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Zn and Cr Abundances in Damped Lyman Alpha Systems from the CORALS Survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2005

Chris J. Akerman ,
Sara L. Ellison ,
Max Pettini  and
Charles C. Steidel
Chris J. Akerman
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK. email: cja@ast.cam.ac.uk, pettini@ast.cam.ac.uk
Sara L. Ellison
Affiliation:
University of Victoria, Dept. Physics & Astronomy, Elliot Building, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, V8P 1A1, British Columbia, Canada. email: sarae@uvic.ca
Max Pettini
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK. email: cja@ast.cam.ac.uk, pettini@ast.cam.ac.uk
Charles C. Steidel
Affiliation:
Palomar Observatory, California Institute of Technology, MS 105-24, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. email: ccs@astro.caltech.edu
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Abstract

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We have recently completed the measurement of the abundances of the elements Zn and Cr in a small, but complete, sample of damped Lyman alpha systems selected irrespectively of their dust content (the CORALS radio sample). We find that at a mean redshift z = 2.4 their metallicity and degree of dust depletion are statistically indistinguishable from those of larger samples of DLAs assembled from optical surveys. Thus we conclude that reasons other than a dust-induced bias must be found to explain the lack of redshift evolution in the metallicity of the galaxies giving rise to DLAs, and their generally low degree of chemical enrichment compared with luminous galaxies observed at the same epoch.

Keywords

Galaxies: abundancesgalaxies: evolutionISM: dustextinctionquasars: absorption lines
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Symposium S228: From Lithium to Uranium: Elemental Tracers of Early Cosmic Evolution , May 2005 , pp. 569 - 574
Copyright
© 2005 International Astronomical Union