ar X iv : a st ro - p h / 04 10 36 2 v 1 1 4 O ct 2 00 4 FUSE Measurements of Interstellar Fluorine 1

The source of fluorine is not well understood, although core-collapse supernovae, Wolf-Rayet stars, and asymptotic giant branch stars have been suggested. A search for evidence of the ν process during Type II supernovae is presented. Absorption from interstellar F I is seen in spectra of HD 208440 and HD 209339A acquired with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. In order to extract the column density for F I from the line at 954 Å, absorption from H2 has to be modeled and then removed. Our analysis indicates that for H2 column densities less than about 3× 10 cm, the amount of F I can be determined from λ954. For these two sight lines, there is no clear indication for enhanced F abundances resulting from the ν process in a region shaped by past supernovae. Subject headings: ISM: abundances — ISM: atoms — stars: individual (HD 208440, HD 209339A) — nuclear reactions, nucleosynthesis, abundances