The Spatial Distribution of Metals in the Intergalactic Medium

Abstract

We investigate the impact of environment on the metallicity of the diffuse intergalactic medium. We use pixel correlation techniques to search for weak CIV and OVI absorption in the spectrum of quasar Q1422+231 in regions of the spectrum close to and far from galaxies at z ~ 3. This is achieved both by using the positions of observed Lyman break galaxies and by using strong CIV absorption as a proxy for the presence of galaxies near the line of sight. We find that the metal line absorption is a strong function of not only the HI optical depth (and thus gas density) but also proximity to highly enriched regions (and so proximity to galaxies). The parameter ``proximity to galaxies'' can account for some, but not all, of the scatter in the strength of CIV absorption for fixed HI. Finally, we find that even if we limit our analysis to the two thirds of the pixels that are at least 600 km/s from any CIV line that is strong enough to detect unambiguously (tau_CIV > 0.1), our statistical analysis reveals only slightly less CIV for fixed HI than when we analyze the whole spectrum. We conclude that while the metallicity is enhanced in regions close to (Lyman-break) galaxies, the enrichment is likely to be much more widespread than their immediate surroundings.

16 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Revised version taking referee's comments into account, minor changes

References in corpus (21)

• The Rest Frame Optical Spectra of Lyman Break Galaxies: Star Formation, Extinction, Abundances, and Kinematics
• Lyman Break Galaxies at Redshift z~3: Survey Description and Full Data Set
• Galaxies and Intergalactic Matter at Redshift z~3: Overview
• Metallicity of the intergalactic medium using pixel statistics. II. The distribution of metals as traced by C IV
• The Connection Between Galaxies and Intergalactic Absorption Lines at Redshift 2<z<3
• The Minimum Universal Metal Density Between Redshifts of 1.5 and 5.5
• Early Metal Enrichment by Pregalactic Outflows: II. Simulations of Blow-away
• The Distribution of Metallicity in the IGM at z~2.5: OVI and CIV Absorption in the Spectra of 7 QSOs
• The Origin of C IV Absorption Systems at Redshifts z<1---Discovery of Extended C IV Envelopes Around Galaxies
• Keck High Resolution Spectroscopy of PKS 0123+257: Intrinsic Absorption in a Radio Loud Quasar
• Metallicity of the intergalactic medium using pixel statistics: III. Silicon
• The Sources of Intergalactic Metals
• The detection of oxygen in the low-density intergalactic medium
• Metals in the Intergalactic Medium
• The enrichment history of the intergalactic medium: O VI in Ly-alpha forest systems at redshift z ~ 2
• Temperature and Kinematics of CIV Absorption Systems
• The warm-hot intergalactic medium at z~2.2: Metal enrichment and ionization source
• CIV Absorption From Galaxies in the Process of Formation
• Metallicity of the Intergalactic Medium Using Pixel Statistics: I. Method
• Metal Lines Associated with Lyman Alpha Absorbers: A Comparison of Theory and Observations
• Pixel correlation searches for OVI in the Lyman alpha forest and the volume filling factor of metals in the Intergalactic Medium at z ~ 2-3.5

Cited by in corpus (32)

• The Physics of the Intergalactic Medium
• The recycling of gas and metals in galaxy formation: predictions of a dynamical feedback model
• Two Classes of Hot Jupiters
• A large population of metal-rich, compact, intergalactic C IV absorbers - Evidence for poor small-scale metal mixing
• Neutral hydrogen optical depth near star-forming galaxies at z~2.4 in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• Probing the Circumgalactic Medium at High-Redshift Using Composite BOSS Spectra of Strong Lyman-alpha Forest Absorbers
• Calibrating Galaxy Redshifts Using Absorption by the Surrounding Intergalactic Medium
• Cosmic evolution of the CIV in high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations
• Detection of hot, metal-enriched outflowing gas around $z\approx$2.3 star-forming galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• Metals in the z~3 intergalactic medium: results from an ultra-high signal-to-noise ratio UVES quasar spectrum
• Galactic Wind Signatures around High Redshift Galaxies
• The Composite Spectrum of Strong Lyman-alpha Forest Absorbers
• Coincident, 100 kpc-scale damped Lyman alpha absorption towards a binary QSO: how large are galaxies at z ~ 3?
• A high resolution study of intergalactic O VI absorbers at z~2.3
• Clues to the nature of high-redshift OVI absorption systems from their (lack of) small-scale structure
• Metal Absorption Systems in Spectra of Pairs of QSOs
• MUSE Analysis of Gas around Galaxies (MAGG) -- V: Linking ionized gas traced by CIV and SiIV absorbers to Ly$\alpha$ emitting galaxies at $z\approx 3.0-4.5$
• Anisotropic Galactic Outflows and Enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium. I: Monte Carlo Simulations
• The Surprisingly Constant Strength of O VI Absorbers over Cosmic Time
• Testing Models of Radio Galaxy Evolution and the Cosmological Impact of FR II Radio Galaxies
• The impact of spatial fluctuations in the ultra-violet background on intergalactic carbon and silicon
• The triply-ionized carbon forest from eBOSS: cosmological correlations with quasars in SDSS-IV DR14
• Mixing in Magnetized Turbulent Media
• A Search for Oxygen in the Low-Density Lyman-alpha Forest Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The C IV forest as a probe of baryon acoustic oscillations
• Constraining IGM enrichment and metallicity with the C IV forest correlation function
• Anisotropic Galactic Outflows and Enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium. II. Numerical Simulations
• Astrophysics in 2006
• Alignment of the scalar gradient in evolving magnetic fields
• Probing Inhomogeneity in the Helium Ionizing UV Background
• Metal Enrichment and Reionization Constraints on Early Star Formation
• The statistics of a passive scalar in field-guided magnetohydrodynamic turbulence