How much of the ``missing metals'' are hidden in sub-DLA absorbers?

Details How much of the ``missing metals'' are hidden in sub-DLA absorbers? How much of the ``missing metals'' are hidden in sub-DLA absorbers?

Aug 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007noao.prop..476m&link_type=abstract

NOAO Proposal ID #2007B-0476

Computer Science

Scientific paper

Historically, damped Lyman-(alpha) (DLA) systems have been used as probes of the neutral gas content of the universe. These systems, however appear to show low mean metallicity and very little evolution in time. In fact, DLAs, Lyman-(alpha) forest clouds, and sub-mm galaxies together can account for only ~30-40% of the expected amount of metals. This contradicts the predictions of various models of the chemical evolution of galaxies, and is known as the ``missing metals problem". A new and largely unexplored reservoir of cosmic metals has recently been found in lower neutral hydrogen column density absorbers, the sub-DLA systems. We have recently discovered several high metallicity sub-DLAs. These metal rich systems also typically have larger velocity widths than their DLA counterparts, perhaps implying that they are related to more massive galaxies, and thus providing a means to study massive galaxies at high redshift, or they may represent chemically enriched outflows from lower mass systems. We request three nights of observations with the Magellan II telescope and the MIKE spectrograph to investigate 14 sub-DLAs at 0.7⪉ z<1.5. These observations will nearly double the number of high resolution z<1.5 metallicity measurements of sub-DLAs and allow a systematic comparison of the DLA and sub-DLA populations in this crucial redshift interval.

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