Revisiting the Chlorine Abundance in Diffuse Interstellar Clouds from Measurements with the Copernicus Satellite

Abstract

We reanalyzed interstellar Cl I and Cl II spectra acquired with the Copernicus satellite. The directions for this study come from those of Crenny & Federman and sample the transition from atomic to molecular rich clouds where the unique chemistry leading to molecules containing chlorine is initiated. Our profile syntheses relied on up-to-date laboratory oscillator strengths and component structures derived from published high-resolution measurements of K I absorption that were supplemented with Ca II and Na I D results. We obtain self-consistent results for the Cl I lines at 1088, 1097, and 1347 A from which precise column densities are derived. The improved set of results reveals clearer correspondences with H2 and total hydrogen column densities. These linear relationships arise from rapid conversion of Cl^+ to Cl^0 in regions where H2 is present.

17 pp, 2 tables, and 3 figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (4)

• Herschel/HIFI discovery of interstellar chloronium (H${}_2$Cl${}^{+}$)
• The Abundance of Interstellar Fluorine and Its Implications
• Chlorine in the Galactic ISM: Revised f-values with FUSE and STIS
• The Abundance of Boron in Diffuse Interstellar Clouds

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Abundance scaling in stars, nebulae and galaxies
• Discovery of a Perseus-like cloud in the early Universe: HI-to-H2 transition, carbon monoxide and small dust grains at zabs=2.53 towards the quasar J0000+0048
• CO-dark molecular gas at high redshift: very large H${}_2$ content and high pressure in a low metallicity damped Lyman-alpha system
• Herschel observations of interstellar chloronium
• Cold gas and a Milky Way-type 2175 Å bump in a metal-rich and highly depleted absorption system
• Hydrogen chloride in diffuse interstellar clouds along the line of sight to W31C (G10.6-0.4)
• Solar System Abundances and Condensation Temperatures of the Halogens Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine, and Iodine
• Neutral chlorine and molecular hydrogen at high redshift
• Chlorine-bearing molecules in molecular absorbers at intermediate redshifts
• HST/COS Detection of Deuterated Molecular Hydrogen in a DLA at z = 0.18
• Abundances and Depletions of Neutron-Capture Elements in the Interstellar Medium
• Quasar 2175 Å dust absorbers II: Correlation analysis and relationship with other absorption line systems
• Photoionisation of Cl${}^{+}$ from the $3s^{2}3p^4{}^3{P}_{2,1,0}$ and the$3s^{2}3p^4{}^1{D}_2{,}^1{S}_0$ states in the energy range 19 - 28 eV
• A Reexamination of Phosphorus and Chlorine Depletions in the Diffuse Interstellar Medium
• Lifetimes and Oscillator Strengths for Ultraviolet Transitions in Neutral Chlorine
• Multi-phase gas properties of extremely strong intervening DLAs towards quasars
• Heavy-element Rydberg transition line emission from the post-giant-evolution star HD101584
• Cl+ and HCl+ in Reaction with H2 and Isotopologues: A Glance into H Abstraction and Indirect Exchange at Astrophysical Conditions