PROBING HIGH-REDSHIFT DISKS WITH DAMPED Lyα SYSTEMS
نویسنده
چکیده
Evidence is presented that the damped Lyα absorption systems are the high-redshift (z > 3) progenitors of galaxy disks. I discuss kinematic evidence that the damped Lyα systems are rotating disks. I also discuss implications of the lack of metal-poor damped Lyα systems with line width ∆v > 100 km s. I then present new evidence stemming from correlations between element-abundance ratios and [Fe/H], which connects damped systems to the thick stellar disk of the Galaxy. I discuss the connections between damped Lyα systems and Lyman break galaxies, and how [CII] 158 μm emission from damped Lyα systems discriminates among competing theories of galaxy formation.
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