Damped Ly-alpha Absorbers in Star-forming Galaxies at z < 0.15 Detected with the Hubble Space Telescope and Implications for Galaxy Evolution

TL;DR

This study uses HST and GBT observations to analyze low-redshift damped Ly-alpha absorbers in star-forming galaxies, revealing their gas properties, evolution, and connection to galaxy growth, especially in low-mass regimes.

Contribution

It provides the largest low-redshift DLA/sub-DLA galaxy sample, combining absorption and emission data to explore gas and star formation properties across redshifts.

Findings

H I column density decreases with impact parameter and stellar mass.

Gas-rich regions extend further in more massive galaxies.

DLA galaxies with low stellar mass often have high gas fractions and recent gas accretion.

Abstract

We report {\it HST} COS spectroscopy of 10 quasars with foreground star-forming galaxies at 0.02$<$$z$$<$ 0.14 within impact parameters of $\sim$1-7 kpc. We detect damped/sub-damped Ly$\alpha$ absorption in 100$\%$ of cases where no higher-redshift Lyman-limit systems extinguish the flux at the expected wavelength of Ly$\alpha$ absorption, obtaining the largest targeted sample of DLA/sub-DLAs in low-redshift galaxies. We present absorption measurements of neutral hydrogen and metals. Additionally, we present GBT 21-cm emission measurements for 5 of the galaxies (including 2 detections). Combining our sample with the literature, we construct a sample of 115 galaxies associated with DLA/sub-DLAs spanning 0$<$$z$$<$4.4, and examine trends between gas and stellar properties, and with redshift. The H~I column density is anti-correlated with impact parameter and stellar mass. More massive galaxies appear to have gas-rich regions out to larger distances. The specific SFR (sSFR) of absorbing galaxies increases with redshift and decreases with $M^{\ast}$, consistent with evolution of the star-formation main sequence (SFMS). However, $\sim$20$\%$ of absorbing galaxies lie below the SFMS, indicating that some DLA/sub-DLAs trace galaxies with longer-than-typical gas-depletion time-scales. Most DLA/sub-DLA galaxies with 21-cm emission have higher H I masses than typical galaxies with comparable $M^{\ast}$. High $M_{\rm H I}/M^{\ast}$ ratios and high sSFRs in DLA/sub-DLA galaxies with $M^{\ast}$$<$$10^{9}$$M_{\odot}$ suggest these galaxies may be gas-rich because of recent gas accretion rather than inefficient star formation. Our study demonstrates the power of absorption and emission studies of DLA/sub-DLA galaxies for extending galaxy-evolution studies to previously under-explored regimes of low $M^{\ast}$ and low SFR.