxy with a projected distance rho = 86 kpc; the closest L* galaxy is NGC4260 at rho = 246 kpc. The low metallicity and [N/O] indicate that this low-z sub-DLA is a relatively primitive gas cloud. We consider the nature and origin of the sub-DLA, and we find several possibilities. The properties of the sub-DLA are similar to those of the interstellar media in blue compact dwarf galaxies and are also reminiscent of Milky Way HVCs. Or, the object could simply be a small dark-matter halo, self-enriched by a small amount of internal star formation but mostly undisturbed since its initial formation. In this case, the small halo would likely be an ancient building block of galaxy formation that formed before the epoch of reionization.

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arXiv2004

Probing the time-variation of the fine-structure constant: Results based on Si IV doublets from a UVES sample

We report a new constraint on the variation of the fine-structure constant based on the analysis of 15 Si IV doublets selected from a ESO-UVES sample. We find Δα/α= (+0.15+/-0.43) x 10^-5 over a redshift range of 1.59< z < 2.92 which is consistent with no variation in α. This result represents a factor of three improvement on the constraint on Δα/αbased on Si IV doublets compared to the published results in the literature. The alkali doublet method used here avoids the implicit assumptions used in the many-multiplet method that chemical and ionization inhomogeneities are negligible and isotopic abundances are close to the terrestrial value.

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arXiv2004

Limits on the time variation of the electromagnetic fine-structure constant in the low energy limit from absorption lines in the spectra of distant quasars

Most of the successful physical theories rely on the constancy of few fundamental quantities (such as the speed of light, $c$, the fine-structure constant, α, the proton to electron mass ratio, μ, etc), and constraining the possible time variations of these fundamental quantities is an important step toward a complete physical theory. Time variation of αcan be accurately probed using absorption lines seen in the spectra of distant quasars. Here, we present the results of a detailed many-multiplet analysis performed on a new sample of Mg II systems observed in high quality quasar spectra obtained using the Very Large Telescope. The weighted mean value of the variation in αderived from our analysis over the redshift range 0.4<z<2.3 is Δα/α= (-0.06+/-0.06) x 10^{-5}. The median redshift of our sample (z=1.55) corresponds to a look-back time of 9.7 Gyr in the most favored cosmological model today. This gives a 3σlimit, -2.5 x 10^{-16} yr^-1 <(Δα/αΔt) <+1.2x10^{-16} yr^-1, for the time variation of α, that forms the strongest constraint obtained based on high redshift quasar absorption line systems.

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arXiv2004

Metals in the Intergalactic Medium

We use high spectral resolution (R=45000) and high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N \~ 35-70 per pixel) spectra of 19 high-redshift (2.1 1. Our observations strongly suggest that the CIV/HI ratio decreases with decreasing tau(HI) with log[tau(CIV)]=1.3xlog[tau(HI)]-3.2. We do not detect CIV absorption statistically associated with gas of tau(HI)<1. However, we observe that a small fraction of the low density gas is associated with strong metal lines as a probable consequence of the IGM enrichment being highly inhomogeneous. We detect the presence of OVI down to tau(HI)~0.2 with log[tau(OVI)/tau(HI)] -2.0. We show that OVI absorption in the lowest density gas is located within ~300 km/s from strong HI lines. This suggests that this OVI phase may be part of winds flowing away from overdense regions. This effect is more important at the largest redshifts (z>2.4). Therefore, at the limit of present surveys, the presence of metals in the underdense regions of the IGM is still to be demonstrated.

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arXiv2003

CIV Absorbers in z>4 Quasars: Tracing Early Galactic Halos Evolution

We use 29 z>4 quasar spectra to build a homogeneous sample of high-redshift CIV absorbers. We use these data to calculate the number density, n(z), of W_rest(CIV)>0.30 A CIV doublets. We find that n(z) increases with time from z ~ 4.5. In addition, W_rest(CIV)>0.15 A CIV systems are more numerous than the former at all redshifts. On the contrary, n(z) of W_rest(MgII)>0.30 A MgII doublets decreases with time, in agreement with results from studies of LLS number densities. Below z<3, none of all the classes of absorbers show signs of evolution. We interpret this as the formation of galactic envelopes from smaller halos. Furthermore, the doublet ratio DR=W(CIV 1548)/W(CIV 1550) is found to decrease with time, a signature of the increase of the mean CIV column density. Finally, the W(SiIV 1393)/W(CIV 1548) ratios in strong absorbers (W_rest(CIV 1548) > 0.50 A) is found to be approximately constant from z=3.5 to z=2.5 and then to decrease with time. This result suggests that the highest column density absorbers are not sensitive to changes in the ionization continuum.

