CONSEQUENCES OF H II REGION MODELS FOR ABSORPTION SYSTEMS IN THE QUASAR SPECTRA

摘要

We have studied various consequences of the hypothesis that H II regions around massive stars give rise to metal-line absorption systems seen in the quasar spectra. Based on the necessary star formation rate in the absorbing galaxy and its expected surface brightness in Lyα, as well as on the ratio of the expected number of low-ionization to high-ionization absorption systems, we conclude that H II regions can at most account for 10% of the observed absorption systems in quasar spectra.