Issue |
A&A
Volume 452, Number 2, June III 2006
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 481 - 485 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20052855 | |
Published online | 22 May 2006 |
Search for high column density systems with gamma ray bursts
1
SISSA/International School of Advanced Studies, via Beirut 4, 34014 Trieste, Italy
2
Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8602, Japan e-mail: [hirashita;shibai]@u.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp
3
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, Traverse du Siphon BP 8, 13376 Marseille Cedex 12, France e-mail: tsutomu.takeuchi@oamp.fr
Received:
10
February
2005
Accepted:
28
February
2006
We investigate the possibility of searching for metal-poor
high column density () clouds at
high redshift (z) by using gamma ray burst afterglows.
Such clouds could be related to primeval galaxies that may
cause a burst of star formation. We show that a large part
of hydrogen is in molecular form
in such a high column density environment. Therefore,
hydrogen molecules (H2) rather than hydrogen atoms should
be searched for. Then we show that infrared H2 lines are
detectable for metal-poor (
0.01 solar metallicity)
high column density (
)
systems at high-z without suffering dust extinction.
The optical properties of dust in infrared could also be
constrained by observations of high column density systems.
Some possible scenarios for
producing high column density systems are finally
discussed in the context of galaxy evolution.
Key words: galaxies: evolution / galaxies: ISM / infrared: ISM / ISM: dust, extinction / ISM: lines and bands / ISM: molecules
© ESO, 2006
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.