@article{MuzahidFonsecaRobertsetal.2018,
  author    = {Muzahid, S. and Fonseca, G. and Roberts, A. and Rosenwasser, B. and Richter, Philipp and Narayanan, A. and Churchill, C. and Charlton, J.},
  title     = {COS-Weak: probing the CGM using analogues of weak Mg II absorbers at z < 0.3},
  series = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  volume    = {476},
  journal   = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  number    = {4},
  publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0035-8711},
  doi       = {10.1093/mnras/sty529},
  pages     = {4965 -- 4986},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {We present a sample of 34 weak metal line absorbers at z < 0.3 selected by the simultaneous >3σ detections of the Si iiλ1260 and C iiλ1334 absorption lines, with Wr(SiII)<0.2 {\AA} and Wr(CII)<0.3 {\AA}, in archival HST/COS spectra. Our sample increases the number of known low-z 'weak absorbers' by a factor of >5. The column densities of H i and low-ionization metal lines obtained from Voigt profile fitting are used to build simple photoionization models. The inferred densities and line-of-sight thicknesses of the absorbers are in the ranges of -3.3 < log nH/cm-3 < -2.4 and ∼1 pc-50 kpc (median ≈500 pc), respectively. Most importantly, 85 per cent (50 per cent) of these absorbers show a metallicity of [Si/H]>-1.0(0.0)⁠. The fraction of systems showing near-/supersolar metallicity in our sample is significantly higher than in the H i-selected sample of Wotta et al., and the galaxy-selected sample of Prochaska et al., of absorbers probing the circum-galactic medium at similar redshift. A search for galaxies has revealed a significant galaxy-overdensity around these weak absorbers compared to random positions with a median impact parameter of 166 kpc from the nearest galaxy. Moreover, we find the presence of multiple galaxies in ≈80 per cent of the cases, suggesting group environments. The observed dN/dz of 0.8 ± 0.2 indicates that such metal-enriched, compact, dense structures are ubiquitous in the haloes of low-z group galaxies. We suggest that these are transient structures that are related to galactic outflows and/or stripping of metal-rich gas from galaxies.},
  language  = {en}
}