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

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.

10 pages, LaTeX (macro newpasp.sty), 3 figures, one reference corrected; invited talk in "Chemical Enrichment of Intracluster and Intergalactic Medium", Proceedings of the Vulcano Workshop, May 14-18 2001