Resolving the Clumpy Structure of the Outflow Winds in the Gravitationally Lensed Quasar SDSS J1029+2623

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution spectroscopy of a gravitationally lensed quasar to analyze the structure and geometry of its outflow wind, revealing sightline differences and ionization changes over time.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the outflow wind structure by comparing absorption profiles across multiple sightlines in a gravitational lens system.

Findings

Absorption profile differences are due to sightline variations, not time variability.

Detected time variation in C IV absorption strength due to ionization changes.

Sightline differences persist over years, indicating stable structural features.

Abstract

We study the geometry and the internal structure of the outflowing wind from the accretion disk of a quasar by observing multiple sightlines with the aid of strong gravitational lensing. Using Subaru/HDS, we performed high-resolution ($R$ $\sim$ 36,000) spectroscopic observations of images A and B of the gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J1029+2623 (at $z_{em}$ $\sim$ 2.197) whose image separation angle, $\theta$ $\sim$ 22$^{\prime\prime}\!\!$.5, is the largest among those discovered so far. We confirm that the difference in absorption profiles in the images A and B discovered by Misawa et al. (2013) remains unchanged since 2010, implying the difference is not due to time variability of the absorption profiles over the delay between the images, $\Delta t$ $\sim$ 744 days, but rather due to differences along the sightlines. We also discovered time variation of C IV absorption strength in both images A and B, due to change of ionization condition. If a typical absorber's size is smaller than its distance from the flux source by more than five orders of magnitude, it should be possible to detect sightline variations among images of other smaller separation, galaxy-scale gravitationally lensed quasars.