Probing neutral gas clouds and associated galaxies in the early universe

Neutral (HI) gas clouds associated with galaxies are responsible for fuelling the star-formation in the universe. In literature, the extremely strong damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (or ESDLAs) have been known to be sensitive to the effects of HI-H2 transition and star-formation in galaxies. Yet, ESDLAs are rare to probe due to the smaller cross section they subtend on the sky (similar to galaxies). In my talk, I will focus primarily on my study of the nature of ESDLAs that are observed as absorption signature along the line-of-sight (LOS) of a quasar (QSO). I will further look at the HI-H2 transition and interesting results relevant to diffuse molecular gas and the multi-phase medium (gas in different ionization states) that are associated with ESDLAs. Furthermore, I will also discuss how the ESDLA environments differ from the high star-forming and molecular environments detected in blind optical and radio surveys consecutively.