Unravelling the element abundances and ionization structure in intervening QSO absorbers
by
Robert F. Carswell(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK)
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Europe/Rome
Sala Ovale (Villa Bazzoni)
Sala Ovale
Villa Bazzoni
Description
ABSTRACT: Normally the widths of the saturated Lyman absorption lines make it difficult to determine heavy element abundances for different components in a QSO absorber. We suggest how a mixture of velocity structure and ionization modelling may be used to separate components, and find a range of metallicities within an absorption complex which has been studied in detail. The general applicability of, and potential problems with, this sort of analysis is discussed. We also note a source of bias which could lead to overestimates of the heavy element abundances in some systems (particularly the so-called sub-DLAs).
