Lyman-alpha emission as a tool to study high redshift damped systems

Abstract

We report a quantitative study of the escape of Lyman-alpha photons from an inhomogeneous optically thick medium that mimics the structure of damped Lyman-alpha absorbers. Modeling the optically thick disk with 3 components (massive stars and HII regions, dust, and neutral hydrogen), we study the resulting emission line profile that may arise near the extended damped absorption profile.

arXiv comment2 pages LATEX, with 1 PostScript figure, conf_iap.sty To appear in Proceedings of 13th IAP (Paris) Colloquium (July 1-5, 1997) Structure and Evolution of the IGM from QSO Absorption Lines, ed. P. Petitjean, S. Charlot