TESTING THE POSSIBLE INTRINSIC ORIGIN OF THE EXCESS VERY STRONG Mg ii ABSORBERS ALONG GAMMA-RAY BURST LINES-OF-SIGHT
@article{Cucchiara2008TESTINGTP, title={TESTING THE POSSIBLE INTRINSIC ORIGIN OF THE EXCESS VERY STRONG Mg ii ABSORBERS ALONG GAMMA-RAY BURST LINES-OF-SIGHT}, author={A. Cucchiara and Therese M. Jones and Jane C. Charlton and Derek B. Fox and Derek Einsig and A. Narayanan}, journal={The Astrophysical Journal}, year={2008}, volume={697}, pages={345 - 360} }
The startling discovery by Prochter et al. that the frequency of very strong (Wr(2796)>1 Å) Mg ii absorbers along gamma-ray burst (GRB) lines of sight ([dN/dz]GRB = 0.90) is more than three times the frequency along quasar lines of sight ([dN/dz]QSO = 0.24), over similar redshift ranges, has yet to be understood. In particular, explanations appealing to dust antibias in quasar samples, partial covering of the quasar sources, and gravitational-lensing amplification of the GRBs have all been…
20 Citations
AN INDEPENDENT MEASUREMENT OF THE INCIDENCE OF Mg ii ABSORBERS ALONG GAMMA-RAY BURST SIGHT LINES: THE END OF THE MYSTERY?
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The number of strong (equivalent width >1 Å) Mg ii absorbers observed toward gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) has been found to be statistically larger than the number of strong absorbers toward quasi-stellar…
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We revisit echelle spectra (spectral resolution R ≈ 40,000) of eight gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglows to obtain the incidence (dN/dz) of weak intervening Mg ii systems at a mean redshift of 〈z〉 =…
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Sixty percent of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) reveal strong Mg ii absorbing systems, which is a factor of ∼2 times the rate seen along lines of sight to quasars. Previous studies argue that the…
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It is widely believed that the cool gas clouds traced by MgII absorption, within a velocity offset of 5000 km/s relative to the background quasar are mostly associated with the quasar itself, whereas…
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There is nearly a factor of 4 difference in the number density of intervening Mg ii absorbers as determined from gamma-ray burst (GRB) and quasar lines of sight. We use a Monte Carlo simulation to…
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