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Absorption lines from molecular hydrogen (H2) in the spectra of background sources are a powerful probe of the physical conditions in intervening cold neutral medium. At high redshift, z>2, H2 lines are conveniently shifted in the optical domain, allowing the use of ground-based telescopes to perform high-resolution spectroscopy, which is essential for a proper analysis of the cold gas. We describe recent observational progress, based on the development of efficient pre-selection techniques in low-resolution spectroscopic surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The next generation of spectrographs with high blue-throughput, such as CUBES, will certainly significantly boost the efficiency and outcome of follow-up observations. In this paper, we discuss high priority science cases for CUBES, building on recent H2 observations at high-z: probing the physical conditions in the cold phase of regular galaxies and outflowing gas from active galactic nucleus.

State-of-the-art 19th century spectroscopy led to the discovery of quantum mechanics, and 20th century spectroscopy led to the confirmation of quantum electrodynamics. State-of-the-art 21st century astrophysical spectrographs, especially ANDES at ESO’s ELT, have another opportunity to play a key role in the search for, and characterization of, the new physics which is known to be out there, waiting to be discovered. We rely on detailed simulations and forecast techniques to discuss four important examples of this point: big bang nucleosynthesis, the evolution of the cosmic microwave background temperature, tests of the universality of physical laws, and a real-time model-independent mapping of the expansion history of the universe (also known as the redshift drift). The last two are among the flagship science drivers for the ELT. We also highlight what is required for the ESO community to be able to play a meaningful role in 2030s fundamental cosmology and show that, even if ANDES only provides null results, such ‘minimum guaranteed science’ will be in the form of constraints on key cosmological paradigms: these are independent from, and can be competitive with, those obtained from traditional cosmological probes.

We present a spectroscopic analysis of seven Extremely Strong Damped Lyα systems at redshifts z = 2-3, obtained with the intermediate-resolution spectrograph X-shooter on the Very Large Telescope. For all systems we estimated column densities of the neutral atomic hydrogen HI, metal abundances and dust depletion. We firmly detected molecular hydrogen H2 in two systems in our sample; for the remaining systems we set a conservative upper limits on the H2 column densities. The properties of the obtained systems are in consistency with the sample of the Extremely Strong Damped Lyα systems available in the literature.

We present the results of spectroscopic analysis of seven new H2-bearing damped Ly- systems in redshift range z=2.5 − 3. These systems were originally selected from SDSS catalog using a direct search for H2 and followed up with X-SHOOTER spectrograph at 8-m Very Large Telescope observatory. We measured the column densities of HI, H2 on various rotational levels, and metals species in different ionization stages and excitation levels. We used the rotational excitation of H2 molecules together with the fine-structure levels of neutral carbon to constrain the physical conditions in the associated medium. We found typical values for the kinetic temperature T ∼ 80 − 120 K, hydrogen density nH ∼ 30 − 400 cm−3 and UV radiation field ξUV ∼ 0.4 − 5 times of the Draine field. These values along with estimated thermal pressure are in agreement with expected values from the theoretical calculation of the cold neutral interstellar medium.

Absorption lines from molecular hydrogen ( H 2 ) in the spectra of background sources are a powerful probe of the physical conditions in intervening cold neutral medium. At high redshift, z > 2 , H 2 lines are conveniently shifted in the optical domain, allowing the use of ground-based telescopes to perform high-resolution spectroscopy, which is essential for a proper analysis of the cold gas. We describe recent observational progress, based on the development of efficient pre-selection techniques in low-resolution spectroscopic surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The next generation of spectrographs with high blue-throughput, such as CUBES, will certainly significantly boost the efficiency and outcome of follow-up observations. In this paper, we discuss high priority science cases for CUBES, building on recent H 2 observations at high-z: probing the physical conditions in the cold phase of regular galaxies and outflowing gas from active galactic nucleus.

We present high-resolution VLT/UVES spectroscopy and a detailed analysis of the unique Broad Absorption-Line system towards the quasar SDSS J165252.67+265001.96. This system exhibits low-ionization metal absorption lines from the ground states and excited energy levels of Fe II and Mn II, and the meta-stable 2^3S excited state of He I. The extended kinematics of the absorber encompasses three main clumps with velocity offsets of -5680, -4550, and -1770 km s\\(^{-1}\\) from the quasar emission redshift, \\(z=0.3509\\pm0.0003\\), derived from [O II] emission. Each clump shows moderate partial covering of the background continuum source, \\(C_f \\approx [0.53; 0.24; 0.81]\\). We discuss the excitation mechanisms at play in the gas, which we use to constrain the distance of the clouds from the Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) as well as the density, temperature, and typical sizes of the clouds. The number density is found to be \\(n_{\\rm H} \\sim 10^4\\rm cm^{-3}\\) and the temperature \\(T_e \\sim 10^4\\rm\\,K\\), with longitudinal cloudlet sizes of \\(\\gtrsim0.01\\) pc. Cloudy photo-ionization modelling of He I\\(^{*}\\), which is also produced at the interface between the neutral and ionized phases, assuming the number densities derived from Fe II, constrains the ionization parameter to be \\(\\log U \\sim -3\\). This corresponds to distances of a few 100 pc from the AGN. We discuss these results in the more general context of associated absorption-line systems and propose a connection between FeLoBALs and the recently-identified molecular-rich intrinsic absorbers. Studies of significant samples of FeLoBALs, even though rare per se, will soon be possible thanks to large dedicated surveys paired with high-resolution spectroscopic follow-ups.

