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The Galactic deuterium gradient

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2010

Donald Lubowich  and
Jay M. Pasachoff
Donald Lubowich
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549 email: donald.lubowich@hofstra.edu
Jay M. Pasachoff
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, Williams College Williamstown, MA 01267 email: jay.m.pasachoff@williams.edu
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Abstract

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The Galactic deuterium abundance gradient has been determined from observations of DCN in Galactic molecular clouds. This is the only way to observe D throughout the Galaxy because the molecular clouds are not limited to the 2 kpc region around the Sun observed with FUSE and from DI. We used an astrochemistry model and the DCN/HCN ratios to estimate the underlying D/H ratios in 16 molecular clouds including five in the Galactic Center. The resulting positive Galactic D gradient and reduced Galactic Center D/H ratio imply that there are no significant Galactic sources of D, there is continuous infall of low-metallicity gas into the Galaxy, and that deuterium is cosmological.

Keywords

Galaxy: abundancesISM: moleculesabundancesradio lines: galaxies
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 5 , Symposium S268: Light Elements in the Universe , November 2009 , pp. 179 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

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