Spectral shape of the UV ionizing background and O VI absorbers at z towards HS 0747+4259

Free access article

Issue		A&A Volume 449, Number 1, April I 2006


Page(s)		9 - 22
Section		Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies)
DOI		http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053834

A&A 449, 9-22 (2006)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053834

Spectral shape of the UV ionizing background and O VI absorbers at z $\mathsf{\sim 1.5}$ towards HS 0747+4259

D. Reimers¹, I. I. Agafonova², S. A. Levshakov², H.-J. Hagen¹, C. Fechner¹, D. Tytler³, D. Kirkman³ and S. Lopez⁴

¹ Hamburger Sternwarte, Universität Hamburg, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
² Department of Theoretical Astrophysics, Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
e-mail: lev@astro.ioffe.rssi.ru
³ Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, University of California, San Diego, MS 0424, La Jolla, CA 92093-0424, USA
⁴ Departamento de Astronomia, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Santiago, Chile

(Received 15 July 2005 / Accepted 31 October 2005 )

Abstract
Aims.We report on high resolution spectra of the bright QSO HS 0747+4259 ( $z_{\rm em}$ = 1.90, V = 15.8) observed to search for intermediate redshift $\ion{O}{vi}$ absorption systems.
Methods.The spectra were obtained by means of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) at the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) at the W. M. Keck telescope.
Results.We identify 16 $\ion{O}{vi}$ systems in the range 1.07 $\leq z \leq$ 1.87. Among them, six systems with $z_{\rm abs}$ = 1.46-1.8 exhibit a sufficient number of lines of different ionic transitions to estimate the shape of the ionizing radiation field in the range 1 Ryd < E < 10 Ryd. All recovered UV ionizing spectra are characterized by the enhanced intensity at E > 3 Ryd compared to the model spectrum of Haardt & Madau (1996, ApJ, 461, 20). This is in line with the observational evidence of a deficiency of strong Ly $\alpha$ absorbers with N( $\ion{H}{i}$ ) > 10¹⁵ cm^-2 at z < 2. The UV background shows significant local variations: the spectral shape estimated at z = 1.59 differs from that obtained at z = 1.81 and 1.73. A possible cause of these variations is the presence of a QSO/AGN at $z \simeq 1.54{-}1.59$ close to the line of sight. No features favoring the input of stellar radiation to the ionizing background are detected, limiting the escape fraction of the galactic UV photons to $f_{\rm esc} < 0.05$ .

Key words: cosmology: observations -- line: formation -- line: profiles -- galaxies: abundances -- galaxies: quasars: absorption lines -- galaxies: quasars: individual: HS 0747+4259

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