A new measurement of the cosmic microwave background radiation temperature at z = 1.97

Jian Ge, Jill Bechtold, John H. Black

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

70 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present detections of absorption from the ground state and excited states of C I in the z = 1.9731 damped Lyα system of the QSO 0013-004. The excitation temperature between the J = 0 and J = 1 fine-structure levels of C I is 11.6 ± 1.0 K. We estimate other contributions to the excitation of the C I fine-structure levels, and use the population ratio of the excited state to the ground state to derive an estimate for the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) temperature of T = 7.9 ± 1.0 K at 0.61 mm and z = 1.9731, which is consistent with the predicted value of T = 8.105 ± 0.030 K from the standard cosmology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)67-73
Number of pages7
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume474
Issue number1 PART I
DOIs
StatePublished - 1997
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cosmic microwave background
  • Quasars: absorption lines
  • Quasars: individual (QSO 0013-004)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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