TY - JOUR A1 - Tepper-Garcia, Thor A1 - Richter, Philipp A1 - Schaye, Joop T1 - Absorption signatures of warm-hot gas at low redshift - ne viii JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - At z < 1 a large fraction of the baryons is thought to reside in diffuse gas that has been shock-heated to high temperatures (10 (5)-10 (6) K). Absorption by the 770.41, 780.32 A doublet of Ne viii in quasar spectra represents a unique tool to study this elusive warm-hot phase. We have developed an analytic model for the properties of Ne viii absorbers that allows for an inhomogeneous metal distribution. Our model agrees with the predictions of a simulation from the OverWhelmingly Large Simulations project indicating that the average line-of-sight metal-filling fraction within the absorbing gas is low (c(L) similar to 0.1). Most of the Ne viii in our model is produced in low-density, collisionally ionized gas (n(H) = 10(-6)-10(-4) cm(-3), T = 10 (5)-10 (6) K). Strong Ne viii absorbers (log(10)(N-NeVIII/cm(-2))14), like those recently detected by Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, are found to arise in higher density gas (n(H) greater than or similar to 10(-4) cm(-3), T approximate to 5 x 10 (5) K). Ne viii cloudlets harbour only 1 per cent of the cosmic baryon budget. The baryon content of the surrounding gas (which has similar densities and temperatures as the Ne viii cloudlets) is a factor c(-1)L higher. We conclude that Ne viii absorbers are robust probes of shock-heated diffuse gas, but that spectra with signal-to-noise ratios S/N > 100 would be required to detect the bulk of the baryons in warm-hot gas. KW - methods: analytical KW - methods: numerical KW - galaxies: formation KW - intergalactic medium KW - quasars: absorption lines KW - cosmology: theory Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt1712 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 436 IS - 3 SP - 2063 EP - 2081 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Richter, Philipp A1 - Fox, Andrew J. A1 - Wakker, Bart P. A1 - Lehner, Nicolas A1 - Howk, J. Christopher A1 - Bland-Hawthorn, Joss A1 - Ben Bekhti, Nadya A1 - Fechner, Cora T1 - The COS/UVES absorption survey of the magellanic stream - II. Evidence for a complex enrichment history of the stream from the fairall 9 sightline JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We present a multi-wavelength study of the Magellanic Stream (MS), a massive gaseous structure in the Local Group that is believed to represent material stripped from the Magellanic Clouds. We use ultraviolet, optical and radio data obtained with HST/COS, VLT/UVES, FUSE, GASS, and ATCA to study metal abundances and physical conditions in the Stream toward the quasar Fairall 9. Line absorption in the MS from a large number of metal ions and from molecular hydrogen is detected in up to seven absorption components, indicating the presence of multi-phase gas. From the analysis of unsaturated S II absorption, in combination with a detailed photoionization model, we obtain a surprisingly high alpha abundance in the Stream toward Fairall 9 of [S/H] = -0.30 +/- 0.04 (0.50 solar). This value is five times higher than what is found along other MS sightlines based on similar COS/UVES data sets. In contrast, the measured nitrogen abundance is found to be substantially lower ([N/H] = -1.15 +/- 0.06), implying a very low [N/alpha] ratio of -0.85 dex. The substantial differences in the chemical composition of MS toward Fairall 9 compared to other sightlines point toward a complex enrichment history of the Stream. We favor a scenario, in which the gas toward Fairall 9 was locally enriched with a elements by massive stars and then was separated from the Magellanic Clouds before the delayed nitrogen enrichment from intermediate-mass stars could set in. Our results support (but do not require) the idea that there is a metal-enriched filament in the Stream toward Fairall 9 that originates in the LMC. KW - Galaxy: evolution KW - Galaxy: halo KW - ISM: abundances KW - Magellanic Clouds KW - quasars: absorption lines Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/772/2/111 SN - 0004-637X VL - 772 IS - 2 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rahmani, H. A1 - Wendt, Martin A1 - Srianand, R. A1 - Noterdaeme, P. A1 - Petitjean, P. A1 - Molaro, P. A1 - Whitmore, J. B. A1 - Murphy, M. T. A1 - Centurion, Martin A1 - Fathivavsari, H. A1 - D'Odorico, S. A1 - Evans, T. M. A1 - Levshakov, S. A. A1 - Lopez, S. A1 - Martins, C. J. A. P. A1 - Reimers, D. A1 - Vladilo, G. T1 - The UVES large program for testing fundamental physics - II. Constraints on a change in mu towards quasar HE 0027-1836 JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We present an accurate analysis of the H-2 absorption lines from the z(abs) similar to 2.4018 damped Ly alpha system towards HE 0027-1836 observed with the Very Large Telescope Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (VLT/UVES) as a part of the European Southern Observatory Large Programme 'The UVES large programme for testing fundamental physics' to constrain the variation of