AGN data and absorption-line measurements

We derive a bias-corrected number density of dN/dz(SiIII)=2.5+/-0.4 for absorbers with column densities log N(SiIII)>12.2, which is ~3 times the number density of strong MgII systems at z=0. This number density matches the expected cross section of a SiIII absorbing CGM around the local galaxy population with a mean covering fraction of <f_c_>=0.69. For the majority (~60 percent) of the absorbers, we identify possible host galaxies within 300km/s of the absorbers and derive impact parameters {rho}<200kpc, demonstrating that the spatial distributions of SiIII absorbers and galaxies are highly correlated.

Our study indicates that the majority of SiIII-selected absorbers in our sample trace the CGM of nearby galaxies within their virial radii at a typical covering fraction of ~70 percent. We estimate that diffuse gas in the CGM around galaxies, as traced by SiIII contains substantially more (more than twice as much) baryonic mass than their neutral interstellar medium.