Speaker
Lise Christensen
Description
Intervening Damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) detected in quasar spectra contain the majority of the neutral gas mass at redshifts z>2. Generally, DLAs have metallicities between one and ten percent solar, which is lower than the metallicities of high redshift galaxies from luminosity selected samples. This discrepancy can be explained by selection effects from extended gaseous disks around faint galaxies and by the presence of metallicity gradients. To date more than 1.000 DLA systems are known, while only 5 galaxies associated with DLAs have been detected in emission despite intensive observational efforts. Considering that DLAs contain the gas reservoir for star formation in high-redshift galaxies, our knowledge about this galaxy population based on emission properties is very sparse. In this talk I will presents the current status of observational searches to find the DLA galaxies in emission.