Multiple MgII Absorption Systems in the Lines of Sight to Quadruply Lensed Quasar H1413+1143

TL;DR

This study uses spatially resolved spectra of a quadruply lensed quasar to measure Mg II absorption systems, revealing inhomogeneous chemical enrichment and absorption strength variations across multiple sightlines on scales of 6-12 kpc.

Contribution

First measurement of differences in Mg II absorption strength in multiple intervening systems using spatially resolved spectra of a quadruply lensed quasar.

Findings

Significant Mg II absorption variations across sightlines.

Inhomogeneous chemical enrichment on 6-12 kpc scales.

Strong absorption systems show high variation in strength.

Abstract

We find multiple Mg II absorption systems at redshift z=1.66, 2.069, and 2.097 in the spatially resolved spectra of the quadruply gravitationally lensed quasar H1413+1143 utilizing the Kyoto tridimensional spectrograph II (Kyoto 3DII) spectrograph on board the Subaru telescope. Here we present the first measurement of differences in Mg II absorption strength of the multiple intervening absorbers, which include ones identified as damped Lyman alpha (DLA) absorption systems. Our detection of the significant Mg II absorptions in the spatially resolved spectra reveals the inhomogeneous chemical enrichment on scales of about 12 kpc within the separation of the four sightlines. For the DLA system at z=1.66, the rest equivalent widths of the Mg II absorption lines between the four spatially resolved lines of sight change by factors of up to about 6, which trace the variations in the H I absorption strength. This suggests that inhomogeneous cold absorbers that give rise to the strong H I/Mg II absorptions dwell on a scale of about 6-12 kpc between the four lines of sight. We also investigate the degree of variation in the equivalent width of the absorption lines between the lines of sight. We find that the systems giving rise to strong absorptions in the spectra of the quadruply lensed quasars tend to have a high degree of variation in absorption strength between the lines of sight toward the lensed quasars.