2008/03/11 by C. Péroux, C. Peroux, J. D. Meiring +5 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Electrical and Electromagnetic Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13186.x
7 figures and 10 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2008/03/11 · openalex publication_date 2008/04/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Damped Lyman α systems (DLAs) and sub-DLAs seen towards background quasars provide the most detailed probes of elemental abundances. Somewhat paradoxically these measurements are more difficult at lower redshifts due to the atmospheric cut-off, and so a few years ago our group began a program to study abundances at z < 1.5 in quasar absorbers. In this paper, we present new Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) observations of six additional quasar absorption-line systems at z < 1.5, five of which are sub-DLAs. We find solar or above solar metallicity, as measured by the abundance of zinc, assumed not to be affected by dust, in two sub-DLAs: one, towards Q0138−0005 with [Zn/H]=+0.28 ± 0.16; the other towards Q2335+1501 with [Zn/H]=+0.07 ± 0.34. Relatively high metallicity was observed in another system: Q0123−0058 with [Zn/H]=−0.45 ± 0.20. Only for the one DLA in our sample, in Q0449−1645, do we find a low metallicity, [Zn/H]=−0.96 ± 0.08. We also note that in some of these systems large relative abundance variations from component to component are observed in Si, Mn, Cr and Zn.