Damped Ly-alpha Systems in Semi-Analytic Models: Sensitivity to dynamics, disk properties, and cosmology

Ariyeh H. Maller, Rachel S. Somerville, Jason X. Prochaska, Joel R. Primack

Published 2000-02-24Version 1

Previously we have shown that it is possible to account for the kinematic properties of damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAS) in the context of semi-analytic models. In these models, hierarchical structure formation is approximated by constructing a merger tree for each dark matter halo. A natural consequence is that every virialized halo may contain not only a central galaxy, but also a number of satellite galaxies as determined by its merging history. Thus the kinematics of the DLAS arise from the combined effects of the internal rotation of gas disks and the motions between gas disks within a common halo. Here we investigate the sensitivity of this model to some of the assumptions made previously, including the modeling of satellite dynamics, the scale height of the gas, and the cosmology.