On the Measurement of the Deuterium Abundance and the Interpretation of the Lyman Edge in QSO Absorption-Line Systems

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

2

Quasar: Absorption Lines, Galaxies: Abundances

Scientific paper

A detailed examination of the detectability of the Lyman series of deuterium in QSO absorption-line systems shows that observations of the high-order Lyman lines in clouds of very high column density and low velocity dispersion (such as "damped Ly-alpha systems") might produce efficient and precise measures of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio, although these systems typically also display heavy element absorption and therefore are not ideal for specifying the primordial [D/H] ratio. This work is complementary to the earlier work of Webb et al. (1991), who explored the measurement of the deuterium in systems with higher velocity dispersions. The dependence of the shape of the Lyman continuum cut-off on deuterium abundance, velocity dispersion and column denisty is also examined in detail, and low to moderate resolution synthetic spectra are presented. For clouds of Doppler dispersion sigma, the "effective" wavelength of the Lyman edge is shifted to ~911.76(1 + (sigma/c)^2/3)A. for absorbing clouds of high column density, DI can make a significant contribution to the opacity close to the "effective" Lyman cut-off, where the Doppler broadening is comparable to the spacing between the high-order lines. (SECTION: Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei)

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

On the Measurement of the Deuterium Abundance and the Interpretation of the Lyman Edge in QSO Absorption-Line Systems 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 On the Measurement of the Deuterium Abundance and the Interpretation of the Lyman Edge in QSO Absorption-Line Systems, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and On the Measurement of the Deuterium Abundance and the Interpretation of the Lyman Edge in QSO Absorption-Line Systems will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-758061

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