| Description: | Damped Lyman alpha systems seen in the spectra of high redshift QSOs allow one to study the distant galaxies in a luminosity unbiased way. Detection of molecular species (H_2, HD and CO), absorption lines of excited fine-structure levels of C^+ and C^0, broad dust absorption features and 21-cm absorption will enable one to probe the physical state of the gas in DLAs and understand the underlying physical processes.
In this talk, I will give a brief overview of different surveys we have been carrying out with VLT in the optical and GMRT/GBT in radio to detect the species listed above. I will summarise the recent results and discuss the future possibilities. |