proton-to-electron mass ratio, mu m(p)/m(e). We perform cross-correlation analysis between 19 individual exposures taken over three years and the combined spectrum to check the wavelength calibration stability. We notice the presence of a possible wavelength-dependent velocity drift especially in the data taken in 2012. We use available asteroids spectra taken with UVES close to our observations to confirm and quantify this effect. We consider single-and two-component Voigt profiles to model the observed H-2 absorption profiles. We use both linear regression analysis and Voigt profile fitting where Delta mu/mu is explicitly considered as an additional fitting parameter. The two-component model is marginally favoured by the statistical indicators and we get Delta mu/mu = -2.5 +/- 8.1(stat) +/- 6.2(sys) ppm. When we apply the correction to the wavelength-dependent velocity drift, we find Delta mu/mu = -7.6 +/- 8.1(stat) +/- 6.3(sys) ppm. It will be important to check the extent to which the velocity drift we notice in this study is present in UVES data used for previous Delta mu/mu measurements. KW - intergalactic medium KW - quasars: absorption lines KW - quasars: individual: HE 0027-1836 Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt1356 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 435 IS - 1 SP - 861 EP - 878 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Molaro, P. A1 - Centurion, Martin A1 - Whitmore, J. B. A1 - Evans, T. M. A1 - Murphy, M. T. A1 - Agafonova, I. I. A1 - Bonifacio, P. A1 - D'Odorico, S. A1 - Levshakov, S. A. A1 - Lopez, S. A1 - Martins, C. J. A. P. A1 - Petitjean, P. A1 - Rahmani, H. A1 - Reimers, D. A1 - Srianand, R. A1 - Vladilo, G. A1 - Wendt, Martin T1 - The UVES Large Program for testing fundamental physics I. Bounds on a change in alpha towards quasar HE 221-2818 JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - Context. Absorption-line systems detected in quasar spectra can be used to compare the value of the fine-structure constant, alpha, measured today on Earth with its value in distant galaxies. In recent years, some evidence has emerged of small temporal and also spatial variations in alpha on cosmological scales. These variations may reach a fractional level of approximate to 10 ppm (parts per million). Aims. To test these claims we are conducting a Large Program of observations with the Very Large Telescope's Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES), and are obtaining high-resolution (R approximate to 60 000) and high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N approximate to 100) UVES spectra calibrated specifically for this purpose. Here we analyse the first complete quasar spectrum from this programme, that of HE 2217-2818. Methods. We applied the many multiplet method to measure alpha in five absorption systems towards this quasar: z(abs) = 0.7866, 0.9424, 1.5558, 1.6279, and 1.6919. Results. The most precise result is obtained for the absorber at z(abs) = 1.6919 where 3 Fe II transitions and Al II lambda 1670 have high S/N and provide a wide range of sensitivities to alpha. The absorption profile is complex with several very narrow features, and it requires 32 velocity components to be fitted to the data. We also conducted a range of tests to estimate the systematic error budget. Our final result for the relative variation in alpha in this system is Delta alpha/alpha = +1.3 +/- 2.4(stat) +/- 1.0(sys) ppm. This is one of the tightest current bounds on alpha-variation from an individual absorber. A second, separate approach to the data reduction, calibration, and analysis of this system yielded a slightly different result of -3.8 +/- 2.1(stat) ppm, possibly suggesting a larger systematic error component than our tests indicated. This approach used an additional 3 Fe II transitions, parts of which were masked due to contamination by telluric features. Restricting this analysis to the Fe II transitions alone and using a modified absorption profile model gave a result that is consistent with the first approach, Delta alpha/alpha = +1.1 +/- 2.6(stat) ppm. The four other absorbers have simpler absorption profiles, with fewer and broader features, and offer transitions with a narrower range of sensitivities to alpha. They therefore provide looser bounds on Delta alpha/alpha at the greater than or similar to 10 ppm precision level. Conclusions. The absorbers towards quasar HE 2217-2818 reveal no evidence of any variation in alpha at the 3-ppm precision level (1 sigma confidence). If the recently reported 10-ppm dipolar variation in alpha across the sky is correct, the expectation at this sky position is (3.2-5.4) +/- 1.7 ppm depending on dipole model used. Our constraint of Delta alpha/alpha = +1.3 +/- 2.4(stat) +/- 1.0(sys) ppm is not inconsistent with this expectation. KW - quasars: absorption lines KW - quasars: individual: HE 2217-2818 KW - intergalactic medium KW - cosmology: miscellaneous cosmology KW - observations Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201321351 SN - 0004-6361 VL - 555 IS - 4 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER -