Detection of chloronium and measurement of the 35Cl/37Cl isotopic ratio at z=0.89 toward PKS1830-211

Abstract

We report the first extragalactic detection of chloronium (H2Cl+), in the z=0.89 absorber in front of the lensed blazar PKS1830-211. The ion is detected through its 1_11-0_00 line along two independent lines of sight toward the North-East and South-West images of the blazar. The relative abundance of H2Cl+ is significantly higher (by a factor ~7) in the NE line of sight, which has a lower H2/H fraction, indicating that H2Cl+ preferably traces the diffuse gas component. From the ratio of the H2^35Cl+ and H2^37Cl+ absorptions toward the SW image, we measure a 35Cl/37Cl isotopic ratio of 3.1 (-0.2; +0.3) at z=0.89, similar to that observed in the Galaxy and the solar system.

Accepted for publication in A&A Letter

References in corpus (4)

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• Probing isotopic ratios at z = 0.89: molecular line absorption in front of the quasar PKS 1830-211
• An ALMA Early Science survey of molecular absorption lines toward PKS1830-211 -- Analysis of the absorption profiles
• Drastic changes in the molecular absorption at redshift z=0.89 toward the quasar PKS 1830-211

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