The kinetic temperature in a damped Lyman [alpha] absorption system in Q2206-199 - an example of the warm neutral medium

By comparing the widths of absorption lines from Oi, Siii and Feii in the redshift zabs= 2.076 single-component damped Ly[alpha] system in the spectrum of Q2206-199 we establish that these absorption lines arise in warm neutral medium (WNM) gas at 12000 ± 3000K. This is consistent with thermal equil...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2012-05, Vol.422 (2), p.1700
Main Authors: Carswell, R. F, Becker, G. D, Jorgenson, R. A, Murphy, M. T, Wolfe, A. M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Kinetics
Red shift
Spectrum analysis
Stars & galaxies
Temperature
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:By comparing the widths of absorption lines from Oi, Siii and Feii in the redshift zabs= 2.076 single-component damped Ly[alpha] system in the spectrum of Q2206-199 we establish that these absorption lines arise in warm neutral medium (WNM) gas at 12000 ± 3000K. This is consistent with thermal equilibrium model estimates of 8000K for the WNM in galaxies, but not with the presence of a significant cold component. It is also consistent with, but not required by, the absence of Cii fine structure absorption in this system. Some possible implications concerning abundance estimates in narrow-line WNM absorbers are discussed. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20746.x