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arXiv2003

The Sizes and Kinematic Structure of Absorption Systems Towards the Lensed Quasar APM08279+5255

We have obtained spatially resolved spectra of the z=3.911 triply imaged QSO APM08279+5255 using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We study the line of sight equivalent width (EW) differences and velocity shear of high and low ionization absorbers (including a damped Lyman alpha [DLA] system identified in a spatially unresolved ground based spectrum) in the three lines of sight. We find that high ionization systems (primarily CIV absorbers) do not exhibit strong EW variations on scales <0.4 kpc; their fractional EW differences are typically less than 30%. When combined with previous work on other QSO pairs, we find that the fractional variation increases steadily with separation out to at least ~100 kpc. Conversely, low ionization systems (primarily MgII absorbers) show strong variations (often > 80%) over kpc scales. A minimum radius for strong (EW > 0.3 A) MgII systems of > 1.4 kpc is inferred from absorption coincidences in all lines of sight. For weak MgII absorbers (EW < 0.3 A), a maximum likelihood analysis indicates a most probable coherence scale of 2.0 kpc for a uniform spherical geometry, with 95% confidence limits ranging between 1.5 and 4.4 kpc. Finally, for systems with weak absorption that can be confidently converted to column densities, we find constant N(CIV)/N(SiIV) across the three lines of sight. Similarly, the [Al/Fe] ratios in the z = 2.974 DLA are consistent with solar relative abundances over a transverse distance of \~0.35 kpc. (abrdiged)

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arXiv2003

The Clustering of Intergalactic Metals

We measure the spatial clustering of metals in the intergalactic medium from z = 1.7 to 3.0, as traced by 643 CIV and 104 SiIV N >= 10^12 cm^-2 absorption systems in 19 high signal-to-noise (40-80) and high resolution (R = 45000) quasar spectra. The number densities and two-point correlation functions of both these species are largely constant with redshift, suggesting the bulk of metal ejection occurred at z >= 3. However, at z <= 1.9 some additional signature appears in the CIV correlation function at 500 km/s, associated with four strong and peculiar systems. At all redshifts, the CIV and SiIV correlation functions exhibit a steep rise at large separations and a flatter profile at small separations, with an elbow occurring at ~150 km/s. We show that these properties are consistent with metals confined within bubbles with a typical radius R_s about sources of mass >= M_s, and use numerical simulations to derive best-fit values of R_s ~ 2 comoving Mpc and M_s ~ 5x10^11 solar masses at z = 3. This does not exclude that metals could have been produced at higher redshifts in smaller, but equally rare, objects. At the level of detection of this survey, IGM enrichment is likely to be incomplete and inhomogeneous, with a filling factor ~ 10%.

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arXiv2003

The Structure of High Redshift Galactic Halos

Observations of multiple or lensed QSOs at high redshift can be used to probe transverse structure in intervening absorption systems. Here we present results obtained from STIS spectroscopy of the unique triply imaged QSO APM08279+5255 at z = 3.9 and study the coherence scales of intervening low and high ionization absorbers.

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arXiv2002

The warm-hot intergalactic medium at z~2.2: Metal enrichment and ionization source

Results are presented for our search for warm-hot gas towards the quasar Q 0329-385. We identify ten OVI systems of which two are within 5000 km/s of z_em and a third one should be of intrinsic origin. The seven remaining systems have HI column densities 10^13.7<N(HI)<10^15.6 cm^-2. At least ~1/3 of the individual OVI sub-systems have temperatures T<1x10^5 K and cannot originate in collisionally ionized gas. Photoionization by a hard UV background field reproduces well the ionic ratios for metallicities in the range 10^-2.5 - 10^-0.5 solar, with possibly sub-solar N/C relative abundance. For [O/C]=0, the sizes inferred for the OVI clouds are in some cases larger than the maximum extent implied by the Hubble flow. This constraint is fulfilled assuming a moderate overabundance of oxygen relative to carbon. For a soft UV ionizing spectrum, an overabundance of O/C is required, [O/C]~0.0-1.3. For a hard(soft) UV spectrum and [O/C]=0(1), the OVI regions have overdensities in 10-40.

