Chlorine-bearing molecules in molecular absorbers at intermediate redshifts

Abstract

We use observations of chlorine-bearing species in molecular absorbers at intermediate redshifts to investigate chemical properties and ${}^{35}$Cl/${}^{37}$Cl isotopic ratios in the absorbing sightlines. Chloronium (H${}_2$Cl${}^{+}$) is detected along three independent lines of sight in the z=0.89 and z=0.68 molecular absorbers located in front of the lensed quasars PKS 1830-211 and B 0218+357, respectively. Hydrogen chloride (HCl) was observed only toward PKS 1830-211, and is found to behave differently from H${}_2$Cl${}^{+}$. It is detected in one line of sight with an abundance ratio [H${}_2$Cl${}^{+}$]/[HCl] $\sim 1$, but remains undetected in the other, more diffuse, line of sight, with a ratio [H${}_2$Cl${}^{+}$]/[HCl]~$>17$. The absorption profiles of these two chlorine-bearing species are compared to other species and discussed in terms of the physical properties of the absorbing gas. Our findings are consistent with the picture emerging from chemical models where different species trace gas with different molecular hydrogen fraction. The ${}^{35}$Cl/${}^{37}$Cl isotopic ratios are measured in the different lines of sight and are discussed in terms of stellar nucleosynthesis.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics 10 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (31)

• The chemical composition of the Sun
• Galactic chemical evolution: Carbon through Zinc
• Photodissociation and photoionisation of atoms and molecules of astrophysical interest
• Evolution, nucleosynthesis and yields of low mass AGB stars at different metallicities (II): the FRUITY database
• The Evolution of Isotope Ratios in the Milky Way Galaxy
• UVMULTIFIT: A versatile tool for fitting astronomical radio interferometric data
• Herschel/HIFI observations of interstellar OH+ and H2O+ towards W49N: a probe of diffuse clouds with a small molecular fraction
• Molecules at z=0.89: A 4-mm-rest-frame absorption line survey toward PKS 1830-211
• The chemistry of interstellar molecules containing the halogen elements
• A precise and accurate determination of the cosmic microwave background temperature at z=0.89
• Detection of hydrogen fluoride absorption in diffuse molecular clouds with Herschel/HIFI: a ubiquitous tracer of molecular gas
• The Implications of Extreme Outflows from Extreme Starbursts
• An ALMA Early Science survey of molecular absorption lines toward PKS1830-211 -- Analysis of the absorption profiles
• Herschel observations of interstellar chloronium
• Detection of water at z = 0.685 towards B0218+357
• Drastic changes in the molecular absorption at redshift z=0.89 toward the quasar PKS 1830-211
• The chemistry of interstellar argonium and other probes of the molecular fraction in diffuse clouds
• A Comprehensive Survey of Hydrogen Chloride in the Galaxy
• Detection of chloronium and measurement of the 35Cl/37Cl isotopic ratio at z=0.89 toward PKS1830-211
• OH+ and H2O+ absorption toward PKS1830-211
• Revisiting the Chlorine Abundance in Diffuse Interstellar Clouds from Measurements with the Copernicus Satellite
• Molecular absorptions in high-z objects
• Detection of CH+, SH+, and their 13C- and 34S- isotopologues toward PKS1830-211
• Detection of extragalactic CF+ toward PKS1830-211 -- Chemical differentiation in the absorbing gas
• Neutral chlorine and molecular hydrogen at high redshift
• Chlorine in the Galactic ISM: Revised f-values with FUSE and STIS
• Isotopic ratios at z=0.68 from molecular absorption lines toward B 0218+357
• Chlorine Isotope Ratios in M Giants
• ALMA Observations of Molecular Absorption in the Gravitational Lens PMN 0134-0931
• Distribution of the molecular absorption in front of the quasar B0218+357
• The ortho-to-para ratio of H${}_2$Cl${}^{+}$: Quasi-classical trajectory calculations and new simulations in light of new observations

Cited by in corpus (8)

• 2021 Census of Interstellar, Circumstellar, Extragalactic, Protoplanetary Disk, and Exoplanetary Molecules
• ALCHEMI: an ALMA Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular Inventory. Survey presentation and first results from the ACA array
• Detection of deuterated molecules, but not of lithium hydride, in the z=0.89 absorber toward PKS1830-211
• The Galactic Chemical Evolution of Chlorine
• Multi-phase gas properties of extremely strong intervening DLAs towards quasars
• On the scarcity of redshifted OH and millimetre-band molecular absorption
• A sub-ppm upper limit on the cosmological variations of the fine structure constant alpha
• Rotational excitation cross sections for chloronium based on a new 5D interaction potential with molecular hydrogen