It has been realised in the last few years that strong constraints on the time-variations of dimensionless fundamental constants of physics can be derived at any redshift from QSO absorption line systems. Variations of the fine structure constant, α, the proton-to-electron mass ratio, μ, or the combination, x=α2gp/μ, where gp is the proton gyromagnetic factor, have been constrained. However, for the latter two constants, the number of lines of sight where these measurements can be performed is limited. In particular the number of known molecular and 21 cm absorbers is small. Our group has started several surveys to search for these systems. Here is a summary of some of the characteristics of these absorbers that can be used to find these systems.

The BL Lac PKS 1413+135 was observed by the Large Survey Project \"MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey\" (MALS) in the L-band, at 1139 MHz and 1293-1379 MHz, targeting the HI and OH lines in absorption at z = 0.24671. The radio continuum is thought to come from a background object at redshift lower than 0.5, as suggested by the absence of gravitational images. The HI absorption line is detected at high signal-to-noise, with a narrow central component, and a red wing, confirming previous results. The OH 1720 MHz line is clearly detected in (maser) emission, peaking at a velocity shifted by -10 to -15 km/s with respect to the HI peak. The 1612 MHz line is lost due to radio interferences. The OH 1667 MHz main line is tentatively detected in absorption, but not the 1665 MHz one. Over 30 years, a high variability is observed in optical depths, due to the rapid changes of the line of sight, caused by the superluminal motions of the radio knots. The HI line has varied by 20 per cent in depth, while the OH-1720 MHz depth has varied by a factor 4. The position of the central velocity and the widths also varied. The absorbing galaxy is an early-type spiral (maybe S0) seen edge-on, with a prominent dust lane, covering the whole disk. Given the measured mass concentration, and the radio continuum size at centimeter wavelengths (100 mas corresponding to 400 pc at z = 0.25), the width of absorption lines from the nuclear regions are expected up to 250 km/S. The narrowness of the observed lines (< 15 km/s) suggest that the absorption comes from an outer gas ring, as frequently observed in S0 galaxies. The millimetric lines are even narrower (< 1 km/s), which corresponds to the continuum size restricted to the core. The core source is covered by individual 1 pc molecular clouds, of column density a few 10^22 cm-2, which is compatible with the gas screen detected in X-rays.

We investigate the presence and kinematics of NV absorption proximate to high redshift quasars selected upon the presence of strong \\(H_{2}\\) and HI absorption at the quasar redshift. Our spectroscopic observations with X-shooter at the VLT reveal a 70% detection rate of NV (9 of 13 quasars with 2.5 < z < 3.3), remarkably higher than the 10% detection rate in intervening DLA systems and the 30% rate observed within a few thousand km/s of the source in the general quasar population. While many NV components lie within the velocity range of the neutral gas, the kinematic profiles of high-ionization species appear decoupled from those of low-ionization species, with the former extending over much larger velocity ranges, particularly towards bluer velocities. We also observe significant variations in the NV/SiIV, which we attribute to varying ionization conditions, with a velocity-dependent trend: blueshifted NV components systematically exhibit higher ionization parameters compared to those near the quasar's systemic redshift. Furthermore, the most redshifted systems relative to the quasar show no evidence of NV absorption. The results suggest that proximate \\(H_{2}\\) absorption systems select critical stages of quasar evolution, during which the quasar remains embedded in a rich molecular environment. Redshifted systems trace infalling gas, potentially associated with mergers, preceding the onset of outflows. Such outflows may reach or even carry out neutral and molecular gas.This latter stage would correspond to proximate \\(H_{2}\\) systems located around or blueshifted relative to the quasar's systemic z. Finally, the only case in our sample featuring highly blueshifted neutral gas shows no evidence of an association with the quasar.Our findings highlight the need to account for the ionization state when defining a velocity threshold to distinguish quasar-associated systems from intervening.

We present the detection and analysis of H2 absorption at z = 4.24 towards the bright quasar J0007-5705, observed with the Very Large Telescope as part of the ESPRESSO QUasar Absorption Line Survey (EQUALS). The high resolving power, R~120000, enables the identification of extremely weak H2 lines in several rotational levels at a total column density of N(H2)~2x10^14 cm^-2, among the lowest ever measured in quasar absorption systems. Remarkably, this constitutes the highest-redshift H2 detection to date. Two velocity components are resolved, separated by only 3 km/s: a narrow (b~1.7 km/s) and a broader (b~6.2 km/s) component. Modelling the rotational population of H2 yields density of log nH/cm^-3 ~ 2.8 with temperature of ~40K (typical of the cold neutral medium) for the narrow component and log nH/cm^-3 ~ 1.4 , T~600K for the warmer, more turbulent component under a moderate ultraviolet (UV) field, suggesting at least several Mpc distance from the quasar. This system reveals the existence of tiny (down to ~0.01 pc), cold overdensities in the neutral medium. Their detection among only 7 damped Lyman-alpha systems in EQUALS suggests that they may be widespread yet usually remain undetected. H2 provides an exceptionally sensitive probe of these structures: even a minute molecular fraction produces measurable Lyman-Werner absorption lines along the extremely narrow optical beam -- the size of the quasar's accretion disc -- when observed at sufficiently high spectral resolution. High-resolution spectroscopy on extremely large telescopes may routinely detect and resolve such structures in the distant Universe, when 21-cm absorption will trace the collective contribution of many cold cloudlets toward larger radio background sources.