The Clustering of QSO Absorption-Line Systems

Abstract

A growing body of mainly anecdotal evidence suggests that, at high redshifts, metal-line and damped Lyman-α absorption-line systems cluster very strongly, perhaps more strongly than bright galaxies today! We review this evidence, and present first results from a complete, quantitative survey of absorption-line clustering. We detect clustering of high column-density Lyman-α lines and C IV systems, and place an upper limit on the clustering of Mg II systems.