2000/06/02 by Lisa J. Storrie-Lombardi, Lisa J. Storrie‐Lombardi, Arthur M. Wolfe · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/317138
published as Astrophys.J. 543 (2000) 552-576; Erratum-ibid. 592 (2003) 1263-1263 · 46 pages, including 15 figures and 9 tables, to appear in ApJ
arxiv created 2000/06/02 · openalex publication_date 2000/11/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We have completed spectroscopic observations using LRIS on the Keck 1 telescope of 30 very high redshift quasars, 11 selected for the presence of damped Lyα absorption systems and 19 with redshifts z > 3.5 not previously surveyed for absorption systems. We have surveyed an additional 10 QSOs with the Lick 120'' and the Anglo-Australian Telescope. We have combined these with previous data, resulting in a statistical sample of 646 QSOs and 85 damped Lyα absorbers with column densities N ≥ 2 × 10 20 atoms cm -2 covering the redshift range 0.008 ≤ z ≤ 4.694. Four main features of how the neutral gas in the universe evolves with redshift are evident from these data.