SIMBAD references

2006MNRAS.367..139A - Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 367, 139-155 (2006/March-3)

High-metallicity, photoionized gas in intergalactic large-scale filaments.

ARACIL B., TRIPP T.M., BOWEN D.V., PROCHASKA J.X., CHEN H.-W. and FRYE B.L.

Abstract (from CDS):

We present high-resolution ultraviolet spectra of absorption-line systems towards the low-z quasi-stellar object (QSO) HS 0624+6907 (zQSO= 0.3700). Coupled with ground-based imaging and spectroscopic galaxy redshifts, we find evidence that many of these absorbers do not arise in galaxy haloes but rather are truly intergalactic gas clouds distributed within large-scale structures, and moreover, the gas is cool (T < 105 K) and has relatively high metallicity (Z > 0.9Z). Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) data reveal a dramatic cluster of 13 Hi Lyman α (Lyα) lines within a 1000 km/s interval at zabs= 0.0635. We find 10 galaxies at this redshift with impact parameters ranging from ρ= 135h–170kpc to 1.37h–170 Mpc. The velocities and velocity spread of the Lyα lines in this complex are unlikely to arise in the individual haloes of the nearby galaxies; instead, we attribute the absorption to intragroup medium gas, possibly from a large-scale filament viewed along its long axis. Contrary to theoretical expectations, this gas is not the shock-heated warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM); the width of the Lyα lines all indicate a gas temperature T≪ 105 K, and metal lines detected in the Lyα complex also favour photoionized, cool gas. No Ovi absorption lines are evident, which is consistent with photoionization models. Remarkably, the metallicity is near-solar, [M/H]=-0.05±0.4 (2σ uncertainty), yet the nearest galaxy which might pollute the intergalactic medium is at least 135h–170kpc 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° 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 zabs= 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 (ρ= 293h–170kpc). The Doppler parameters and Hi column densities of the Lyα lines observed along the entire sight line are consistent with those measured towards other low-z QSOs, including a number of broad (b > 40km/s) Lyα lines.

Abstract Copyright: 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2006 RAS

Journal keyword(s): galaxies: abundances - intergalactic medium - quasars: individual: HS0624+6907 - large-scale structure of Universe

Nomenclature: Figs 1, 2, Table 2: [ATB2006] WWNNa (Nos SW1-SW3, SE1-SE13, NE1-NE3, NW1-NW3, NW4a-NW4b, NW5-NW12).

Errata: erratum vol. 372, p. 959 (2006)

Simbad objects: 56

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