A Search For Organic Molecules in Intermediate Redshift DLAs

Still trying to catch up, I found the following.

(Note "DLAs" are damped Lyman-alpha absorption systems. They are deep
absorptions seen in the spectra of quasars and are interpreted as
being galaxies or proto-galaxies in front of the quasar.)

Title: A Search For Organic Molecules in Intermediate Redshift DLAs
Authors: Brandon Lawton (NMSU), Brian York (UVIC), Sara L. Ellison (UVIC),
Christopher W. Churchill (NMSU), Rachel A. Johnson (Gemini), Theodore P. Snow
(Boulder)
Comments: 3 pages; 2 figures; presented at IAU 199; Probing Galaxies through
Quasar Absorption Lines

There has been a renewed interested in searching for diffuse
interstellar bands (DIBs) due to their probable connection to organic
molecules and, thus, their possible link to life in the Universe. Our
group is undertaking an extensive search for DIBs in DLAs via QSO
absorption-line systems. Six of our DLA targets are presented
here. Our equivalent width (EW) limits for the 5780 DIB line strongly
suggests that DIB abundance is below the Milky Way expected value or
that metallicity plays a large role in DIB strengths.
\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0505212 , 29kb)



Long-time readers of this group will remember that Mario Livio has
proposed a resolution of the Fermi paradox in which it takes a
substantial amount of time for metallicity of a galaxy to rise to the
point that life is possible.

--
Lt. Lazio, HTML police | e-mail:
No means no, stop rape. | http://patriot.net/%7Ejlazio/
sci.astro FAQ at http://sciastro.astronomy.net/sci.astro.html