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A High Deuterium Abundance at z=0.7

J. K. Webb·R. F. Carswell·K. M. Lanzetta·R. Ferlet·M. Lemoine·A. Vidal-Madjar·D. V. Bowen
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Abstract

Of the light elements, the primordial abundance of deuterium, (D/H)_p, provides the most sensitive diagnostic for the cosmological mass density parameter Omega_B. Recent high redshift (D/H) measurements are highly discrepant, although this may reflect observational uncertainties. The larger (D/H) values, which imply a low Omega_B and require the Universe to be dominated by non-baryonic matter (dynamical studies indicate a higher total density parameter), cause problems for galactic chemical evolution models since they have difficulty in reproducing the large decline down to the lower present-day (D/H). Conversely, low (D/H) values imply an Omega_B greater than derived from ^7Li and ^4He abundance measurements, and may require a deuterium abundance evolution that is too low to easily explain. Here we report the first measurement at intermediate redshift, where the observational difficulties are smaller, of a gas cloud with ideal characteristics for this experiment. Our analysis of the z = 0.7010 absorber toward 1718+4807 indicates (D/H) = 2.0 +/- 0.5 x 10^{-4} which is in the high range. This and other independent observations suggests there may be a cosmological inhomogeneity in (D/H)_p of at least a factor of ten.

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J. K. Webb, R. F. Carswell, K. M. Lanzetta, R. Ferlet, M. Lemoine, A. Vidal-Madjar, D. V. Bowen. 1997-08-01. A High Deuterium Abundance at z=0.7. https://doi.org/10.1038/40814

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