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The impact of dust and ionization effects on abundance measurements of Damped Ly alpha systems

Giovanni Vladilo
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Abstract

Studies of elemental abundances are a fundamental tool for unveiling the nature of the high-redshift (proto-)galaxies associated to Damped Ly alpha systems (DLAs). The present contribution analyses the impact of dust and ionization effects on abundance measurements in DLAs. The behaviour of the alpha/Fe abundance ratio corrected for such effects is used to derive information on the chemical history and nature of DLA galaxies. The alpha/Fe data indicate that DLAs at z~2.5 do not represent a homogeneous class of objects. On average, DLAs show non-enhanced alpha/Fe ratios at low metallicity, suggesting an origin in galaxies with low or intermittent star formation rates.

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Giovanni Vladilo. 2001-08-30. The impact of dust and ionization effects on abundance measurements of Damped Ly alpha systems. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0108466

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