Galactic nebular lines in the fibre spectra of background QSOs: reaching a hundred QSO-galaxy pairs with spectroscopic and photometric measurements

Straka, L.A.; Noterdaeme, P.; Srianand, R.; Nutalaya, S.; Kulkarni, V.P.; Khare, P.; ... ; York, D.G. (2015)

Article / Letter to editor

We present photometric and spectroscopic measurements of 53 QSO-galaxy pairs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), where nebular emission lines from a 0 < z < 0.84 foreground galaxy are detected in the fibre spectra of a background QSO, bringing the overall sample to 103 QSO-galaxy pairs detected in the SDSS. We here study the nature of these systems. Detected foreground galaxies appear at impact parameters between 0.37 and 12.68 kpc. The presence of oxygen and Balmer emission lines allows us to determine the emission line metallicities for our sample, which are on average supersolar in value. Star formation rates for our sample are in the range 0.01-12 M_⊙ yr^-1. We utilize photometric redshift fitting techniques to estimate the M_* values of our galaxies (log M_* = 7.34-11.54), and extrapolate this relationship to those galaxies with no imaging detections. Where available, we measure the absorption features present in the QSO spectrum due to the foreground galaxy and the relationships between their rest equivalent widths. We report an anticorrelation between impact parameter and E(B - V)_{(g - i)}, as well as a correlation between galaxy colour (u - r) and E(B - V)_{(g - i)}. We find that our sample is one of late-type, star-forming galaxies comparable to field galaxies in a similar redshift range, providing important clues to better understand absorption systems. These galaxies represent a sample of typical galaxies in the local Universe for which abundances, extinction, morphology, and absorption properties may be measured using background QSOs with great potential for follow-up observations.

• galaxy evolution
• galaxy photometry
• quasar absorption lines
• observations
• SDSS
• star formation rates
• quasar-galaxy pairs

• All authors: Straka, L.A.; Noterdaeme, P.; Srianand, R.; Nutalaya, S.; Kulkarni, V.P.; Khare, P.; Bowen, D.; Bishof, M.; York, D.G.
• Date: 2015
• Volume: 447
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 3856 - 3872
• DOI: doi:10.1093/mnras/stu2739