arXiv subjects

Sergei Balashev

Publications and source records attributed to Sergei Balashev.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Molecular gas hidden in plain sight in the early Universe

We report the discovery of an extreme intervening molecular absorber at zabs = 4.1 towards the z = 4.7 quasar SDSS J080023.02+305101.22 revealed through strong H2 absorption that had remained unnoticed in archival data for about two decades. The system, which we analysed with new VLT/X-shooter observations, has a metallicity of about one-fifth the solar value, in line with the moderate dust reddening AV~0.06 mag. More strikingly, it exhibits the highest molecular fraction, fH2 = 2N(H2)/(2N(H2) + N(HI))~=60%, measured at z>0 from direct determinations of both atomic and molecular hydrogen column densities. Notably, this fraction is comparable to the very highest values in the Local Group. The inferred fH2 still represents a conservative lower limit to the local molecular fraction since the H i absorption very likely includes atomic gas unrelated to the actual molecular component, as indicated by the wide (Delta v~500 km/s) multi-component low-ionisation metal profile. The detection of such a system at early cosmic times is remarkable given the limited number of quasar spectra probing z>4. It suggests an unexpectedly high incidence of H2, with important implications for the evolution of molecular gas. This high incidence may be driven by high average densities and enhanced turbulence at those redshifts. At the same time, our results also highlight possible observational biases, both in quasar selection and in recognising strong H2 absorption, suggesting that a significant fraction of molecular gas may remain undetected, in particular near the peak of star formation. The present system offers a unique benchmark for developing efficient detection algorithms. Further progress will benefit from colour-independent quasar surveys, while constraining the physical conditions and environments of such extreme absorbers will require observations on future extremely large telescopes.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2026

Low-Frequency Recombination Lines from Galaxies and AGN over Cosmic Time

Radio recombination lines (RRLs) at low frequencies (<10 GHz) can provide a multi-phase view of interstellar gas in nearby galaxies, absorption-line-systems, and AGN. Hydrogen RRLs arise in fully ionized gas and carbon RRLs trace elusive cold-HI and CO-dark molecular gas. Low frequency RRLs are typically stimulated by the radio continuum and thus may be observable within or against radio bright sources out to cosmological distances (z ~ 6). Although long sought after, RRLs were only recently detected outside of the local universe (z ~ 1; Emig et al., 2020, 2023). Such detections have been made possible by the advancement of wide-bandwidth spectral-line surveys on next-generation low-frequency telescopes. Precursors and pathfinders to the SKA have opened up this field of research and will make significant advancements over the next years by enabling surveys over large source samples. The SKA will provide access to the crucial frequency ranges where RRL line intensity is brightest. Furthermore, multi-band SKA measurements will fully characterize gas physical conditions. Key extragalactic science of low frequency RRLs will focus on (i) the conversion of baryonic material into stars across cosmic time, (ii) the evolution of the ISM and its physical conditions in galaxies, and (iii) how gas drives and inhibits AGN activity.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

H I Properties of Field Galaxies at $\boldsymbol{z\approx 0.2}$-0.6: Insights into Declining Cosmic Star Formation

We report statistically significant detection of H I 21-cm emission from intermediate-redshift ($z\approx0.2$-0.6) galaxies. By leveraging multi-sightline galaxy survey data from the Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (CUBS) and deep radio observations from the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS), we have established a sample of $\approx6000$ spectroscopically identified galaxies in 11 distinct fields to constrain the neutral gas content at intermediate redshifts. The galaxies sample a broad range in stellar mass -- $8\lesssim\log{M_\rm{star}/\rm{M}_\odot}\lesssim11$ with a median of $\langle\log{M_\rm{star}/\rm{M}_\odot}\rangle_\rm{med}\approx10$ -- and a wide range in redshift -- $0.24\lesssim z\lesssim0.63$ with a median of $\langle z\rangle_\rm{med}=0.44$. Our detected emission-line signal exceeds $4\,σ$ significance in the stacked spectra of all subsamples, and the observed total H I 21-cm line flux translates to a H I mass $M_\rm{H\;I}\approx10^{10}\rm{M}_\odot$. We find a high H I-to-stellar mass ratio of $M_\mathrm{H\;I}/M_\rm{star}\approx6$ for low-mass galaxies with $\langle\log{M_\rm{star}/\rm{M}_\odot}\rangle \approx9.3$ ($>3.7\,σ$). For galaxies with $\langle\log{M_\rm{star}/\rm{M}_\odot}\rangle\approx10.6$, we find $M_\mathrm{H\;I}/M_\rm{star}\approx0.3$ ($>4.7\,σ$). Additionally, the redshift evolution of H I mass in both low- and high-mass field galaxies, inferred from the stacked emission-line signal, aligns well with the expectation from the cosmic star formation history. This suggests that the overall decline in the cosmic star formation activity across the general galaxy population may be connected to a decreasing supply of neutral hydrogen. Finally, our analysis has revealed significant 21-cm signals at distances greater than 75 kpc from these intermediate-redshift galaxies, indicating a substantial reservoir of H I gas in their extended surroundings.

