C IV absorbers along the sightlines to gamma-ray bursts

We report on the statistics of strong (W_r > 0:15 Å) C IV absorbers at z = 1.5 - 3.5 toward high-redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). In contrast with a recent survey for strong Mg II absorption systems at z < 2, we find that the number of C IV absorbers per unit redshift dN/dz does not show any significant deviation from previous surveys using QSOs as background sources. Although the results for Mg II and C IV absorbers along GRB sightlines appear to contradict one another, we note that the surveys are nearly disjoint: the C IV survey corresponds to higher redshift and more highly ionized gas than the Mg II survey. Nevertheless, analysis on larger statistical samples may constrain properties of the galaxies hosting these metals (e.g. mass, dust content) and/or the coherence-length of the gas giving rise to the metal-line absorption.