Isotopic abundance of carbon in the DLA towards QSO B1331+170

Dinko Milaković (Corresponding author), John Webb (Corresponding author), Paolo Molaro, Lee Chung-Chi, Prashin Jethwa, Guido Cupani, Michael T. Murphy, Louise Welsh, Valentina D'Odorico, Stefano Cristiani, Ricardo Génova Santos, C. J. A. P. Martins, Nelson J Nunes, Tobias Marius Schmidt, Francesco A Pepe, Maria Rosa Zapatero Osorio, Yann Alibert, J I González Hernández, Paolo Di Marcantonio, Enric PalleRafael Rebolo, Nuno C Santos, S. G. Sousa, Alejandro Suárez Mascareño

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

Chemical evolution models predict a gradual build-up of 13C in the Universe, based on empirical nuclear reaction rates and assumptions on the properties of stellar populations. However, old metal-poor stars within the Galaxy contain more 13C than is predicted, suggesting that further refinements to the models are necessary. Gas at high-redshift provides important supplementary information at metallicities −2≲[Fe/H]≲−1, for which there are only a few measurements in the Galaxy. We obtained new, high-quality, VLT/ESPRESSO observations of the QSO B1331+170 and used them to measure 12C/13C in the damped Lyman-α system (DLA) at zabs=1.776, with [Fe/H] = -1.27. AI-VPFIT, an artificial intelligence tool based on genetic algorithms and guided by a spectroscopic information criterion, was used to explore different possible kinematic structures of the carbon gas. Three hundred independent AI-VPFIT models of the absorption system were produced using pre-set 12C/13C values, ranging from 4 to 500. Our results show that 12C/13C=28.5+51.5−10.4, suggesting a possibility of 13C production at low metallicity.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)12-29
Number of pages18
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume534
Issue number1
Early online date10 Sept 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2024

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 103004 Astrophysics

Keywords

  • quasars: absorption lines
  • galaxies: ISM
  • galaxies: abundances
  • quasars: individual: 1331 + 170

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