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arXiv2025

Quasar radiation transforms the gas in a merging companion galaxy

Quasars, powered by gas accretion onto supermassive black holes, rank among the most energetic objects of the Universe. While they are thought to be ignited by galaxy mergers and affect the surrounding gas, observational constraints on both processes remain scarce. Here we unveil a major merging system at redshift $z \approx 2.7$, and demonstrate that radiation from the quasar in one galaxy directly alters the gas properties in the other galaxy. Our findings reveal that the galaxies, with centroids separated by only a few kiloparsecs and approaching each other at speed $\approx550\,$km$\,$s$^{-1}$, are massive, form stars, and contain a substantial molecular mass. Yet, dusty molecular gas seen in absorption against the quasar nucleus is highly excited and confined within cloudlets with densities $\sim 10^5$ - $10^6$ cm$^{-3}$ and sizes $<$0.02 pc, several orders of magnitude more compact than those observed in intervening (non-quasar) environments. This is also approximately 10$^5$ times smaller than currently resolvable through molecular-line emission at high redshifts. We infer that, wherever exposed to the quasar radiation, molecular gas is disrupted, leaving behind surviving dense clouds too small to give birth to new stars. Our results not only underscore the role of major galaxy mergers in triggering quasar activity, but also reveal localized negative feedback as a profound alteration of internal gas structure which likely hampers star formation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

First detections of CO absorption in the Magellanic Clouds and direct measurement of the CO-to-H$_2$ ratio

Molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) is by far the most abundant molecule in the Universe. However, due to the low emissivity of H$_2$, carbon monoxide (CO) is widely used instead to trace molecular gas in galaxies. The relative abundances of these molecules is expected to depend on both physical (e.g., density) and chemical (e.g., metal enrichment) properties of the gas, making direct measurements in diverse environments crucial. We present a systematic search for CO in absorption toward 34 stars behind H$_2$ gas in the Magellanic Clouds using the Hubble Space Telescope. We report the first two definitive detections of CO absorption in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and one in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), along with stringent upper limits for the remaining sightlines. Non-detections of CO are consistent with models of low thermal pressures and/or low metallicities while detections at the lower metallicities of the Magellanic Clouds require higher thermal pressures, $P_{\rm th}=10^5-10^6$$\,$K$\,$cm$^{-3}$ than detections the Milky Way at similar $N({\rm H_2})$. Notably, the high density derived from the rotational excitation of CO towards SK$\,$143 in the SMC suggests full molecularization of CO in the absorbing cloud, with CO/H$_2 = 8.3^{+2.0}_{-1.6}\times10^{-5}$ consistent with the standard ratio ($3.2\times10^{-4}$) measured in dense molecular gas in the Milky Way, scaled to the SMC's $0.2\,Z_{\odot}$ metallicity.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Neutral carbon in diffuse interstellar medium: abundance matching with H2 for DLAs at high redshifts

We present the study of CI/H$_2$ relative abundance in the diffuse cold neutral medium. Using the chemical and thermal balance model we calculated the dependence of CI/H$_2$ on the main parameters of the medium: hydrogen number density, metallicity, strength of the UV field, and cosmic ray ionization rate (CRIR). We show that observed relative CI and H$_2$ column densities in damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) at high redshifts can be reproduced within our model assuming the typically expected conditions in the diffuse cold neutral medium (CNM). Using the additional observed information the on metallicity, HI column density, and excitation of CI fine-structure levels, as well as temperature we estimated for a wide range metallicities in the CNM at high redshifts that CRIRs to be in the range from $\sim10^{-16}$ to $\rm few \times 10^{-15}\rm s^{-1}$, hydrogen number densities to be in range $\sim10 - 10^3$cm$^{-3}$, and UV field in range from $10^{-2}$ to $\rm few \times 10^2$ of Mathis field. We argue, that since the observed quantities used in this work are quite homogeneous and much less affected by the radiative transfer effects (in comparison with e.g. dissociation of HD and UV pumping of H$_2$ rotational levels) our estimates are quite robust against the assumption of the exact geometrical model of the cloud and local sources of the UV field.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

The CUBES Science Case

We introduce the scientific motivations for the development of the Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) that is now in construction for the Very Large Telescope. The assembled cases span a broad range of contemporary topics across Solar System, Galactic and extragalactic astronomy, where observations are limited by the performance of current ground-based spectrographs shortwards of 400nm. A brief background to each case is presented and specific technical requirements on the instrument design that flow-down from each case are identified. These were used as inputs to the CUBES design, that will provide a factor of ten gain in efficiency for astronomical spectroscopy over 300-405nm, at resolving powers of R~24,000 and ~7,000. We include performance estimates that demonstrate the ability of CUBES to observe sources that are up to three magnitudes fainter than currently possible at ground-ultraviolet wavelengths, and we place its predicted performance in the context of existing facillities.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Molecular hydrogen in absorption at high redshifts. Science cases for CUBES

