Element abundances in a gas-rich galaxy at z = 5: clues to the early chemical enrichment of galaxies
- University of South Carolina, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Columbia, SC 29208 (United States)
- Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, UMR 7326, F-13388, Marseille (France)
Element abundances in high-redshift quasar absorbers offer excellent probes of the chemical enrichment of distant galaxies, and can constrain models for population III and early population II stars. Recent observations indicate that the sub-damped Lyα (sub-DLA) absorbers are more metal-rich than DLA absorbers at redshifts 0 < z < 3. It has also been suggested that DLA metallicity drops suddenly at z > 4.7. However, only three DLAs at z > 4.5 and no sub-DLAs at z > 3.5 have “dust-free” metallicity measurements of undepleted elements. We report the first quasar sub-DLA metallicity measurement at z > 3.5, from detections of undepleted elements in high-resolution data for a sub-DLA at z = 5.0. We obtain fairly robust abundances of C, O, Si, and Fe, using lines outside the Lyα forest. This absorber is metal-poor, with [O/H] = −2.00 ± 0.12, which is ≳4σ below the level expected from extrapolation of the trend for z < 3.5 sub-DLAs. The C/O ratio is 1.8{sub −0.3}{sup +0.4} times lower than in the Sun. More strikingly, Si/O is 3.2{sub −0.5}{sup +0.6} times lower than in the Sun, whereas Si/Fe is nearly (1.2{sub −0.3}{sup +0.4} times) solar. This absorber does not display a clear alpha/Fe enhancement. Dust depletion may have removed more Si from the gas phase than is common in the Milky Way interstellar medium, which may be expected if high-redshift supernovae form more silicate-rich dust. C/O and Si/O vary substantially between different velocity components, indicating spatial variations in dust depletion and/or early stellar nucleosynthesis (e.g., population III star initial mass function). The higher velocity gas may trace an outflow enriched by early stars.
- OSTI ID:
- 22868566
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 830, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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