A Ly{\alpha} blob and zabs {\approx} zem damped Ly{\alpha} absorber in the dark matter halo of the binary quasar Q 0151+048

TL;DR

This study investigates a binary quasar system at z~1.93, revealing a damped Lyα absorber, a Lyα blob, and insights into the dark matter halos, galaxy dynamics, and gas properties, providing a unique view of early large-scale structure formation.

Contribution

The paper presents detailed measurements of the systemic redshifts, black hole masses, and dark matter halos in a binary quasar system, along with the discovery of a Lyα blob and a DLA, offering new insights into galaxy interactions at high redshift.

Findings

Detection of a Lyα blob associated with one quasar

Measurement of dark matter halo masses (~10^13.7 M⊙ and ~10^13.1 M⊙)

Identification of a DLA with metallicity 0.01 Z⊙

Abstract

Q0151+048 is a physical QSO pair at z ~ 1.929 with a separation of 3.3 arcsec on the sky. In the spectrum of Q0151+048A (qA), a DLA is observed at a higher redshift. We have previously detected the host galaxies of both QSOs, as well as a Lya blob. We performed low-resolution spectroscopy with the slit aligned with the extended emission. We also observed the system using the medium-resolution VLT/X-shooter spectrograph and the slit aligned with the two QSOs. We measure systemic redshifts of zem(A)=1.92924{\pm}0.00036 and zem(B)=1.92863{\pm}0.00042 from the H{\beta} and H{\alpha} emission lines, respectively. We estimate the masses of the black holes of the two QSOs to be 10^9.33 M{\odot} and 10^8.38 M{\odot} for qA and qB, respectively. From this we infered the mass of the dark matter halos hosting the two QSOs: 10^13.74 M{\odot} and 10^13.13 M{\odot} for qA and qB, respectively. We observe a velocity gradient along the major axis of the Lya blob consistent with the rotation curve of a large disk galaxy, but it may also be caused by gas inflow or outflow. We detect residual continuum in the DLA trough which we interpret as emission from the host galaxy of qA. The derived H0 column density of the DLA is log NH0 = 20.34 {\pm} 0.02. Metal column densities results in an overall metallicity of 0.01 Z{\odot}. We detect CII* which allows us to make a physical model of the DLA cloud. From the systemic redshifts of the QSOs, we conclude that the Lya blob is associated with qA rather than with the DLA. The DLA must be located in front of both the Lya blob and qA at a distance larger than 30 kpc. The two QSOs accrete at normal eddington ratios. The DM halo of this double quasar will grow to the mass of our local super-cluster at z=0. We point out that those objects therefore form an ideal laboratory to study the physical interactions in a z=2 pre-cursor of our local super-cluster.