A z=0.

45 DLA With Only Weak

Mg II Absorption?

Therese Jones1, J. C. Charlton1, A. C. Mshar1,

G. J. Ferland2, P. C. Stancil3

Penn State Univ., 2University of Kentucky, 3University

1

of Georgia.
The HE0001-2340
z=0.4523 system
 Wr(Mg II 2796) = 0.14 Å

 Weak Mg II absorber
(Wr(2796) < 0.3 Å)

 Voigt profile fit gave three

clouds, at -69 km/s, 0 km/s,
and 47 km/s

 Multiple cloud weak Mg II

absorber
 Detected Mg I, Mg II, Fe I, Fe II,
Ca I, Ca II, and Mn II in Cloud 1,
Mg II and Fe II in Cloud 2, and only
Mg II in Cloud 3

 No hydrogen to constrain the

metallicity of the system due to a
Lyman limit system at z= 2.1853

 Fe I detection is extremely rare;

only known detections in dense
Milky Way clouds
 Used Cloudy (Ferland 2006) to
model the system

 Were able to fit Clouds 2 and 3 by

varying the ionization parameter

 Cloud 2 (two components: log N =

11.79 cm-2, b= 5.09 km/s; log N =
12.36 cm-2, b= 2.77 km/s) fit with
Z=0.1 ZΘ, log U = -3.8

 Cloud 3 (log N = 11.67 cm-2,

b=14.53 km/s) fit with a wide range
of metallicities and ionization
parameters

 Cloud 1 not fit by changing the

ionization parameter or the
metallicity; Fe I was never
produced, and Fe II was
underproduced
 Changing the abundance pattern is
not reasonable

 N(Fe I/Fe II) not close to the

observed ratio in any model

 Abundance of Fe would have to be

increased by unphysical amounts to
account for the Fe I
 Are the current Fe I and Mg I charge transfer rates correct?

 Cloudy adopts a small Mg I charge transfer rate and a large Fe I charge

transfer rate at low temperatures

 Previously it was thought that both charge transfer rates were small at such
a temperature regime

 Models with small charge transfer rates give a two-phase solution to Cloud
1, with a Mg II phase with log N = 14.01, b = 0.50 km/s, Z = 0.01 ZΘ, log U =
-7.5, T= 86 K, and a Mg I phase with log N = 12.65, b = 0.20 km/s, Z= ZΘ,
log U = -7.5, T= 136 K

 If both charge transfer rates are large, the system can be fit with one phase,
with log N = 13.99, b = 0.20, Z= 0.1 ZΘ, log U = -8.5 , and T= 26 K
 Conclusions
 Ca I, Ca II, and Mn II generally only seen in DLAs, and high column
density proposed by the models also seem to suggest a DLA

 System is extraordinarily unusual for its detection of Fe I

 Different charge transfer rates can explain the detected Fe I

 Also a possibility that the system is not in equilibrium

 A new class of system?