Physical Conditions of Five O VI Absorption Systems Towards PG $1522+101$

TL;DR

This study analyzes five O VI absorption systems along the line of sight to quasar PG 1522+101, revealing complex multiphase gas conditions, varying metallicities, and insights into the ionization states and enrichment processes of the intergalactic medium.

Contribution

First detailed multi-ion analysis of five O VI absorbers across a broad redshift range, revealing multiphase structures and metal enrichment patterns.

Findings

Presence of warm gas phase in two absorbers with T > 10^5 K

Wide [O/H] metallicity range from -2.1 to +0.2

Poor small-scale mixing of metals with hydrogen inferred

Abstract

We present the analysis of five O VI absorbers identified across a redshift path of z $\sim (0.6 - 1.3)$ towards the background quasar PG $1522+101$ with information on five consecutive ionization stages of oxygen from O II to O VI. The combined $HST$ and $Keck$ spectra cover UV, redshifted EUV, and optical transitions from a multitude of ions spanning ionization energies in the range of $\sim (13 - 300)$ eV. Low ionization (C II, O II, Si II, Mg II) and very high ionization species (Ne VIII, Mg X) are non-detections in all the absorbers. Three of the absorbers have coverage of He I, in one of which it is a $> 3 \sigma$ detection. The kinematic structures of these absorbers are extracted from C IV detected in $HIRES$ spectra. The farthest absorber in our sample also contains the detections of Ne V and Ne VI. Assuming co-spatial absorbing components, the ionization models show the medium to be multiphased with small-scale density-temperature inhomogeneities that are sometimes kinematically unresolved. In two of the absorbers, there is an explicit indication of the presence of a warm gas phase ($T \gtrsim 10^5$ K) traced by O VI. In the remaining absorbers, the column densities of the ions are consistent with a non-uniform photoionized medium. The sub-solar [C/O] relative abundances inferred for the absorbers point at enrichment from massive Type II supernovae. Despite metal enrichment, the inferred wide range for [O/H] $\sim$ [$-2.1, +0.2$] amongst the absorbers along with their anti-correlation with the observed H I suggest poor small-scale mixing of metals with hydrogen in the regions surrounding galaxies and the IGM.