Paper detail

Spatial Variability in the Ratio of Interstellar Atomic Deuterium to Hydrogen. II. Observations toward Gamma2 Velorum and Zeta Puppis by the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph

To measure interstellar atomic deuterium abundances, we used the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS) to obtain spectra of gamma2 Vel and zeta Pup over the wavelength interval 930-1150 A at a resolving power of 80,000. The interstellar D I features are resolved and cleanly separated from interstellar H I in the Ly-delta and Ly-epsilon profiles of both sight lines, and also in the Ly-gamma profile of zeta Pup. The D I profiles were modeled using a velocity template derived from several N I lines in the IMAPS spectra recorded at higher S/N. To find the best D I column density, we minimized chi-squares for model D I profiles that included not only the N(D I) as a free parameter, but also the effects of several potential sources of systematic error which could also be varied. For both stars, H I column densities were measured by analyzing Ly-alpha absorption profiles in a large number of IUE high dispersion spectra. Ultimately we found that D/H = 2.18(+0.36,-0.31)e-5 for gamma2 Vel and 1.42(+0.25,-0.23)e-5 for zeta Pup, values that contrast markedly with D/H derived in Paper I for delta Ori (the stated errors are 90% confidence limits). Evidently, the atomic D/H ratio in the ISM, averaged over path lengths of 250 to 500 pc, exhibits significant spatial variability. Furthermore, variations in D/H do not appear to be anticorrelated with N/H. Within the framework of standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, the large value of D/H found toward gamma2 Vel is equivalent to a cosmic baryon density of Omega_B h^2 = 0.023 (+-0.002), which we regard as an upper limit since there is no correction for the destruction of deuterium in stars.