科研之友
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摘要
The 3C 273 and RX J1230.8+ 0115 sight lines probe the outskirts of the Virgo Cluster at physical separations between the sight lines of 200 and 500 h(70)(-1) 70 kpc. We present an analysis of available Hubble Space Telescope STIS echelle and Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer ( FUSE) UV spectroscopy of RX J1230.8+ 0115, in which we detect five Lyalpha absorbers at Virgo distances. One of these absorbers is a blend of two strong metal-line absorbers at a recession velocity coincident with the highest neutral hydrogen column density absorber in the 3C 273 sight line, similar to 350 h(70)(-1) 70 kpc away. The consistency of the metal- line column density ratios in the RX J1230.8+ 0115 sight line allows us to determine the ionization mechanism (photoionization) for these absorbers. While the low signal-to-noise ratio of the FUSE spectrum limits our ability to model the neutral hydrogen column density of these absorbers precisely, we are able to constrain them to be in the range 10(16) - 10(17) cm(-2). The properties of these absorbers are similar to those obtained for the nearby 3C 273 absorber studied by Tripp and collaborators. However, the inferred line-of-sight size for the 3C 273 absorber is only 70 pc, much smaller than those inferred in RX J1230.8+ 0115, which are 10 - 30 h(70)(-1) kpc. The small sizes of all three absorbers are at odds with the greater than or similar to 350 h(70)(-1) kpc minimum transverse size implied by an application of the standard QSO line-pair analysis. On the basis of absorber associations between these two sight lines we conclude that a large-scale structure. lament produces a correlated, not contiguous, gaseous structure in this region of the Virgo Supercluster. These data may indicate that we are detecting overdensities in the large-scale structure filaments in this region. Alternatively, the presence of a galaxy 71 h(70)(-1) kpc from a 3C 273 absorber may indicate that we have probed out. owing, starburst-driven shells of gas associated with nearby galaxies.
- 出版日期2003-7-10
