Neutral hydrogen at the present epoch: A constraint on the evolution of high redshift systems

Damped Lyman-alpha and metal absorption lines in the spectra of quasars indicate the presence of intervening gas-rich systems at high redshift (z greater than 2). These systems have characteristic size scales, velocity dispersions, and neutral hydrogen column densities (N(H1)) similar to present day spirals and are thus thought to be their progenitors. Constraints on galaxy evolution can be derived by comparing the H1 properties of high redshift systems to the present galaxy population. Good observational statistics on high redshift absorbers specify the number of these systems along the line of sight as a function of N(H1), the column density of neutral hydrogen per absorber. Similar statistics for nearby (z = 0) galaxies of which spirals are the only gas-rich systems that provide a significant cross-section for the interception of light from quasars is derived.