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Title:
QSO 0130-4021: A Third QSO Showing a Low Deuterium-to-Hydrogen Abundance Ratio
Authors:
Kirkman, David; Tytler, David; Burles, Scott; Lubin, Dan; O'Meara, John M.
Affiliation:
AA(Visiting Astronomer, W. M. Keck Observatory, which is a joint facility of the University of California, the California Institute of Technology, and NASA.; Present address: Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, 600 Mountain Avenue, Murray Hill, NJ 07974-0636 ), AB(Visiting Astronomer, W. M. Keck Observatory, which is a joint facility of the University of California, the California Institute of Technology, and NASA.; ), AC(Visiting Astronomer, W. M. Keck Observatory, which is a joint facility of the University of California, the California Institute of Technology, and NASA.; Present address: University of Chicago, Astronomy and Astrophysics Center, 5460 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60615), AD(Visiting Astronomer, W. M. Keck Observatory, which is a joint facility of the University of California, the California Institute of Technology, and NASA), AE(Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, MS 0424, La Jolla, CA 92093-0424)
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 529, Issue 2, pp. 655-660. (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
02/2000
Origin:
UCP
ApJ Keywords:
COSMOLOGY: OBSERVATIONS, GALAXIES: INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM, GALAXIES: QUASARS: ABSORPTION LINES, QUASARS: INDIVIDUAL (QSO 0130-4021)
DOI:
10.1086/308317
Bibliographic Code:
2000ApJ...529..655K

Abstract

We have discovered a third quasar absorption system which is consistent with a low deuterium-to-hydrogen abundance ratio, D/H=3.4x10-5. The zabs~2.8 partial Lyman limit system toward Q0130-4021 provides the strongest evidence to date against large D/H ratios because the H I absorption, which consists of a single high column density component with unsaturated high-order Lyman series lines, is readily modeled-a task which is more complex in other D/H systems. We have obtained 22 hr of spectra from the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrograph on the W. M. Keck Telescope, which allow a detailed description of the hydrogen. We see excess absorption on the blue wing of the H I Lyα line, near the expected position of deuterium. However, we find that deuterium cannot explain all of the excess absorption, and hence there must be contamination by additional absorption, probably H I. This extra H I can account for most or all of the absorption at the D position, and hence D/H=0 is allowed. We find an upper limit of D/H<=6.7x10-5 in this system, consistent with the value of D/H~=3.4x10-5 deduced toward QSO 1009+2956 and QSO 1937-1009 by Burles and Tytler. This absorption system shows only weak metal-line absorption, and we estimate [Si/H]<=-2.6, indicating that the D/H ratio of the system is likely primordial. All four of the known high-redshift absorption-line systems simple enough to provide useful limits on D are consistent with D/H=3.4+/-0.25x10-5. Conversely, this QSO provides the third case which is inconsistent with much larger values.
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