The First Observations of Low-Redshift Damped Lyman-{\alpha} Systems with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph: Chemical Abundances and Affiliated Galaxies

TL;DR

This study presents low-redshift DLA and sub-DLA observations with COS, revealing diverse metallicities, galaxy associations, and kinematic structures, which enhance understanding of their origins and evolution over cosmic time.

Contribution

First low-redshift DLA and sub-DLA metallicity measurements with COS, linking absorbers to galaxy halos and analyzing their chemical and kinematic properties.

Findings

Wide metallicity range from -1.10 to 0.31

Sub-DLAs generally have higher metallicity than DLAs

Absorbers are associated with galaxy halos, not stellar disks

Abstract

We present Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) measurements of metal abundances in eight 0.083<z<0.321 damped Lyman-\alpha (DLA) and sub-damped Ly-\alpha\ absorption systems serendipitously discovered in the COS-Halos survey. We find that these systems show a large range in metallicities, with -1.10<[Z/H]<0.31, similar to the spread found at higher redshifts. These low-redshift systems on average have subsolar metallicities, but do show a rise in metallicity over cosmic time when compared to higher-redshift systems. We find the average sub-DLA metallicity is higher than the average DLA metallicity at all redshifts. Nitrogen is underabundant with respect to \alpha-group elements in all but perhaps one of the absorbers. In some cases, [N/\alpha] is significantly below the lowest nitrogen measurements in nearby galaxies. Systems for which depletion patterns can be studied show little, if any, depletion, which is characteristic of Milky Way halo-type gas. We also identify affiliated galaxies for 3 of the sub-DLAs using spectra obtained from Keck/LRIS. None of these sub-DLAs arise in the stellar disks of luminous galaxies; instead, these absorbers may exist in galaxy halos at impact parameters ranging from 38 to 92 kpc. Multiple galaxies are present near two of the sub-DLAs, and galaxy interactions may play a role in the dispersal of the gas. Many of these low-redshift absorbers exhibit simple kinematics, but one sub-DLA has a complicated mix of at least 13 components spread over 150 km/s. We find three galaxies near this sub-DLA, which also suggests that galaxy interactions roil the gas. This study reinforces the view that DLAs have a variety of origins, and low-redshift studies are crucial for understanding absorber-galaxy connections.