High resolution deep imaging of a bright radio quiet QSO at z~3

TL;DR

This study used deep high-resolution infrared imaging to identify a faint galaxy near a bright QSO at z~3, potentially linked to Lyman Limit system absorption, and marginally revealed the QSO's host galaxy.

Contribution

First high-resolution infrared imaging of a bright radio-quiet QSO at z~3 revealing its host galaxy and nearby faint galaxy potentially causing absorption features.

Findings

Detected a faint irregular galaxy near the QSO with small impact parameter.

Marginally revealed the QSO's host galaxy after PSF subtraction.

Identified a candidate galaxy responsible for Lyman Limit system absorption.

Abstract

We have obtained deep J & Ks-band images centered on a bright radio quiet QSO UM402 (z_{em}=2.856) using IRCS camera and AO systems on Subaru Telescope, as well as retrieved WFC3/F140W archive images. A faint galaxy (m_{k}=23.32 +/- 0.05 in the Vega system) that lies ~ 2.4" north of the QSO sightline has been clearly resolved in all three deep high resolution datasets, and appears as an irregular galaxy with two close components in the Ks-band images (separation ~ 0.3"). Given the small impact parameter (b=19.6 kpc, at z_{lls}=2.531), as well as the red color of (J-Ks)_{vega} ~ 1.6, it might be a candidate galaxy giving rise to the Lyman Limit system absorption at z_{abs}=2.531 seen in the QSO spectrum. After carefully subtracting the PSF from the QSO images, the host galaxy of this bright radio quiet QSO at z ~ 3 was marginally revealled. We placed a low limit of the host component of m_{k} ~ 23.3 according to our analyses.