Spectroscopy along Multiple, Lensed Sightlines through Outflowing Winds in the Quasar SDSS J1029+2623

TL;DR

This study uses spectroscopic observations of a gravitationally lensed quasar with large image separation to investigate the structure and variability of quasar outflow winds, providing insights into quasar and galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed comparison of absorption features along multiple sight-lines in a lensed quasar, exploring outflow structure and variability.

Findings

Different absorption levels in lensed images suggest complex outflow structures.

Absorption variability could be due to intrinsic changes or sight-line differences.

Additional monitoring can distinguish between variability and structural effects.

Abstract

We study the origin of absorption features on the blue side of the C IV broad emission line of the large-separation lensed quasar SDSS J1029+2623 at z_em ~ 2.197. The quasar images, produced by a foreground cluster of galaxies, have a maximum separation angle of ~ 22".5. The large angular separation suggests that the sight-lines to the quasar central source can go through different regions of outflowing winds from the accretion disk of the quasar, providing a unique opportunity to study the structure of outflows from the accretion disk, a key ingredient for the evolution of quasars as well as for galaxy formation and evolution. Based on medium- and high-resolution spectroscopy of the two brightest images conducted at the Subaru telescope, we find that each image has different intrinsic levels of absorptions, which can be attributed either to variability of absorption features over the time delay between the lensed images, ~ 774 days, or to the fine structure of quasar outflows probed by the multiple sight-lines toward the quasar. While both these scenarios are consistent with the current data, we argue that they can be distinguished with additional spectroscopic monitoring observations.