Damped Lyman α systems in galaxy formation simulations

We investigate the population of z= 3 damped Lyman α systems (DLAs) in a recent series of high-resolution galaxy formation simulations. The simulations are of interest because they form at z= 0 some of the most realistic disc galaxies to date. No free parameters are available in our study: the simulation parameters have been fixed by physical and z= 0 observational constraints, and thus our work provides a genuine consistency test. The precise …