Computer Science
Scientific paper
Jul 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006hst..prop10817c&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #10817. Cycle 15
Computer Science
Scientific paper
The damped Lya systems DLAs, `clouds' with high columns of neutral hydrogen, dominate the neutral gas mass at z>2 and are believed to be the building blocks of galaxies like the Milky Way. At present, high resolution spectroscopy of the DLAs provide the only detailed study of the ISM of young galaxies during early epochs. Yet by the very nature of their discovery - along bright quasar sightlines - direct imaging of the stellar counterparts presents a major obstacle. The use of gamma-ray bursts GRBs presents a novel new alternative: GRB afterglows are temporarily as bright as quasars, allowing for high-quality spectroscopy to identify and study new DLAs out to redshifts comparable to those probed by quasars. Afterglows then disappear after a few weeks, affording a direct and unimpeded view of the faint DLAs free from a glaring background source. Through an extensive ground-based program in 2005, we have now obtained early-time high-resolution echelle spectra of several NASA/Swift GRB afterglows. These data reveal that nearly all GRB host galaxies produce a DLA feature. Furthermore, the associated metal absorption lines indicate an ISM environment around the GRB progenitors --- extremely dense gas and warm temperature --- that has never been seen beyond the local universe. We request ACS late-time imaging of fields surrounding nine GRBs, all of which exhibit a strong DLA signature or strong metal absorption lines that indicate a DLA at the redshift of the host. In concert with our afterglow absorption line studies and stellar properties of both the GRB host galaxies and galaxies that give rise to strong intervening absorbers, these proposed observations will provide an unprecedented glimpse into the nature of DLAs beyong redshift of unity. As a complete sample, this study will provide robust measurements of the morphology and luminosity of DLA galaxies in a manner inaccessible to QSO lines of sight.
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