arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
arXiv 1002.5033astro-ph.CO
收藏

气体吸积的直接探测:3C 232中的莱曼极限系统

A Direct Detection of Gas Accretion: The Lyman Limit System in 3C 232

John T. Stocke, Brian A. Keeney, Charles W. Danforth

摘要:

在宇宙时间内,星系中的气体添加和移除极大地影响了它们的恒星星族和恒星形成速率。在类星体/星系对中进行的类星体吸收研究为研究这种气体的物理条件和运动学提供了一个独特的机会。在这里,我们提出了新的哈勃太空望远镜(HST)的类星体/星系对3C 232/NGC 3067的图像。类星体光谱包含一个莱曼极限吸收系统(LLS),这是由于NGC 3067在cz = 1421 km/s时与附近的SAB星系NGC 3067有关。以前的工作确定这个吸收体是NGC 3067中的高速云(HVC),但吸收气体的运动学,下落或流出,是不确定的。这里展示的HST图像确定了NGC 3067的方向,因此确定了LLS/HVC正在坠落。使用这个系统作为原型,我们将这些结果扩展到更高的z镁II/LLS建议镁II/LLS是一个视线采样的所谓的“冷模吸积”(CMA)落入发光星系。但是为了与观测到的Mg II吸收体统计相匹配,CMA必须在更高的红移处被更高度地电离。进一步研究低z LLS所需的关键观测是HST/UV光谱学,为此,刚刚安装了一台新仪器,即宇宙起源光谱仪,大大提高了我们的观测能力。

英文摘要:

The gas added and removed from galaxies over cosmic time greatly affects their stellar populations and star formation rates. QSO absorption studies in close QSO/galaxy pairs create a unique opportunity to study the physical conditions and kinematics of this gas. Here we present new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of the QSO/galaxy pair 3C 232/NGC 3067. The quasar spectrum contains a Lyman-limit absorption system (LLS) due to NGC 3067 at cz = 1421 km/s that is associated with the nearby SAB galaxy NGC 3067. Previous work identifies this absorber as a high-velocity cloud (HVC) in NGC 3067 but the kinematics of the absorbing gas, infalling or outflowing, were uncertain. The HST images presented here establish the orientation of NGC 3067 and so establish that the LLS/HVC is infalling. Using this system as a prototype, we extend these results to higher-z Mg II/LLS to suggest that Mg II/LLSs are a sight line sampling of the so-called "cold mode accretion" (CMA) infalling onto luminous galaxies. But to match the observed Mg II absorber statistics, the CMA must be more highly ionized at higher redshifts. The key observations needed to further the study of low-z LLSs is HST/UV spectroscopy, for which a new instrument, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, has just been installed greatly enhancing our observational capabilities.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