Adaptive Optics Imaging of Low-Redshift Damped Lyα Quasar Absorbers

We have carried out a high angular resolution near-infrared imaging study ofthe fields of 6 quasars with 7 strong absorption line systems at z < 0.5, usingthe Hokupa'a adaptive optics system and the QUIRC near-infrared camera on theGemini-North telescope. These absorption systems include 4 classical dampedLyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs), 2 sub-DLAs, and one Lyman-limit system. Imageswere obtained in the H or K' filters with FWHM between 0.2"-0.5" with the goalof detecting the absorbing galaxies and identifying their morphologies.Features are seen at projected separations of 0.5"-16.0" from the quasars andall of the fields show features at less than 2" separation. We find candidateabsorbers in all of the seven systems. With the assumption that some of theseare associated with the absorbers, the absorbers are low luminosity < 0.1 L*_Hor L*_K; we do not find any large bright candidate absorbers in any of ourfields. Some fields show compact features that are too faint for quantitativemorphology, but could arise in dwarf galaxies.