A Metal-poor Damped Lyα System at Redshift 6.4

Journal
Date Issued
2019
Author(s)
Bañados, Eduardo
•
Rauch, Michael
•
•
Farina, Emanuele P.
•
Hennawi, Joseph F.
•
Mazzucchelli, Chiara
•
Venemans, Bram P.
•
Walter, Fabian
•
Simcoe, Robert A.
•
Prochaska, J. Xavier
•
Cooper, Thomas
•
Davies, Frederick B.
•
Chen, Shi-Fan S.
DOI
Abstract
We identify a strong Lyα damping wing profile in the spectrum of the quasar P183+05 at z = 6.4386. Given the detection of several narrow metal absorption lines at z = 6.40392, the most likely explanation for the absorption profile is that it is due to a damped Lyα system. However, in order to match the data a contribution of an intergalactic medium 5%-38% neutral or additional weaker absorbers near the quasar is also required. The absorption system presented here is the most distant damped Lyα system currently known. We estimate an H I column density of 1020.68±0.25 cm-2, metallicity [O/H] = -2.92 ± 0.32, and relative chemical abundances of a system consistent with a low-mass galaxy during the first Gyr of the universe. This object is among the most metal-poor damped Lyα systems known and, even though it is observed only ∼850 Myr after the big bang, its relative abundances do not show signatures of chemical enrichment by Population III stars.
Volume
885
Issue
1
Start page
59
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
0004-637X
Ads BibCode
2019ApJ...885...59B
Rights
open.access
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