High matter density peaks from UVES observations of QSO pairs: correlation properties and chemical abundances

Details High matter density peaks from UVES observations of QSO pairs: correlation properties and chemical abundances High matter density peaks from UVES observations of QSO pairs: correlation properties and chemical abundances

2002-05-17

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0205299v1

Astron.Astrophys.390:13,2002

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

14 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Scientific paper

10.1051/0004-6361:20020737

We study the transverse clustering properties of high matter density peaks as traced by high column density absorption systems (either Lyman limit systems characterized by N(HI)> 2 x 10^{17} cm^{-2} or CIV systems with W_{r}> 0.5 A) at redshifts between 2 and 3 with UVES spectra of two QSO pairs (UM680/UM681 at 56 arcsec angular separation and Q2344+1228/Q2343+1232 at 5 arcmin angular separation) and a QSO triplet (Q2139-4433/Q2139-4434/Q2138-4427 at 1, 7 and 8 arcmin angular separation). We find 3 damped Ly-alpha systems (N(HI)> 2 x 10^{20} cm^{-2}): 2 coinciding with strong metal systems in the nearby line of sight and 1 matching the emission redshift of the paired QSO; plus 7 Lyman limit systems: 4 forming two matching couples and 3 without a corresponding metal system within ~3000 km/s in the coupled line of sight. In summary, we detect five out of ten matching systems within 1000 km/s, indicating a highly significant overdensity of strong absorption systems over separation lengths from ~1 to 8 h^{-1} Mpc. The observed coincidences could arise in gas due to starburst-driven superwinds associated with a quasar or a galaxy, or gas belonging to large scale structures like filaments or sheets. We also determine chemical abundance ratios for three damped Ly-alpha systems. In particular, for the damped system at z ~ 2.53788 in the spectrum of Q2344+1228, new estimates of the ratios O/Fe, C/Fe are obtained: [C/Fe]<0.06, [O/Fe]<0.2. They indicate that O and C are not over-solar in this system.

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