Spectroscopy of the Double Quasars Q1343+266AB: The Size of Lyalpha Forest Clouds and The Origin of QSO C IV Absorption

Details Spectroscopy of the Double Quasars Q1343+266AB: The Size of Lyalpha Forest Clouds and The Origin of QSO C IV Absorption Spectroscopy of the Double Quasars Q1343+266AB: The Size of Lyalpha Forest Clouds and The Origin of QSO C IV Absorption

Dec 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994aas...185.1807c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 185th AAS Meeting, #18.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 26, p.1338

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We present spectra of QSOs 1343+266A, B, covering Ly beta to C IV emission at 2 Angstroms resolution, and find further evidence that this system is not gravitationally lensed. We see, however, a large number of Ly alpha and some C IV absorption features common to both spectra. The frequency of C IV lines in common indicates that these absorbers have a radius close to the sightline separation, 39 h(-1) kpc (where h equiv (H_o / 100 km s(-1) Mpc(-1) , q_o=0.5), implying a spatial number density of these absorbers the same as current day L>0.3L_* galaxies. Furthermore, the velocity mismatch for C IV systems indicates absorber masses in the range 10(11) Msun < M < 10(12) Msun. These results confirm that typical galaxies cause QSO C IV-line absorption. This system is well-suited for probing the Lyalpha forest, since the two component spectra show several Lyalpha lines in common and several others not. Using Bayesian statistics, under the idealization of uniform-radius spherical absorbers, we find that the Lyalpha cloud radius at z ~ 1.8 lies in the range 40h(-1) kpc< R < 280 h(-1) kpc with 98% confidence in a (Omega_o , Lambda_o ) = (1, 0) model universe. The median value of R is 90h(-1) kpc. These numbers scale up by a factor 1.44 for (Omega_o , Lambda_o ) =(0.1, 0); and by a factor 1.85 for (0.1, 0.9). Pressure-confined and freely-expanding Lyalpha cloud models in which the absorbers formed in a significantly more compressed state at z >> 2 are contradicted by these new data, as are models involving stably-confined gas concentrations in photoionization equilibrium within minihalos of cold dark matter. The comoving density of Lyalpha forest objects at z ~ 2 is ~ 0.3 h (R/100 kpc)(-2) Mpc(-3) in a (1,0) model universe. This suggests a possible identification of Lyalpha clouds with the unvirialized, collapsing progenitors of the faint, blue galaxies at z ~ 1.

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