Constraining the Metallicities of Damped Lyα Systems Using Extinction Curves

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we present a new method to constrain the metallicities of high-redshift damped Lyα (DLA) absorbers using observed extinction curves. This is the first time such an approach is employed to constrain the metallicities of extragalactic absorbers. To demonstrate our method, we use the spectra of 13 quasars and one gamma-ray burst (GRB) with DLA absorbers detected along their sightlines. By using the Kramers–Kronig (KK) relation, which relates the wavelength-integrated extinction to the total volume occupied by dust per hydrogen nucleon, we set some robust lower limits on the metallicity of the DLAs. The resulting lower limits are all consistent with the DLA metallicities from the literature. The GRB extinction curve exhibits a very strong 2175 Å extinction bump. We try to constrain the metallicity of the GRB DLA by modeling the GRB extinction curve using dust models with two (graphite and silicates) and three (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, hydrogenated amorphous carbon, and silicates) dust components. The two-component model results in a metallicity of Z ∼ −0.45, while the three-component model gives Z ∼ −0.50. However, the lower limit from the KK approach for this DLA is Z ≥ −0.60. Modeling a large sample of extinction curves with a 2175 Å extinction bump and measured DLA metallicities would allow a thorough comparison between the KK and the model-dependent approach. In cases where the precise measurement of the metallicity of a DLA is not possible (e.g., due to the saturation of important absorption lines), the approach presented in this paper can be used to constrain the metallicity.