Precision measures of the primordial abundance of deuterium
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)
- Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122 (Australia)
We report the discovery of deuterium absorption in the very metal-poor ([Fe/H] = –2.88) damped Lyα system at z {sub abs} = 3.06726 toward the QSO SDSS J1358+6522. On the basis of 13 resolved D I absorption lines and the damping wings of the H I Lyα transition, we have obtained a new, precise measure of the primordial abundance of deuterium. Furthermore, to bolster the present statistics of precision D/H measures, we have reanalyzed all of the known deuterium absorption-line systems that satisfy a set of strict criteria. We have adopted a blind analysis strategy (to remove human bias) and developed a software package that is specifically designed for precision D/H abundance measurements. For this reanalyzed sample of systems, we obtain a weighted mean of (D/H){sub p} = (2.53 ± 0.04) × 10{sup –5}, corresponding to a universal baryon density 100 Ω{sub b,} {sub 0} h {sup 2} = 2.202 ± 0.046 for the standard model of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). By combining our measure of (D/H){sub p} with observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), we derive the effective number of light fermion species, N {sub eff} = 3.28 ± 0.28. We therefore rule out the existence of an additional (sterile) neutrino (i.e., N {sub eff} = 4.046) at 99.3% confidence (2.7σ), provided that the values of N {sub eff} and of the baryon-to-photon ratio (η{sub 10}) did not change between BBN and recombination. We also place a strong bound on the neutrino degeneracy parameter, independent of the {sup 4}He primordial mass fraction, Y {sub P}: ξ{sub D} = +0.05 ± 0.13 based only on the CMB+(D/H){sub p} observations. Combining this value of ξ{sub D} with the current best literature measure of Y {sub P}, we find a 2σ upper bound on the neutrino degeneracy parameter, |ξ| ≤ +0.062.
- OSTI ID:
- 22348169
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 781, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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