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arXiv 1702.02618astro-ph.GA
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COS-Halos巡天:低红移环银河系介质中的金属丰度

The COS-Halos Survey: Metallicities in the Low-Redshift Circumgalactic Medium

J. Xavier Prochaska, Jessica K. Werk, Gabor Worseck, Todd M. Tripp, Jason Tumlinson, Joseph N. Burchett, Andrew J. Fox, Michele Fumagalli, Nicolas Lehner, Molly… 展开作者

J. Xavier Prochaska, Jessica K. Werk, Gabor Worseck, Todd M. Tripp, Jason Tumlinson, Joseph N. Burchett, Andrew J. Fox, Michele Fumagalli, Nicolas Lehner, Molly S. Peeples, Nicolas Tejos

摘要:

本文分析了z~0.2 COS-Halos巡天中13个类星体的新远紫外光谱,它们覆盖了14个环星系介质(CGM)系统的HI莱曼极限。这些数据产生精确的估计或更多的限制比以前的COS晕测量HI列密度NHI。然后,我们应用Monte-Carlo马尔可夫链方法对来自COS-Halos的32个系统进行了估计,在假设光电离与河外紫外背景平衡的情况下,估计了冷(T~10^4K)CGM气体的金属丰度,该气体产生低电离态金属线。主要结果如下:(1)场L* 星系的CGM表现出随着碰撞参量Rperp的增大而减小的HI面密度(在> 99.5%$置信度下),(2)单独通过CGM气体的电离辐射透射率为70+/-7%;(3)冷CGM的金属丰度分布函数为单峰型,中值为1/3 ZSun,在~1/50 ZSun ~ 3XSun之间有95%的区间。贫金属(<1/100 Z_Sun)气体的发生率很低,这意味着沿着类星体视线发现的任何此类气体通常与L* 星系无关;(4)我们发现气体金属丰度随着NHI的下降(>99.9%置信度)而意外增加,因此也随着Rperp的增加。大半径下的高金属丰度意味着早期富集;(5)冷CGM气体质量的非参数估计为M_CGM_cool = 9.2 +/- 4.3 10^10 Msun,这与热CGM的新质量估计一起可能解决银河系重子缺失问题。未来对晕气体的分析应该集中在控制CGM的基本天体物理学上,而不是简单地将介质从晕中排出的过程。

英文摘要:

We analyze new far-ultraviolet spectra of 13 quasars from the z~0.2 COS-Halos survey that cover the HI Lyman limit of 14 circumgalactic medium (CGM) systems. These data yield precise estimates or more constraining limits than previous COS-Halos measurements on the HI column densities NHI. We then apply a Monte-Carlo Markov Chain approach on 32 systems from COS-Halos to estimate the metallicity of the cool (T~10^4K) CGM gas that gives rise to low-ionization state metal lines, under the assumption of photoionization equilibrium with the extragalactic UV background. The principle results are: (1) the CGM of field L* galaxies exhibits a declining HI surface density with impact parameter Rperp (at >99.5%$ confidence), (2) the transmission of ionizing radiation through CGM gas alone is 70+/-7%; (3) the metallicity distribution function of the cool CGM is unimodal with a median of 1/3 Z_Sun and a 95% interval from ~1/50 Z_Sun to over 3x solar. The incidence of metal poor (<1/100 Z_Sun) gas is low, implying any such gas discovered along quasar sightlines is typically unrelated to L* galaxies; (4) we find an unexpected increase in gas metallicity with declining NHI (at >99.9% confidence) and, therefore, also with increasing Rperp. The high metallicity at large radii implies early enrichment; (5) A non-parametric estimate of the cool CGM gas mass is M_CGM_cool = 9.2 +/- 4.3 10^10 Msun, which together with new mass estimates for the hot CGM may resolve the galactic missing baryons problem. Future analyses of halo gas should focus on the underlying astrophysics governing the CGM, rather than processes that simply expel the medium from the halo.

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