Abstract
We show that the recently observed elemental abundance pattern of the carbon-rich metal-poor damped Lyα (DLA) system is in excellent agreement with the nucleosynthesis yields of faint core-collapse supernovae of primordial stars. The observed abundance pattern is not consistent with the nucleosynthesis yields of pair-instability supernovae. The DLA abundance pattern is very similar to that of carbon-rich extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars, and the contributions from low-mass stars and/or binary effects should be very small in DLAs. This suggests that chemical enrichment by the first stars in the first galaxies is driven by core-collapse supernovae from ∼20 to 50 M ⊙ stars and also supports the supernova scenario as the enrichment source of EMP stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Original language | English |
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Article number | L14 |
Journal | Astrophysical Journal Letters |
Volume | 730 |
Issue number | 2 PART II |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2011 |