Measurability of kinetic temperature from metal absorption-line spectra formed in chaotic media

We present a new method for recovering the kinetic temperature of the intervening diffuse gas to an accuracy of 10%. The method is based on the comparison of unsaturated absorption-line profiles of two species with different atomic weights. The species are assumed to have the same temperature and bulk motion within the absorbing region. The computational technique involves the Fourier transform of the absorption profiles and the consequent Entropy-Regularized chi^2-Minimization [ERM] to estimate the model parameters. The procedure is tested using synthetic spectra of CII, SiII and FeII ions. The comparison with the standard Voigt fitting analysis is performed and it is shown that the Voigt deconvolution of the complex absorption-line profiles may result in estimated temperatures which are not physical. We also successfully analyze Keck telescope spectra of CII1334 and SiII1260 lines observed at the redshift z = 3.572 toward the quasar Q1937--1009 by Tytler {\it et al.}.Comment: 25 pages, 6 Postscript figures, aaspp4.sty file, submit. Ap

Probing the variability of the fine-structure constant with the VLT/UVES

We assess the cosmological variability of the fine-structure constant from the analysis of an ensemble of Fe II absorption lines at the redshift z=1.15 toward the QSO HE 0515-4414 by means of the standard many-multiplet (MM) technique and its revision based on linear regression (RMM). This is the first time the MM technique is applied to exceptional high-resolution and high signal-to-noise QSO spectra recorded with the UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) at the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT). Our analysis results in the most stringent bounds hitherto infered from QSO absorption lines. Our results support the null hypothesis of a non-varying fine-structure constant at a significance level of 91 percent, whereas the support for the results presented in former MM studies indicating a variation in the fine-structure constant is 12 percent.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letter

The D/H ratio at z = 3.57 toward Q 1937-1009

Deuterium abundance re-measurements by Burles and Tytler (1998; hereafter BT) yielded D/H = (3.3 +/- 0.3) 10^{-5} and the robust upper limit D/H < 3.9 10^{-5} from the z_a = 3.572 system toward Q1937-1009. In this new analysis BT adopted multicomponent microturbulent models together with the possibility to vary freely the local continuum level around each HI line to improve the fit. The procedure failed, however, to fit adequately D Ly-beta without recourse to an additional H Ly-alpha contamination at the position of D Ly-beta. We show that this obstacle may be successfully overcome within the framework of the mesoturbulent model accounting (in contrast to the microturbulent approximation) for a correlated structure of the large scale velocity field. Using the same observational data and the original continuum as determined by Tytler et al. (1996), we obtained good fits. The one-component mesoturbulent models provide D/H in the range (3.2 - 4.8) 10^{-5} and the total hydrogen column density N(HI) = (5.6 - 7.0) 10^{17} cm^{-2}. This result is consistent with that found by us from the z_a = 2.504 and z_a = 0.701 systems toward Q1009+2956 and Q1718+4807, respectively. The range for D/H common to all three analyses is D/H = (4.1 - 4.6) 10^{-5}. This value is consistent with standard big bang nucleosynthesis [SBBN] if the baryon-to-photon ratio, \eta, is in the range 4.2 10^{-10} <= \eta <= 4.6 10^{-10}, implying 0.0155 <= \Omega_b h^2_{100} <= 0.0167.Comment: 8 pages, 2 Postscript figures, aaspp4.sty file, submit. ApJ Let