The Abundance of Interstellar Sulfur

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

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Hst Proposal Id #7996 Stellar Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Observations of interstellar nitrogen, oxygen, and krypton with the GHRS onboard HST have recently found ``underabundances'' of these elements with respect to their solar values. These findings are consistent with the subsolar elemental abundances that have been measured in nearby B stars and are likely reflective of the current ISM abundance pattern. Yet, in the case of interstellar sulfur, published GHRS studies of ten individual sightlines reveal an abundance spread of about +/-0.2 dex with a mean value near solar. We propose to more accurately determine the mean abundance of interstellar S, evaluate its abundance spread, and search for any density-dependent gas-phase S depletion based on an analysis of the 29 stars in the HST archive with GHRS echelle observations of the S II Lambda1250 absorption-line triplet. Most of this data has yet to be analyzed in detail, and no comprehensive GHRS study of interstellar S has been carried out akin to the earlier work on N, O, and Kr. Depending on the S abundance spread and whether or not a dust signature is present, this study will more tightly constrain the interstellar S abundance relative to solar, or better define the limits to which S can be used as an interstellar abundance fiducial. The results will have potential implications ranging from revisions in Galactic chemical evolution models to the growing use of sulfur as a metallicity benchmark in QSO absorption-line studies of distant galaxies.

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