Absorption lines from molecular hydrogen ($\rm H_2$) in the spectra of background sources are a powerful probe of the physical conditions in intervening cold neutral medium. At high redshift, $z>2$, $\rm H_2$ lines are conveniently shifted in the optical domain, allowing the use of ground-based telescopes to perform high-resolution spectroscopy, which is essential for a proper analysis of the cold gas. We describe recent observational progress, based on the development of efficient pre-selection techniques in low-resolution spectroscopic surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The next generation of spectrographs with high blue-throughput, such as CUBES, will certainly significantly boost the efficiency and outcome of follow-up observations. In this paper, we discuss high priority science cases for CUBES, building on recent $\rm H_2$ observations at high-z: probing the physical conditions in the cold phase of regular galaxies and outflowing gas from active galactic nucleus.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

OH in the diffuse interstellar medium: physical modelling and prospects with upcoming SKA precursor/pathfinder surveys

Hydroxyl ($\rm OH$) is known to form efficiently in cold gas ($T\sim 100$K) along with the molecule $\rm H_2$ and can be used as an efficient tracer of the diffuse molecular gas in the interstellar medium (ISM). Using a simple formalism describing the $\rm H\,I/H_2$ transition and a reduced network of major chemical reactions, we present a semi-analytical prescription to estimate the abundances of O-bearing molecules in the diffuse ISM. We show that predictions based on our prescription are in good agreement with the estimates obtained using the MEUDON PDR code which utilizes the full reaction network. We investigate the dependence of the relative abundances of $\rm OH/H\,I$ and $\rm OH/H_2$ on the variations of physical conditions i.e., the metallicity, number density ($n$), cosmic ray ionization rate ($ζ$) and strength of UV field ($χ$) in the medium. We find that the $\rm OH/H\,I$ abundances observed in the Galactic ISM can be reproduced by models with $n\sim 50$cm$^{-3}$, $χ\sim 1$ (Mathis field) and $ζ\sim3\times10^{-17}$s$^{-1}$, with a variation of about one dex allowed around these values. Using the constrained $\rm H_2$ column density distribution function at $z\sim3$, we estimate the $\rm OH$ column density distribution function and discuss future prospects with the upcoming large radio absorption line surveys.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Constraining the H$_2$ column density distribution at z$\sim$3 from composite DLA spectra

We present the detection of the average H$_2$ absorption signal in the overall population of neutral gas absorption systems at $z\sim 3$ using composite absorption spectra built from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III damped Lyman-$α$ catalogue. We present a new technique to directly measure the H$_2$ column density distribution function $f_{\rm H_2}(N)$ from the average H$_2$ absorption signal. Assuming a power-law column density distribution, we obtain a slope $β= -1.29 \pm 0.06(\rm stat) \pm 0.10 (\rm sys)$ and an incidence rate of strong H$_2$ absorptions (with $N$(H$_2)\gtrsim 10^{18}\,$cm$^{-2}$) to be $4.0 \pm 0.5(\rm stat) \pm 1.0 (\rm sys)\,\%$ in H$\,$I absorption systems with $N($H$\,$I)$\ge 10^{20}\,$cm$^{-2}$. Assuming the same inflexion point where $f_{\rm H_2}(N)$ steepens as at $z=0$, we estimate that the cosmological density of H$_2$ in the column density range $\log N(\rm H_2)$(cm$^{-2})= 18-22$ is $\sim 15\%$ of the total. We find one order of magnitude higher H$_2$ incident rate in a sub-sample of extremely strong DLAs ($\log N($H$\,$I)(cm$^{-2}) \ge 21.7$), which, together with the the derived shape of $f_{\rm H_2}(N)$, suggests that the typical H$\,$I-H$_2$ transition column density in DLAs is $\log N({\rm H})$(cm$^{-2}) \gtrsim 22.3$ in agreement with theoretical expectations for the average (low) metallicity of DLAs at high-$z$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

Effect of a partial coverage of quasar broad-line regions by intervening H$_2$-bearing clouds

We consider the effect of a partial coverage of quasar broad-line regions (QSO BLRs) by intervening H$_2$-bearing clouds when a part of quasar (QSO) radiation passes by a cloud not taking part in formation of an absorption-line system in the QSO spectrum. That leads to modification of observable absorption line profiles and consequently to a bias in physical parameters derived from standard absorption line analysis. In application to the H$_2$ {absorption} systems the effect has been revealed in the analysis of H$_2$ absorption system in the spectrum of Q~1232+082 (Ivanchik et al. 2010, Balashev et al. 2011). We estimate a probability of the effect to be detected in QSO spectra. To do this we derive distribution of BLR sizes of high-z QSOs from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 9 (DR9) catalogue and assume different distributions of cloud sizes. We conclude that the low limit of the probability is about $11\%$. The latest researches shows that about a fifth of observed H$_2$ absorption systems can be partially covered. Accounting of the effect may allow to revise significantly physical parameters of interstellar clouds obtained by the spectral analysis.

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