Ly! EMISSION FROM A z = 2.61 DAMPED Ly! ABSORBER

While investigation of the high-redshift Universe and the discovery of distant objects are still in their infancy, several techniques to uncover galaxies at redshifts larger than z ! 1 have been improved during the last years. However, although it is generally accepted that galaxies selected through their absorption are not intrinsically distinct from those selected through emission, the exact relation between the two is still not fully understood. The detection of Ly! emission in a damped Ly! absorber (DLA) indicates the origin of galaxies, the fundamental building blocks of our Universe. However, only for a handful of the DLAs Ly! emission has been observed. In the case of quasar Q2348-011, with two DLAs in its line of sight, there was strong evidence to assume the presence of this emission: the discovery of a narrow band (H! ) source at the redshift of the first DLA (Mannucci et al. 1998) and the intense UV radiation at the same redshift (Noterdaeme et al. 2007). Detection of Ly! emission associated with either one or both of the DLAs would significantly improve our understanding of the connection between absorption and emission selected galaxies. Unfortunately, the anticipated emission was only detected at low significance (! 3.5 )... Rats! Subject headings: galaxies: formation — galaxies: high-redshift quasars: absorption lines — quasars: individual (Q2348-011)