A deep search for 21-cm absorption in high redshift damped Lyman-αsystems

Abstract

We present deep GMRT 21-cm absorption spectra of 10 damped Lyman-α systems (DLAs), of which 8 are at redshifts z >∼ 1.3. HI absorption was detected in only one DLA, the z = 0.5318 absorber toward PKS 1629+12. This absorber has been identified with a luminous spiral galaxy; the spin temperature limit (Ts ≤ 310 K) derived from our observations continues the trend of DLAs associated with bright spirals having low spin temperatures. In seven of the remaining 9 systems, the observations place strong lower limits on the spin temperature of the HI gas. We combine this sample with data taken from the literature to study the properties of all known DLAs with 21-cm absorption studies. The sample of DLAs which have been searched for 21-cm absorption now consists of 31 systems, with Ts estimates available in 24 cases; of these, 16 are at z < 2 and 8 at z > 2, with 11 (all at z < 1) having optical identifications. For the latter 11 DLAs, we find that all of the low Ts DLAs have been identified with large, luminous galaxies, while all the DLAs with high spin temperature (Ts >∼ 1000 K) have been identified either with LSBs or dwarfs. Further, we find no correlation between impact parameter and spin temperature; it is thus unlikely that the high measured Ts values for DLAs arise from lines of sight passing through the outskirts of large disk galaxies. Instead, the spin temperature of DLAs appears to correlate with the host galaxy type.