Characterizing the Circumgalactic Medium of Nearby Galaxies with HST/COS and HST/STIS Absorption-line Spectroscopy. II. Methods and Models^∗

Abstract

Abstract We present basic data and modeling for a survey of the cool, photoionized circumgalactic medium (CGM) of low-redshift galaxies using far-UV QSO absorption-line probes. This survey consists of “targeted” and “serendipitous” CGM subsamples, originally described in Stocke et al. (Paper I). The targeted subsample probes low-luminosity, late-type galaxies at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>z</mml:mi> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.02</mml:mn> </mml:math> with small impact parameters ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo stretchy="false">〈</mml:mo> <mml:mi>ρ</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">〉</mml:mo> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>71</mml:mn> </mml:math> kpc), and the serendipitous subsample probes higher luminosity galaxies at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>z</mml:mi> <mml:mo>≲</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.2</mml:mn> </mml:math> with larger impact parameters ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mo stretchy="false">〈</mml:mo> <mml:mi>ρ</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">〉</mml:mo> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>222</mml:mn> </mml:math> kpc). Hubble Space Telescope and FUSE UV spectroscopy of the absorbers and basic data for the associated galaxies, derived from ground-based imaging and spectroscopy, are presented. We find broad agreement with the COS-Halos results, but our sample shows no evidence for changing ionization parameter or hydrogen density with distance from the CGM host galaxy, probably because the COS-Halos survey probes the CGM at smaller impact parameters. We find at least two passive galaxies with H i and metal-line absorption, confirming the intriguing COS-Halos result that galaxies sometimes have cool gas halos despite no on-going star formation. Using a new methodology for fitting H i absorption complexes, we confirm the CGM cool gas mass of Paper I, but this value is significantly smaller than that found by the COS-Halos survey. We trace much of this difference to the specific values of the low- z metagalactic ionization rate assumed. After accounting for this difference, a best-value for the CGM cool gas mass is found by combining the results of both surveys to obtain <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>log</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>10.5</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.3</mml:mn> </mml:math> , or ∼30% of the total baryon reservoir of an <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> <mml:mo>≥</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>L</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>*</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> , star-forming galaxy.