2007/03/27 by Gary Steigman, D. Romano, Donatella Romano +2 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11780.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.378:576-580,2007 · 5 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2007/03/27 · openalex publication_date 2007/05/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The deuterium abundances inferred from observations of the interstellar medium within 1-2 kpc of the Sun range over a factor of three and the corresponding oxygen abundances show an even larger dispersion. While the lower D (and O) abundances likely result from depletion onto dust, the higher D abundances are consistent with the BBN-predicted primordial D abundance and chemical evolution models of the Galaxy with infall of primordial or nearly primordial material. The large ranges in deuterium and oxygen abundances suggest that the effects of depletion and/or infall have not been homogenized in the local interstellar medium.