Relative abundance pattern along the profile of high redshift Damped Lyman-alpha systems

Abstract

We investigated abundance ratios along the profiles of six high-redshift Damped Lyman-alpha systems, three of them associated with H2 absorption, and derived optical depths in each velocity pixel. The variations of the pixel abundance ratios were found to be remarkably small and usually smaller than a factor of two within a profile. This result holds even when considering independent sub-clumps in the same system. The depletion factor is significantly enhanced only in those components where H2 is detected. There is a strong correlation between [Fe/S] and [Si/S] abundances ratios, showing that the abundance ratio patterns are definitely related to the presence of dust. The depletion pattern is usually close to the one seen in the warm halo gas of our Galaxy.

14 pages

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