NEAR-INFRARED IMAGING OF SIX METAL-RICH QUASAR ABSORBER GALAXY FIELDS

Abstract

Absorption lines in quasar spectra allow us to locate and study intervening galaxies. In order to obtain a clearer picture of these absorber galaxies, we have used the Near-Infrared Camera Fabry-Perot System at Apache Point Observatory to obtain near-infrared broadband images in one or more filters (J and Ks ) of six quasar fields containing metal-rich low-z damped or sub-damped Lyα systems. These data allow us to search for the galaxies and constrain their luminosities. Candidate absorber galaxies are detected at 201-738 separation from the quasar in three out of six fields in the J and Ks bands at >3σ level with luminosities ranging from log(L/L ☉) = 10.44-10.36 in the J band (for E-Sc type galaxies) and log(L/L ☉) = 11.59-10.03 in the Ks band for our detections. We place limits on the remaining fields with no detections of log(L/L ☉) <10.83-9.75 for the J band and log(L/L ☉) <10.43-10.05 for the Ks band. We are also able to utilize Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra for each field to calculate optical fluxes and limits as well as limits on star formation rate via [O II]λ3727 emission in spectra. Our data, combined with other recent imaging results for metal-rich absorbers, suggest a possible positive correlation between absorber metallicity and galaxy luminosity, although the samples are still small.