The Abundance of Mg in the Interstellar Medium

Abstract

An empirical determination of the f-values of the far-UV Mg II λλ1239, 1240 lines is reported. The strong near-UV Mg II λλ2796, 2803 lines are generally highly saturated along most interstellar sight lines outside the local interstellar medium (ISM) and usually yield extremely uncertain estimates of Mg⁺ column densities in interstellar gas. Since Mg⁺ is the dominant form of Mg in the neutral ISM, and since Mg is expected to be a significant constituent of interstellar dust grains, the far-UV lines are critical for assessing the role of this important element in the ISM. This study consists of complete component analyses of the absorption along the lines of sight toward HD 93521 in the Galactic halo and ξ Persei and ζ Ophiuchi in the Galactic disk, including all four UV Mg⁺ lines and numerous other transitions. The three analyses yield consistent determinations of the λλ1239, 1240 f-values, with weighted means of (6.4 +/- 0.4) × 10^-4 and (3.2 +/- 0.2) × 10^-4, respectively. These results are a factor of ~2.4 larger than a commonly used theoretical estimate, and a factor of ~2 smaller than a recently suggested empirical revision. The effects of this result on gas- and dust-phase abundance measurements of Mg are discussed.

Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, under NASA contract NAS5-2655.

This Letter is dedicated to the memory of Professor Lyman Spitzer Jr. He was a great guy.