Gas and Galaxies in the Cosmic Web: A WIYN/HYDRA Galaxy Redshift Survey around HST/COS Target Sight Lines
Abstract
The unprecedented far-UV throughput of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) is revolutionizing studies of the local intergalactic medium (IGM). In particular, COS is allowing us to refine estimates of the baryon content and metallicity of the IGM, as well as the relationship of IGM absorbers to galaxies. For the past several years we have been using WIYN/HYDRA to obtain spectra of all galaxies brighter than g=20 that are within 20 arcminutes of the ~25 AGN targeted by the COS Science Team that are accessible from the northern hemisphere. When combined with the COS spectra of these AGN, this galaxy redshift survey is enhancing our understanding of the composition and topology of the nearby Universe in both gas and galaxies, allowing us to assess the extent of metal transport away from galaxies, the filling factor of gas and metal-enriched gas in galaxy filaments, and the metallicity of gas in galaxy voids. Here we present estimates of the completeness of our survey along these sight lines and examples of close galaxy-absorber associations discovered by our survey.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- June 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AAS...22221418K