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The Neutral Hydrogen Cosmological Mass Density at z = 5

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2017

Neil H. M. Crighton
Affiliation:
Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia. [email protected]
Michael T. Murphy
Affiliation:
Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia. [email protected]
J. Xavier Prochaska
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
Gábor Worseck
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
Marc Rafelski
Affiliation:
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
George D. Becker
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Sara L. Ellison
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 1A1, Canada
Michele Fumagalli
Affiliation:
Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA
Sebastian Lopez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Santiago, Chile
Avery Meiksin
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
John M. O’Meara
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry and Physics, Saint Michael’s College, One Winooski Park, Colchester, VT 05439, USA
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Abstract

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We present the largest homogeneous survey of redshift > 4.4 damped Lyα systems (DLAs) using the spectra of 163 quasars that comprise the Giant Gemini GMOS (GGG) survey. With this survey we make the most precise high-redshift measurement of the cosmological mass density of neutral hydrogen, ΩHI. After correcting for systematic effects using a combination of mock and higher-resolution spectra, we find ΩHI= 0.98+0.20-0.18 × 10−3 at 〈z〉 = 4.9, assuming a 20% contribution from lower column density systems below the DLA threshold. By comparing to literature measurements at lower redshifts, we show that ΩHI can be described by the functional form ΩHI(z) ∝ (1 + z)0.4. This gradual decrease from z = 5 to 0 suggests that in the galaxies which dominate the cosmic star formation rate, Hi is a transitory gas phase fuelling star formation which must be continually replenished by more highly-ionized gas from the intergalactic medium, and from recycled galactic winds.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2017 

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