The abundance of interstellar sulphur and zinc in high density sight-lines

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Absorption Spectra, Abundance, Interstellar Gas, Line Spectra, Metallicity, Vapor Phases, Interstellar Chemistry, Stellar Composition, Sulfur, Zinc

Scientific paper

On the basis of early absorption line studies of individual lines of sight with the Copernicus satellite, chlorine, sulphur and zinc were classed together as elements which showed little or no depletion, relative to hydrogen, in the interstellar medium. The abundances of other less volatile elements, such as Fe and Mg were found to vary widely from one sight-line to another with gas-phase abundances in some cases being orders of magnitude below their solar counterparts. Detailed studies are reported of the depletion/density behavior of two other volatile elements which were previously considered to be virtually undepleted, S and Zn, using equivalent width data from both Copernicus and IUE observations. The results provide further evidence that the established dependence of depletion on n bar (H) extends to volatile elements and show that their use as tracers of metallicity, or for estimating hydrogen column densities, may lead to large errors in sight-lines through dense regions. It now appears that such elements may take part in the surface chemistry of grains and be important constituents of grain mantle material, although they probably do not contribute significantly to the bulk mass of grains. Due to the very similar atomic masses and ionization potentials of sulphur and phosphorous, the thermal velocity distributions of the singly ionized species of these elements in interstellar clouds should be very similar. However, a comparison of Doppler widths (b-values) derived for SIT and PIT in the same sight-lines from the Bohlin et al Copernicus equivalent width measurements has revealed an unexpected systematic discrepancy of a factor of approx. 1.7. This Discrepancy indicates that the normally adopted oscillators strengths of the PII lambda lambda 1153 and 1302 A lines may require revision.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The abundance of interstellar sulphur and zinc in high density sight-lines does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The abundance of interstellar sulphur and zinc in high density sight-lines, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The abundance of interstellar sulphur and zinc in high density sight-lines will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1738151

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.