Related papers: The Cosmological Baryon Density from Deuterium in …
We report the detection of Deuterium absorption at redshift 2.525659 towards Q1243+3047. We describe improved methods to estimate the Deuterium to Hydrogen abundance ratio (D/H) in absorption systems, including improved modeling of the…
Observational constraints on the primordial deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio (D/H) can test theories of the early universe and provide constraints on models of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). We measure deuterium absorption in high-redshift,…
We present a measurement of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio in a quasar absorption system at redshift z = 3.57 towards QSO 1937-1009. We use a two component fit, with redshifts determined from unsaturated metal lines, to fit the hydrogen…
We present a new measurement of the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio (D/H) in the Lyman limit absorption system at $z = 3.572$ towards Q1937--1009. We use an improved method to measure D/H in QSO absorption systems, which includes extra…
We report the measurement of the primordial D/H abundance ratio towards QSO \object. The column density of the hydrogen in the $z \simeq 2.536$ Lyman limit system is high, \lnhi $= 19.422 \pm 0.009$ \cmm, allowing for the deuterium to be…
We present a measurement of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio (D/H) in a metal-poor absorption system at redshift $z=2.504$ towards the QSO 1009+2956. We apply the new method of Burles & Tytler (1997) to robustly determine D/H in high…
From the analysis of the near-UV spectrum of the QSO 2206-199, obtained with a long series of exposures with STIS on the HST, we deduce a value (D/H) = (1.65 +/- 0.35) x 10(-5) (1 sigma error) for the abundance of deuterium in the z(abs) =…
Quasar absorption lines now permit a direct probe of deuterium abundances in primordial material, with the best current estimate $ (D/H)=1.9\pm 0.4 \times 10^{-4}$. If this is the universal primordial abundance $(D/H)_p$, Standard Big Bang…
The theory of Big Bang nucleosynthesis, coupled with an estimate of the primordial deuterium abundance (D/H)_pr, offers insights into the baryon density of the Universe. Independently, the baryon density can be constrained during a…
Deuterium abundances measured recently from QSO absorption-line systems lie in the range from 3 10^{-5} to 3 10^{-4}, which shed some questions on standard big bang theory. We show that this discordance may simply be an artifact caused by…
We report the discovery of deuterium absorption in the very metal-poor ([Fe/H] = -2.88) damped Lyman-alpha system at z_abs = 3.06726 toward the QSO SDSS J1358+6522. On the basis of 13 resolved D I absorption lines and the damping wings of…
The spectrum of the $z_{\rm em} = 2.63$ quasar Q1009+2956 has been observed extensively on the Keck telescope. The Lyman limit absorption system $z_{\rm abs} = 2.504$ was previously used to measure D/H by Burles & Tytler using a spectrum…
The amount of deuterium relative to hydrogen (D/H) in clouds with close to primordial abundance seen at high redshift in the spectra of distant quasars currently provides the best estimate of the baryonic density of the Universe. The first…
Standard big bang nucleosynthesis (BBNS) promises accurate predictions of the primordial abundances of deuterium, helium-3, helium-4 and lithium-7 as a function of a single parameter. Previous measurements have nearly always been…
Primordial abundances of light elements are sensitive to the physics of the early Universe and can directly constrain cosmological quantities, such as the baryon-to-photon ratio $\eta_{10}$, the baryon density and the number of neutrino…
We have identified a new Lyman limit absorption system towards PKS1937-1009, with log N(HI)=18.25 +/- 0.02 at z=3.256. It is suitable for measuring D/H, and we find a 68.3% confidence range for D/H of 1.6^{+0.25}_{-0.30} \times 10^{-5}, and…
We consider possible implications if the recent and disconcordant measurements of D/H in quasar absorption systems are real and indicate a dispersion in D/H in these primitive systems. In particular we examine the option that the D/H…
The primordial abundance of deuterium (D/H) yields a measure of the density of baryons in the universe and is an important complement to determinations from cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. Indeed, the current small sample of…
We present our measurements of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio (D/H) in QSO absorption systems, which give D/H = 3.40 $\pm 0.25 \times 10^{-5}$ based on analysis of four independent systems. We discuss the properties of two systems which…
We report a reanalysis of a near-pristine absorption system, located at a redshift z_abs=2.52564 toward the quasar Q1243+307, based on the combination of archival and new data obtained with the HIRES echelle spectrograph on the Keck…