The metal absorption systems of the Hubble Deep Field South QSO

Abstract

The Hubble Deep Field South (HDFS) has been recently selected and the observations are planned for October 1998. We present a high resolution (FWHM $\simeq 14$ \kms) spectrum of the quasar J2233--606 ($z_{em}\simeq 2.22$) which is located 5.1 arcmin East of the HDFS. The spectrum obtained with the New Technology Telescope redward of the Lyman--$\alpha$ emission line covers the spectral range 4386--8270 Å. This range corresponds to redshift intervals for CIV and MgII intervening systems of $z=1.83-2.25$ and $z=0.57-1.95$ respectively. The data reveal the presence of two complex intervening CIV systems at redshift $z=1.869$ and $z=1.943$ and two complex associated ($z_{abs}\approx z_{em}$) systems. Other two CIV systems at $z=1.7865$ and $z=2.077$, suggested by the presence of strong Lyman--$\alpha$ lines in low resolution ground based and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) STIS observations (Sealey et al. 1998) have been identified. The system at $z=1.943$ is also responsible for the Lyman limit absorption seen in the HST/STIS spectrum. The main goal of the present work is to provide astronomers interested in the Hubble Deep Field South program with information related to absorbing structures at high redshift, which are distributed along the nearby QSO line of sight. For this purpose, the reduced spectrum, obtained from three hours of integration time, has been released to the astronomical community.

revisited version accepted for publication by Astronomical Journal; minor changes; typographical errors corrected; results and discussion unchanged

References in corpus (4)

• A Large Structure of Galaxies At Redshift z~3 and its Cosmological Implications
• The Evolution of the Global Star Formation History as Measured from the Hubble Deep Field
• The seeds of rich galaxy clusters in the Universe
• Observations of QSO J2233-606 in the Southern Hubble Deep Field

Cited by in corpus (9)

• The Hubble Deep Fields
• The AGN Outflow in the HDFS Target QSO J2233-606 from a High-Resolution VLT/UVES Spectrum
• Limits on Spacetime Foam
• The Lyman-alpha forest of the QSO in the Hubble Deep Field South
• Investigating the Metal Line Systems at Z=1.9 toward J2233-606 in the HDF-S
• Inhomogeneous metal enrichment at z \sim 1.9: the Lyman limit systems in the spectrum of the HDF-S quasar
• High-Resolution Spectroscopy from 3050 to 10000 A of the HDF-S QSO J2233-606 with UVES at the ESO VLT
• Metal abundances and kinematics of quasar absorbers.- I. Absorption systems toward J2233-606
• Wide Field Imaging of the Hubble Deep Field-South Region I: Quasar Candidates