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arXiv2002

A new measurement of zinc metallicity in a DLA at z=3.35

We present chemical abundance measurements in the z_abs=3.35045 Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) system observed in the UVES spectrum of the BAL quasar BR 1117-1329. We measure a neutral hydrogen column density N(HI)=6.9+/-1.7*10^{20} atoms/cm2 and derive mean abundances relative to solar: [Si/H] = -1.26+/-0.13, [Fe/H]=-1.51+/-0.13, [Ni/H]=-1.57+/-0.13, [Cr/H]=-1.36+/-0.13, [Zn/H]=-1.18+/-0.13, [Al/H]>-1.25, [O/H]>-1.25 and [N/H]<-2.24. This is the third measurement of Zn, an element mildly depleted onto dust grain, at z_abs>3. The iron to zinc and chromium to zinc ratios, [Fe/Zn]=-0.33+/-0.05 and [Cr/Zn]=-0.18+/-0.05 demonstrate that the absorber has a low dust content. The nitrogen ratio [N/Si]<-0.98 suggests that the ``secondary'' N production process is taking place in this DLA. Finally, this absorber does not seem to present a convincing alpha-enhancement as shown by the alpha over Fe-peak element ratios: [Si/Fe]=0.25+/-0.06, [Si/Cr]=0.10+/-0.06 and [Si/Zn]=-0.08+/-0.06.

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arXiv2002

Spatially resolved STIS spectra of the gravitationally lensed BAL quasar APM08279+5255: the nature of component C and evidence for microlensing

While gravitationally lensed quasars are expected to display an odd number of images, invariably systems are observed with an even number of quasars. For this, lensing galaxies must have very small core radii; this provides strong demagnification of one of the images. High resolution imaging of the gravitationally lensed BAL quasar, APM08279+5255, reveals three point-like images. As these images possess similar colours, it has been suggested that each represents a lensed image. Here, spatially resolved spectra of the individual components, obtained with STIS on the HST, are presented, clearly revealing that each is an image of the quasar. This confirms that APM08279+5255 represents the first example of an odd-image gravitationally lensed system. The implications for the properties of the lensing galaxy are discussed. It is also found that the individual images possess spectral differences indicative of the influence of gravitational microlensing in this system.

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arXiv2001

3D Spatial Distribution of the Intergalactic Medium

Very recently a new inversion method has been developped to analyze the intergalactic medium seen in absorption in quasar spectra (the so-called Lyman-alpha forest). This method is applied to recover the temperature of the gas and the underlying density field. Using constraints from the Lyman-beta forest, it is possible to recover this field up to over-densities delta=10. By inverting the HI and CIV absorptions together it has been shown that the CIV/HI ratio varies through the profile of strong lines, beeing larger in the wings. The method can be applied to reconstruct the 3D density field from multiple lines of sight and is shown to give good results up to mean separations of 3 arcmin. Results from a survey of QSO pairs performed with HST/STIS and VLT/UVES-FORS are summarized.

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arXiv2000

Structure of the MgII and damped Lyman-alpha systems along the line of sight to APM 08279+5255

A study of the absorption systems toward the gravitationally lensed quasar APM 08279+5255 is presented. Most of the MgII systems in the redshift range 1.2-2.07, although saturated, show large residuals at the bottom of the lines. The most likely interpretation is that individual clouds within MgII halos do cover only one of the two brightest QSO images. This reveals that MgII halos are made of a collection of clouds of radius smaller than about 1 kpc. Two strong MgII absorbers at z = 1.062 and 1.181 are studied in detail. This is the first time that the NaI3303 doublet is detected in such high redshift systems. Together with the detection of the MgI2852 transition, this strongly constrains the physical characteristics of the gas. The N(NaI)/N(MgI) ratio is found to be larger than unity, implying that the gas is cool and neutral. The column densities of NaI, CaII, MgI, TiII, MnII and FeII observed at z = 1.1801 are very close to that observed along the line of sight towards 23 Ori in our Galaxy. The shape of the QSO continuum and the relative depletion of Fe, Ti, Mn and Ca are consistent with the presence of dust at z = 1 (AV = 0.5 mag). Altogether it is found that the HI column density at z = 1 is of the order of 1 to 5 10**21 cm-2, the corresponding metallicity is in the range 1--0.3 Zsol. The objects associated with these two systems could both contribute to the lens together with another possible strong system at z = 1.1727 and the strong Lyman-alpha system at z = 2.974. The probable damped Ly-alpha system at z = 2.974 has 19.8 < log N(HI) < 20.3. The transverse dimension of the absorber is larger than 200 pc. Abundances relative to solar are -2.31, -2.26, -2.10, -2.35 and -2.37 for, respectively, Fe, Al, Si, C and O (for log N(HI) = 20.3). (Abridged)

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