@article{BeckerPettiniRafelskietal.2019,
  author    = {Becker, George D. and Pettini, Max and Rafelski, Marc and Boera, Elisa and Christensen, Lise and Cupani, Guido and Ellison, Sara L. and Farina, Emanuele Paolo and Fumagalli, Michele and Lopez, Sebastian and Neeleman, Marcel and Ryan-Weber, Emma and Worseck, Gabor},
  title     = {The Evolution of OI over 3.2 < z < 6.5: Reionization of the Circumgalactic Medium},
  series = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics},
  volume    = {883},
  journal   = {The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {IOP Publ. Ltd.},
  address   = {Bristol},
  issn      = {0004-637X},
  doi       = {10.3847/1538-4357/ab3eb5},
  pages     = {37},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {We present a survey for metal absorption systems traced by neutral oxygen over 3.2 < z < 6.5. Our survey uses Keck/ESI and VLT/X-Shooter spectra of 199 QSOs with redshifts up to 6.6. In total, we detect 74 OI absorbers, of which 57 are separated from the background QSO by more than 5000 km s(-1). We use a maximum likelihood approach to fit the distribution of OI lambda 1302 equivalent widths in bins of redshift and from this determine the evolution in number density of absorbers with W-1302 > 0.05 angstrom, of which there are 49 nonproximate systems in our sample. We find that the number density does not monotonically increase with decreasing redshift, as would naively be expected from the buildup of metal-enriched circumgalactic gas with time. The number density over 4.9 < z < 5.7 is a factor of 1.7-4.1 lower (68\% confidence) than that over 5.7 < z < 6.5, with a lower value at z < 5.7 favored with 99\% confidence. This decrease suggests that the fraction of metals in a low-ionization phase is larger at z similar to 6 than at lower redshifts. Absorption from highly ionized metals traced by CIV is also weaker in higher-redshift OI systems, supporting this picture. The evolution of OI absorbers implies that metal-enriched circumgalactic gas at z similar to 6 is undergoing an ionization transition driven by a strengthening ultraviolet background. This in turn suggests that the reionization of the diffuse intergalactic medium may still be ongoing at or only recently ended by this epoch.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WorseckKhrykinHennawietal.2021,
  author    = {Worseck, G{\´a}bor and Khrykin, Ilya Sergeevich and Hennawi, Joseph F. and Prochaska, J. Xavier and Farina, Emanuele Paolo},
  title     = {Dating individual quasars with the He II proximity effect},
  series = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  volume    = {505},
  journal   = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  number    = {4},
  publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0035-8711},
  doi       = {10.1093/mnras/stab1685},
  pages     = {5084 -- 5103},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Constraints on the time-scales of quasar activity are key to understanding the formation and growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), quasar triggering mechanisms, and possible feedback effects on their host galaxies. However, observational estimates of this so-called quasar lifetime are highly uncertain (t(Q) similar to 10(4)-10(9) yr), because most methods are indirect and involve many model-dependent assumptions. Direct evidence of earlier activity is gained from the higher ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) in the quasar environs, observable as enhanced Ly alpha transmission in the so-called proximity zone. Due to the similar to 30 Myr equilibration time-scale of He II in the z similar to 3 IGM, the size of the He II proximity zone depends on the time the quasar had been active before our observation t(on) <= t(Q), enabling up to +/- 0.2 dex precise measurements of individual quasar on-times that are comparable to the e-folding time-scale t(S) <= 44 Myr of SMBH growth. Here we present the first statistical sample of 13 quasars whose accurate and precise systemic redshifts allow for measurements of sufficiently precise He II quasar proximity zone sizes between similar or equal to 2 and similar or equal to 15 proper Mpc from science-grade Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spectra. Comparing these sizes to predictions from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations post-processed with 1D radiative transfer, we infer a broad range of quasar on-times from t(on) less than or similar to 1Myr to t(on) > 30 Myr that does not depend on quasar luminosity, black hole mass, or Eddington ratio. These results point to episodic quasar activity over a long duty cycle, but do not rule out substantial SMBH growth during phases of radiative inefficiency or obscuration.},
  language  = {en}
}