TY - JOUR
T1 - GHOST Commissioning Science Results III
T2 - Characterizing an iron-poor damped Lyman $α$ system
AU - Berg, Trystyn A. M.
AU - Hayes, Christian R.
AU - Cristiani, Stefano
AU - McConnachie, Alan
AU - Robertson, J. Gordon
AU - Sestito, Federico
AU - Simpson, Chris
AU - Waller, Fletcher
AU - Chin, Timothy
AU - Densmore, Adam
AU - Diaz, Ruben J.
AU - Edgar, Michael L.
AU - Lettura, Javier Fuentes
AU - Gómez-Jiménez, Manuel
AU - Kalari, Venu M.
AU - Lawrence, Jon
AU - Margheim, Steven
AU - Pazder, John
AU - Ruiz-Carmona, Roque
AU - Salinas, Ricardo
AU - Silva, Karleyne M. G.
AU - Silversides, Katherine
AU - Venn, Kim A.
N1 - © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, to view a copy of the license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
PY - 2024/7/30
Y1 - 2024/7/30
N2 - The Gemini High-resolution Optical SpecTrograph (GHOST) is a new echelle spectrograph available on the Gemini-South telescope as of Semester 2024A. We present the first high resolution spectrum of the quasar J1449-1227 (redshift z_em=3.27) using data taken during the commissioning of GHOST. The observed quasar hosts an intervening iron-poor ([Fe/H] = -2.5) damped Lyman alpha (DLA) system at redshift z=2.904. Taking advantage of the high spectral resolving power of GHOST (R~55000), we are able to accurately model the metal absorption lines of the metal-poor DLA and find a supersolar [Si/Fe], suggesting the DLA gas is in an early stage of chemical enrichment. Using simple ionization models, we find that the large range in the C IV/Si IV column density ratio of individual components within the DLA's high ionization absorption profile can be reproduced by several metal-poor Lyman limit systems surrounding the low-ionization gas of the DLA. It is possible that this metal-poor DLA resides within a complex system of metal-poor galaxies or filaments with inflowing gas. The high spectral resolution, wavelength coverage and sensitivity of GHOST makes it an ideal spectrograph for characterizing the chemistry and kinematics of quasar absorption lines.
AB - The Gemini High-resolution Optical SpecTrograph (GHOST) is a new echelle spectrograph available on the Gemini-South telescope as of Semester 2024A. We present the first high resolution spectrum of the quasar J1449-1227 (redshift z_em=3.27) using data taken during the commissioning of GHOST. The observed quasar hosts an intervening iron-poor ([Fe/H] = -2.5) damped Lyman alpha (DLA) system at redshift z=2.904. Taking advantage of the high spectral resolving power of GHOST (R~55000), we are able to accurately model the metal absorption lines of the metal-poor DLA and find a supersolar [Si/Fe], suggesting the DLA gas is in an early stage of chemical enrichment. Using simple ionization models, we find that the large range in the C IV/Si IV column density ratio of individual components within the DLA's high ionization absorption profile can be reproduced by several metal-poor Lyman limit systems surrounding the low-ionization gas of the DLA. It is possible that this metal-poor DLA resides within a complex system of metal-poor galaxies or filaments with inflowing gas. The high spectral resolution, wavelength coverage and sensitivity of GHOST makes it an ideal spectrograph for characterizing the chemistry and kinematics of quasar absorption lines.
KW - astro-ph.GA
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stae1033
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stae1033
M3 - Article
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 531
SP - 3815
EP - 3822
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 4
M1 - stae1033
ER -